A Quest for European Identity

During the 1990s numerous significant changes took place that reshaped Europe both politically and culturally: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the breakdown of Yugoslavia. All these events changed European spaces, and for the first time, since the Second World War, European borders became unstable. This raised questions concerning what Europe is and what it means to be European. This quest for a new European identity is reflected in contemporary European cinema. This is particularly true of the boom in road movies that occurred in the 1990s. These movies can be defined by their attempt to engage with new European spaces. In this thesis I will analyse three European road movies from the 1990s. Each of them engage with the new European spaces and reflect upon a quest for a European identity. I will look at the imagined spaces in the films and discuss how the representations construct, comment on and reimagine a European identity. The films are Lisbon Story (1994) by Wim Wenders, Europa (1991) by Lars von Trier and Zugvögel- ... einmal nach Inari (1996) by Peter Lichtefeld The choice to use road movies to examine questions about the European spatial identities is justified by the fact that this cinematic form has the ability to mirror and interpret changes such as shifting European borders and the formations of national and transnational identities. The road movie has many shapes, different styles and is often mixed with other genres, but the road movie has one basic core: The journey as a cultural critique, as exploration both of society and of self.