ABSTRACT
In accordance with my chosen cultural studies approach, I will explore a number of contextual parameters crucial for an understanding of the particular relationship between the NGC and post-war West Germany. Thus, a substantial analysis of relevant socio-cinematic aspects is needed in order to recognize the specifi cally national character of the NGC.2 I will start by looking at certain developments, moments, events, and debates that are concerned with and can be seen as characteristic of the post-war West German society overall. After this historical section (1.2), the investigation takes a biographical turn (1.3) by exploring NGC fi lmmakers as an integral part of their national sociality. Following this largely contextual examination, I will end on a distinctly textual note (1.4) by analysing Wenders’s Der Stand der Dinge (The State of Things, 1982) as an artistic self-portrayal and a comment on the NGC’s socio-cinematic status.
