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August 2002, Week 4

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Subject:
From:
Richard Butsch <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 25 Aug 2002 14:08:52 -0400
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Why is Riefenstahl being given this attention for turning 100?????  Triumph of
the Will is a unique and powerful piece of propaganda and can be studied as
such.  Riefenstahl can be studied as a filmaker and as a central figure of
Nazism. But her birthday is irrelevant.

As to her guilt, regardless of her knowledge, she benefited greatly from her
work for the Nazis and she benefited them greatly as well. Many others
(ordinary and extraordinary people) refused to pay the price for privilege.
Why should she be exonnerated on the ground of her art or that she "didn't
know". On the last matter, how could she not know the racist programs of the
Nazis, which go back to the very beginning. This could only be willful not
knowing.

Richard Butsch

Ted Friedman wrote:

> I can't see how you can watch Triumph of the Will and conclude Riefenstahl
> was just a naive victim. She was an active - and crucial - collaborator in
> the creation of the Nazi propaganda machine.
>
> Certainly, she is a masterful filmmaker. That's what made her such an
> effective architect of the Nazi aesthetic.
>
> -- Ted Friedman
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ron Leming" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2002 3:47 AM
> Subject: Re: leni riefenstahl turns 100 today
>
> I don't want to sound like I'm supporting Leni Riefenstahl entirely. I'm
> not sure the truth will ever be known.  As for there being a choice, I'm
> not so sure about that. You mention Lang, Wilder and the Siodmaks, but
> there's a very basic difference you're overlooking there. The examples
> you mention are all men. Even today, women aren't represented all that
> well in film making, though it's getting there. There may have been
> other women film makers in the 40s, but I can't think of any. I'm not
> THAT well educated in film, likely not as well as many on this list. But
> I know what it feels like to want to do something so badly you'd very
> nearly sell your soul for it. It's quite easy to look back at history
> now and say this was a horrible thing. But we forget that, at the time,
> many of the German people thought what was happening was a good thing
> for Germany, and many didn't know about the activities of the SS and the
> camps. And making the films she made, may have been, in her sight, the
> only way she would be able to make films at all. And she is a good film
> maker.
> Even when I was in film school in UCLA 25 years ago, women in the film
> school weren't taken as seriously or respected as well as the men. I
> don't know if that's still true, but it wouldn't surprise me. And, I
> find it reprehensible to blame anyone and everyone who didn't actively
> contest and fight for what happened and hold them responsible for the
> acts of others. She has always maintained that she didn't know what was
> happening until it was too late. Until someone can prove, beyond a doudt
> that she did know, I choose to believe her statement.
> --
> If I ever die by being buried alive in something, I hope it's something
> good.
> Like boobs or chicken wings.
>
> http://www.bonestructure.net
>
> ----
> Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
>
> ----
> Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu

----
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