Das Schöne und der Krieg : Zur filmischen Ästhetisierung des Ersten Weltkrieges gestern und heute

The paper explores the medial construction and aestheticising of the war, examining current TV documentaries on the First World War. The first part consists in a detailed film- and picture analysis of wartime film material. The second part examines how TV authors work with this material. These two inquiries constitute the basis of a conclusive synthesis, which examines continuities and breaks in the narration these pictures transport. This paper offers a contribution to the discussion on the treatment of pictures in the media and in historical science. Inherent in this research is also the principal question of whether the little picture- and film material we have determines our view of the First World War. Are the images of World War One not rather reread and reassembled in the course of contemporary discourse