The Eternal Photogenicity and Expressiveness of the Weimar Republic

The article presents the German neo-noir TV show Babylon Berlin (2017–) and its portrayal of the turbulent historical era known as the Weimar Republic. The analysis of the show’s main characters, motifs and stylistic devices allows us to better understand its effectiveness at intertwining personal stories, detective cases and real historical events. Leaning on certain important landmarks in German TV/film history,
Babylon Berlin also manages to portray the Weimar Republic as the odd, unique, idiosyncratic era that it was, while simultaneously indirectly pointing out some of its eerie similarities to the times we live in now.

The integral version of this article can be found in the printed KINO!