Charlotte In Berlin

American Mythologies, Barbenheimer, and Satirizing Superheroes

After a brief hiatus (and a looming name change???), the pod returns to discuss the most dominant cultural phenomenon of the summer: "Barbenheimer." "Barbenheimer" fondly refers to the two diametrically opposed films released on the same day, Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer". However, in this episode I am going to argue that these films actually address the same subject matter: American exceptionalism and the influence of 1950s material culture on the American psyche.
Ultimately, these two films address what I call "American mythology": the stories that form the backbone of our society and the figures that Gerwig and Nolan hold up as mirrors to our modern culture. Digressions include the US's deeply disturbing realization that yes, women also experience sexual pleasure; the proliferation of pink on the streets of New York and whether Wikipedia's ideas of "American myths" are really valid...
 
Sources:
Barbie is Brilliant, Beautiful, and Fun as Hell - The New Yorker
What Barbie Dolls Have to Say about Postwar American Culture
Christopher Nolan on Exploding Myths & Exposing Humanity in "Oppenheimer" - The Credits
The Rabbit Room | The Myths of Oppenheimer
‘Oppenheimer’ Review: A Man for Our Time
 
(and of course, my brain)

evolution: the second fashion one

I revisit "The Fashion One" to reflect on how my personal style has evolved over my year in Berlin, and how it has reflected my state of mind throughout my experience. I’ve been through many an aesthetic crisis, and I realized I wasn’t always staying authentic with how I expressed myself through fashion: from trying too hard to be an Edgy Fashion Girly or abandoning personal style altogether. I discuss learning how to shop in our capitalist hellscape, to discovering various Berlin archetypes (from Y2K art student to Raver Kid) and what to wear to each of the city’s techno clubs (spoiler alert, not always black).
 
Digressions include a realization that Berlin Fashion Week is Not Like Other Girls (by “girls” I mean international fashion weeks), a sociocultural critique of the Sex and the City archetypes, and devastating Taylor Swift Eras Tour moment…

I Told ChatGPT To Write This Episode (And It Sucked)

This week I'm talking about the Writers Guild of America strike, and how streaming and AI are leaving writers without fair compensation for their work. I go into the history of labor rights in Hollywood (including the Academy Awards' unlikely origin story), why creative professions are often subject to exploitation, and whether making it in Hollywood is truly the American Dream - or a mere myth. 
Digressions include a brief mention of my own history acting in Hollywood, the unfortunate reason Donald Trump got so much airtime in 2007, and a debate over fandoms: toxic or empowering?
 
Sources:
Opinion | Can the Writers’ Strike Fix Hollywood? - The New York Times
Strike Rules FAQ
Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) Overview | Writers Guild of America, East.
Hollywood Directors Reach Deal With Studios as Writers’ Strike Continues - The New York Times 
The Luddites of Hollywood - The Atlantic
With Hollywood on strike, foreign shows enjoy the limelight - The Economist
Why Hollywood writers' strike won't end soon. Here are six sticking points
When Will the Writers Strike End? Three Scenarios, From Fantasy to Hellish Dystopia | Vanity Fair
SAG-AFTRA Contract Talks Officially Begin Following “Astounding” Strike-Authorization Vote
The 2023 WGA Strike for Dummies
Inside the writers' 'guerrilla tactics' to shut down live productions
Writers on strike talk pay, family and the future of TV - Los Angeles Times
Actors Authorize Potential Strike With Hollywood Writers Still Picketing - The New York Times
The WGA strike is part of a recurring pattern when technology changes
A.O. Scott Says Goodbye to Film Criticism - The New York Times

Audre Lorde’s Intersectional Feminism and the Afro-German Women’s Movement

This week I am talking about poet, activist and philosopher Audre Lorde: her legacy in Germany, and her little-discussed impact on German feminism and racial justice. Widely credited with coining the term “Afro-German”, Lorde’s work amplifying the voices of Black German women poets and writers helped to rewrite a feminism that was largely centered on white women. Her writing from the city of Berlin, and the networks of women she was able to create, encouraged women to share their own stories and perspectives, and view social justice movements as fundamentally intersectional. 
 
Ultimately, Lorde’s contributions helped reposition Germany as a “diasporic place” with a responsibility to its Black and Afro-German population, enabling a global feminism to take root in the country. In this episode I hope to draw attention to Lorde’s little-studied transatlantic legacy, and the extent of her impact as a writer and activist.
 
ources:
 
Audre Lorde | Poetry Foundation
 
Lorde, Audre. “Berlin Is Hard on Colored Girls.” Callaloo, no. 26 (1986): 89–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/2931057.
 
Lorde, Audre. “This Urn Contains Earth From German Concentration Camps: Plotzensee Memorial, West Berlin, 1984.” Callaloo 14, no. 1 (1991): 43–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/2931426.
 
Lorde, Audre. “The Dream of Europe—Remarks.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 23–26. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.6.
 
Farber, Paul. “‘I Cross Her Borders at Midnight’: Audre Lorde’s Berlin Revisions.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 148–62. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.17.
 
Gerund, Katharina. “Transracial Feminist Alliances?: Audre Lorde and West German Women.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 122–34. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.15.
 
Kraft, Marion. “Bonds of Sisterhood / Breaking of Silences: An Interview with Audre Lorde.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 41–54. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.8.
 
Piesche, Peggy. “Inscribing the Past, Anticipating the Future: Audre Lorde and the Black Women’s Movement in Germany.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 222–25. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.23.
 
Rowell, Charles H., and Audre Lorde. “Above the Wind: An Interview with Audre Lorde.” Callaloo 23, no. 1 (2000): 52–63. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3299518.
 
Audre Lorde’s Berlin - The New York Times
 

Addiction, Capitalism and Sugar Free Vanilla: Beware the Coffee Shop

Coffee, the "most widely used psychoactive substance in the world", has led us from religious ceremonies to saving our sanities during COVID, and from the humble bean to the monstrous Frappuccino. As in religious rites in Yemen and (probably) your street corner, coffee’s journey through time knits together addiction, political activism, capitalist world domination, war, labor violations, and climate change. Ultimately, coffee’s contribution to global capitalism can’t be understated. 
 
Finally, I cover the current legal battle over trade unions at Starbucks and subpoena of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
 
Digressions include the Writers’ Strike’s effect on Hollywood, Paul Mescal’s appearance in the phenomenal A Streetcar Named Desire, and Beyonce giving us sexy Mugler bee during the Renaissance World Tour...
 
Sources: 
 
Fellner, Kim. Wrestling with Starbucks : Conscience, Capital, Cappuccino, Rutgers University Press, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/huberlin-ebooks/detail.action?docID=361653.
 
Juliano, L.M., Griffiths, R.R. “A critical review of caffeine withdrawal: empirical validation of symptoms and signs, incidence, severity, and associated features.” Psychopharmacology 176, 1–29 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-004-2000-x
 
Olekalns, Nilss, and Peter Bardsley. “Rational Addiction to Caffeine: An Analysis of Coffee Consumption.” Journal of Political Economy 104, no. 5 (1996): 1100–1104. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2138954. (quoted in episode description)
 
Topik, Steven. “Coffee as a Social Drug.” Cultural Critique, no. 71 (2009): 81–106. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25475502.
 
Vogt, Melissa. “The International Coffee Industry.” In Variance In Approach Toward A ‘Sustainable’ Coffee Industry In Costa Rica: Perspectives from Within; Lessons and Insights, 39–54. Ubiquity Press, 2019. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv11cvx7c.10.
 
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Spars With Democrats at Senate Hearing - The New York Times
 
Bernie Sanders Presses Ahead With Subpoena of Starbucks C.E.O. - The New York Times
 
Here's how your cup of coffee contributes to climate change
 
A future without coffee? Climate change could wipe out 50% of global coffee crop by 2050.
 
Coffee and Climate Have a Complicated Relationship - The New York Times
 
What Climate Change Could Mean for the Coffee You Drink

the first monday in may

(met gala takes start at 40:15)
karl lagerfeld (who is german). may day protests in berlin. my met gala best and worst (and the designers that won the night). against the equation of "fantasy" with thinness in the fashion industry. recession-core. cats. it’s a fun one.
digressions take the form of a few questions: did cruella influence the met gala red carpet fashion just as much (if not more) than karl did? is it cooler to go edgy-goth or normcore to a party at berlin fashion school? did emma chamberlain serve or flop? is “quiet luxury” an excuse to be boring?
 
Sources:
 
The Karl Lagerfeld Looks That Defined His Career (and Remade Fashion) - The New York Times
 
Everything You Need To Know About May Day in Berlin
 
Rioting in Berlin Kreuzberg, May 01, 1987
 
Magersucht: Dünne Models sind für Karl Lagerfeld kein Problem - WELT 
 
Karl Lagerfeld Weighs in on Model Debate: 'No One Wants to See Curvy Women' - DER SPIEGEL
 
Karl Lagerfeld’s most controversial quotes on fat women - Vox
 
How Karl Lagerfeld Redefined Modern Fashion As We Know It | Time
 
Why the 2023 Met Gala's Karl Lagerfeld Theme Is Problematic | Time
 
HF Twit Met Gala 
 
The Best Dressed Stars From the 2023 Met Gala
 
Met Gala 2023 Red Carpet Fashion: See Every Celebrity Outfit, Look and Dress | Vogue
 
Vogue - YouTube
 

Why Is Germany So Rich?

a MAJOR comeback story: from barter to billionaire
I present to you the German Economic Miracle: how Germany's economy went from being literally in shambles after World War II to dominating the world today. In the span of less than a year and due to the contributions of two key players, Germany was an overnight industrial success. I wanted to understand the economic principles behind this success and dive deep into the history of the Germany's famously industrious industry. 
Digressions include some ruminations on whether a Lego Monet "counts" as art, the women who cleared up German ruins when nobody else could, and why your home should ALWAYS have a flower or two...
Sources:
Spicka, Mark E. “Origins of the Social Market Economy and the Currency Reform of 1948.” Selling the Economic Miracle: Economic Reconstruction and Politics in West Germany, 1949-1957, 26–48. Berghahn Books, 2018. 
 
Struve, Walter. “West Germany’s Economic Miracle.” Current History 44, no. 260 (1963): 231–45. 
 
Wallich, Henry C. Mainsprings of the German Revival. London, Oxford University Press, 1955. p. 114
 
Dullien, Sebastian and Ulrike Guérot. “The Long Shadow of Ordoliberalism.” European Council on Foreign Relations, October 22, 2020. https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_the_long_shadow_of_ordoliberalism/.
 
The German Economic Miracle
 
The Long Shadow of Ordoliberalism | ECFR
 
Why The Euro is More Durable Than It Looks - The Economist
 
Why does the euro mean so much to Germany? | CNN 
 
Press German export surplus in 2022 at lowest level since 2000
 
Import prices in December 2022: +12.6% on December 2021 - German Federal Statistical Office
 
What makes the German economy so strong? - Invest Region Leipzig
 
Why is the German economy so strong? Seven reasons
 
German economic strength: The secrets of success - BBC News
 
Economic Key Facts Germany
 
Protectionism or free trade? An interview with Clemens Fuest
 
German Economic Miracle - Econlib

Owning the Zines of Production w/ Safelight Paper’s Nico Blanchadell

Interview with Nico recapped at 38:24!
Follow Nico on IG:
@nicolasblanchadell @safelightpaper @safelightberlin
This week I'm sharing why magazines are a particularly special medium: from advancing political ideologies to sharing art and promoting young artists. I was lucky enough to interview Nico Blanchadell, Editor-In-Chief and Creative Director of Safelight Paper, a "slow photography" magazine based in Berlin, and hear about how it is unlike any photography publication in the European market.
Our conversation about curiosity and aesthetics made me reflect on why I love magazines so much. I discuss Freud and Marx, Weimar Germany's car magazines, and attempted assassination of Andy Warhol by radical feminist manifestress and girlboss Valerie Solanas.
Digressions just basically say to read theory and watch Succession...
 
safelightpaper.com
http://www.nicolasblanchadell.com/
Minotaure: Surrealist Magazine from the 1930s
Germaine Greer. The Female Eunuch. 1971. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Emily Hage. “The Magazine as Strategy: Tristan Tzara’s Dada and the Seminal Role of Dada Art Journals in the Dada Movement.” The Journal of Modern Periodical Studies 2, no. 1 (2011): 33–53. 
Geiger, Brigitte, and Margit Hauser. “Archiving Feminist Grassroots Media.” In Feminist Media: Participatory Spaces, Networks and Cultural Citizenship, edited by Elke Zobl and Ricarda Drüeke, 73–86. Transcript Verlag, 2012. 
Emily Hage. “The Magazine as Readymade: New York Dada and the Transgression of Genre and Gender Boundaries.” The Journal of Modern Periodical Studies 3, no. 2 (2012): 175–97. 
 Grünangerl, Stefanie, Rosa Reitsamer and Elke Zobl. "Feminist Media Production in Europe: A Research Report." Feminist Media: Participatory Spaces, Networks and Cultural Citizenship. Transcript Verlag, 2014
Theodore Peterson. “The Role of the Minority Magazine.” The Antioch Review 74–75, no. 4–1 (2017): 666–80. 
Julia Sneeringer. “The Shopper as Voter: Women, Advertising, and Politics in Post-Inflation Germany.” German Studies Review 27, no. 3 (2004): 477–501. 
Valerie Solanas. SCUM Manifesto. 1967. (self-published) (copy from Northwestern University).
arthistoricum.net: Illustrated Magazines of the Weimar Republic
Berlin's Top 9 Indie Magazines You Should be Reading
No-Filter Feminism - Zine Activism - LibGuides at The Westport Library
About | 032c
About — FLANEUR

All About Tattoos, Part 2: Artists on Self-love, Community and Combatting Toxic Masculinity

INTERVIEWS
Find Emily's work on IG: @flowerpowertatts
Find Pablo's work on IG: @pabloferrukt
I interviewed two tattoo artists this week, Emily (@flowerpowertatts) and Pablo (@pabloferrukt) on their work, their attitudes towards their art, and how they build community through tattoo art. Emily is a young traveling artist known for her cute, feminine flashes and Pablo runs a studio in Berlin with 8 other women artists.
Inspired by either impressionist paintings and Art Nouveau, or the liberating pulse of techno, both artists locate self-love at the core of their philosophies. I loved hearing their thoughts on the intimacy of tattooing and the connections it creates between artist and client, and I’m excited to share their stories.
stay for the very end to hear my ruminations on the new boygenius album...
ily

All About Tattoos, Part 1: Trends, Fashion, Violence and the Tramp Stamp

This week is Part 1 of my two-part series on tattoos in Berlin! Tattoos are an “anthropological constant” according to German tattoo scholar Ole Wittman: from the body art of prehistoric humanity all the way to the famous tramp stamp. Seeing so many tattoo artists in Berlin made me want to investigate why it thrives here, and this led me to the fascinating history of body art.
I discuss Issey Miyake’s and Jean-Paul Gaultier’s tattoos on the runway, how studying prison tattoos can help us understand the social and cultural importance of the tattoo, and the forced tattooing of prisoners in concentration camps. 
Digressions include an (admittedly half-hearted) uplifting of girlies out there with a Harry Potter tattoo, a rumination on the bimbo aesthetic, and my favorite song from Lana Del Rey’s new album (changes daily tbh)
 
The 2000s tramp stamp tattoo trend is back
 
Are temporary tattoos ruining tattoo culture?
 
A Rumination about Tattoos and Fashion - Documenting Fashion.
 
https://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/article/tattoo-history-fashion
 
The controversial relationship between tattoos and fashion
 
Introducing the queer Berlin tattoo collective banning toxic masculinity from the studio | Sleek Magazine
 
The Tattoo Industry Is Having Its Own Wrenching, Revelatory #MeToo Moment  
 
How Tattoos Are Entering the World of Fine Art - The Atlantic 
 
The Tattoo as a Document - ResearchGate
 
A brief history of tattoos | Wellcome Collection
 
Looking back in Tattoo History
 
Ole Wittmann: Tattoos in der Kunst. Materialität – Motive – Rezeption, Reimer 2017 :: Portal Kunstgeschichte
 
TätowierMagazin (@tatowiermagazin) • Instagram photos and videos
 
A Dark Chapter in Tattoo History: Nazi Prisoner Tattoos | UCL Researchers in Museums
 
Tattoos and Numbers: The System of Identifying Prisoners at Auschwitz
 
German Tattoo Attractions
 
Royal Rebels: In Victorian Europe, Tattooing Was Rife among the Upper Echelons Of society
 
How the Squatting Scene Inspired Berlin's Tattoo Culture
 
A feeling of freedom on your skin - Goethe-Institut Australia
 
The History of Tattoos - 1980s New School Ink – NAAMA Studios
 
Individuality is a must!