ABSTRACT
Right-wing observations of the elite often distinguish between the “deed” and “worthless talk”: Whereas a legitimate elite would establish itself through true, authentic and heroic deeds, the present, fundamentally illegitimate elite is denounced as merely producing words, words that are inauthentic, dishonest and false. A binary opposition between doing (Tat) and talking undergirds the populist right’s way of looking at and dividing populations, drawing on a long tradition of thinking by theorists such as Carl Schmitt. By exploring this discursive pattern in the old and new right, especially in the German-language context, the essay illuminates right-wing imaginations of (post-)modern society and the utopian otherworlds that these discourses offer in order to counter the perceived malaise of (post-)modernity. This binary construction (deed/word), the chapter argues, resonates with semantic and narrative forms and material in the broad field of popular culture, TV series, films, pop music – and it is this very link that decisively contributes to the success of right-wing discourses: It articulates a cross-discursive discontent with (post-)modernity, building on a broader disquiet about contemporary culture. The text thus highlights the ways in which this binary construction of true and false elites gains semantic and narrative force by drawing upon pop-cultural narrative forms and semantics.
