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Punk In Der Ddr Analysis

Decent Essays

This display of the potential of fashion as expression directly correlates with the relationship that the punk scene of the GDR would develop with clothing. While likely the fictional character of Sunny would not have so intentionally, by dressing in her modern, occasionally androgynous outfits she was using style as a way of isolating herself from her setting. In the novel Punk In Der Ddr: Too Much Future it is explained that the punks “were no longer GDR citizens, they behaved as if they were in London and had fled the country though still being present within it.” For punks both in the GDR and globally, fashion was an incredibly important tool to distinguish yourself from the majority. Sunny, in spite facing judgement and the punks, in spite …show more content…

While Sunny is struggling in her creative field Ralph seems to have achieved relative stability in his career as a writer, but expresses a deep sense of shame in his work. When Sunny asks him about his work he responds in a series of questions. “Why did I get an education? At the cost of the workers. Who am I? A philosopher. So what?” His political beliefs cause him to feel guilty for choosing a career in the arts, as Sunny has, rather than doing something that has a more definitive, quantifiable benefit to society, such as being a laborer. He sees his lifestyle, and particularly his education from a state subsidized university as burden to the working class. Perhaps only second to Mrs.Pfeiffer, Ralph’s character seems the most grounded in socialist ideology. To make matters worse on his conscious, he feels as though the subject he writes about, “death and society” are uninteresting to most people, which is either degrading or comically naive considering the universality of the subjects. Unlike Ralph, who also feels guilty for the fact that audiences are disinterested in his work, it seems inconsequential to …show more content…

The significance of punk in the GDR, which is already a socialist, not capitalist society is inherently different. Many of the things British and American punks struggles with the most in their society’s where things the GDR itself assured to its citizens by granting them accessible, state founded healthcare and education, as well as assigned job placements. In the government’s pursuit to provide a guaranteed quality of life, it increasingly extended its control into the details of its citizens lives, leaving some, like the members of GDR punk movement, to feel as though their autonomy of their future had been stripped from them. By the end of the film, Sunny has gained almost complete of control over the direction of her life. She has rejected the opportunity of returning to the stability of a factory job and has disconnected herself from her every potential romantic partner presented in the film, making it clear she will not submit her autonomy in order to benefit the GDR’s economy or their declining population rate. In the optimistic closing scene of Solo Sunny, her last line, “I sleep with someone when I feel like it, I call a pig a pig, I’m the one who was thrown out of The Tornadoes, my name is Sunny,” demonstrates she has finally become in touch with her own reality and identity.

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