So everyone's criticizing the newest Rammstein video, Deutschland. I am a Rammstein fan, and while I knew they were getting ready to drop a new album, I had no clue they released a teaser for this video several, several days ago, nor the actual video two days ago, had it not been for an article about it being controversial. But I know these guys, about as well as any random, semi-sorta German speaking, non German American girl from the deep south whose been listening to their music for the past twenty-ish years can know a band. I guessed about the video and was correct, because it's what they do. I'll explain. When I say I know them because this is what they do, it doesn't mean I know exactly what they mean by what they do, I just know how they roll.
The controversy is that they're showing the Holocaust in their new video. I didn't need to read any further to know that they don't agree with the Holocaust, are probably like "Goddamn Germany, why'd you do this?" and are probably making a statement about why people in Germany today won't talk about what happened (because they sort of just gloss over it and kind of pretend it didn't happen.) I also bet some band members are also portraying Nazi's, because they split things up like this. Am I right? Yes, I am. How do I know? Well, I've been on again, off again teaching myself German for the past ten years and when I am learning a language, I also learn about the culture. The foods they eat, their coloquialisms, how the society functions in the modern day. That last bit is what's important to this story. I know that while yes, it's a good thing and I can totally understand it, Germany is very anti parades, rally's and flag waving. However, there's also pretty much an unspoken don't ask don't tell rule when it comes to the Holocaust. They don't necessarily deny it and have things in memoriam, but they don't discuss it, which I think is wrong. It's like the people of the American South who don't want to have dialogue about slavery. It's not going away just because you don't wish to discuss it. Or the people of the American North who, because the numbers were so fewer than that of the South, they simply act like slavery didn't happen up there. Sorry but numbers don't wipe out the actual enslaved that Northerners had. You can't just sweep that shit under the rug, y'all. The article discussed that the video for Deutschland is all about German history, which is evident after watching it. I read the article, then watched the video, then translated some lyrics I found to make sure I was sort of correct in the things I heard being sung in order to fit the pieces together. I am not German, but I identify with this video/song. Perhaps that's why I can get on board with it? It's basically a weird fuck you to Germany. The band is German, so in order to not hate themselves or the country they're from, they need to love their country and themselves. But Germany's done a lot of questionable things and are kind of the bastard kid of Europe (or at least in certain time periods and rememberings), so you don't want to love Germany. It's not all that unlike the American South or America in general. I am southern (the bastard kid of the US) and I am American and therefor I can't really hate part of what makes me me if I don't want to hate myself (which I don't). Yet, I hate the shit that's gone down in this country. The terrible treatment of the Indigenous Peoples, how we ruin the land, the whole disease of slavery, how we still treat people of colour, etc. Why did I just know that they were using the Holocaust to stick it to somebody? Which they did. They're laying the truth out about their history and not glossing over the sticky parts. It's because the entire song Links 2 3 4 was written to say fuck you to the people that said they were Nazi's basically. They wrote an entire song to tell people to fuck off and that they're not the monstrous thing they think they are. They're not monsters. They're odd, but they're not going to glorify a very sordid bit of history. But they'll be controversial and ballsy enough to actually open dialogue about that very sordid bit of history. And apparently more so, considering the video spans through a long history, hitting on major points. I can't say that I know how they think, because while I understand the basic, general meanings of their songs and videos, things are lost on me. Like I don't know why the lead singer, Till Lindemann's head is just hanging around in certain scenes. I did understand the busts because it was from their last album (a greatest hits if you will with a new song tacked in) Made In Germany. There were musical pieces from other songs of theres swirling around - Sonne at the end. (Was it all just Sonne? I feel like it wasn't. I should watch it again.) Space? I don't know. The really awesome lady? I don't know. I want to say that she is Germany. Even though Germany's pretty much always been referred to as The Father Land, so in masculine form. Unlike The US and England which are referred to in the feminine form. Or even Russia with the whole Mother Russia bit. I don't pretend to know everything there is to know about German history. I mean I know the big things since The Great War and I got a postcard once from a German girl that showed the site of a battle that happened 2,000 years ago and is a museum/history site now (that blew my mind that they know where it happened, can find it, and it's a site you can visit), or that Germany was very rarely unified always having little Kingdoms that no longer exist, are now part of other countries, or are the names of regions now. But was Germany feminine once upon a time? Or does Rammstein see their country in the feminine? Or do they want the image of femininity to play against The Father Land trope, lending more oomph to their love/hate relationship? I don't know. Could be. I mean they did chose a black lady to be the most powerful figure/element throughout the entire video. Germans are white (there are other people there now, but they are historically white people, so a figurehead would be white) so choosing a person who is the complete opposite of that look to be the unifying and powerful element for the video is a bold move. Especially if she is meant to represent Germany, which yes I still am leaning strongly towards that. The symbolism in their videos that seem to be extra (but probably aren't) I just wave away as "that's just how they roll. They're weird." I'm used to seeing some weird shit in their videos, their videos will always be weird overall with weirder bits thrown in, no matter how it all went together when they hashed it all out. Does it mean their video's aren't good? No. But are they weird? Yes. Deutschland isn't anything less than I'd expect from a Rammstein video. It's cool, it's weird and you can see that there's meaning in it, even if you can't quite grasp all of it. But back to the Holocaust. Are they mocking it? No. Not in the slightest. It's part of their history. You can be 99.9% certain that someone in each of their family histories had something to do with something prior to and during WWII, whether they wanted to or not. Their ancestors weren't mere bystanders, even if they wished they could be. Someone was in the Hitler-Jungend (Hitler Youth) or watched a procession of goose stepping SS or were in the military. They were all-aboard the Hitler band wagon and then wanted out (or didn't?) or always resisted though forced. Or perhaps simply bad mouthed Jewish people or tried to help free them. I don't know. I don't know them or their family histories, but you know they're ancestors had more than a toe in it. Because of that, they get to talk about it. Now, if they were glorifying Nazi's or Concentration Camps, then no, I wouldn't agree with them getting to talk about it. But to say, "This is the history, look at this fucked up shit" they have every right. It's like a few years ago the older Jewish guy (then in his eighties) took his adult kid and near adult grand-kid to revisit Auschwitz. They played a song and danced around and people were livid because it somehow was negating the horrors that happened there. That guy was imprisoned there. He saw family members die there. He has every right to go back and do whatever the fuck he wants. He lived it. It'd probably be OK if his off spring did it too because they're directly related, but that could be debatable. I'm not saying that a German person today could go to Auschwitz and dance around to music, but a German person today (even if they were not alive at the time) can discuss the DDR or Concentration Camps. It would be weird for me to make a music video about this subject because I am not of that country & have no people that lived it. Just because my paternal grandfather fought against Nazi's and tried to save a kid in the German Army doesn't mean it wouldn't be tacky for me to make that scene in the Deutschland video. And while it might be controversial, I could open dialogue about slavery because of where I'm from and that it's part of my history. But it would be weird if Rammstein put this in their video (and we're talking about showing that it was wrong, not glorifying it). It would be weird if during the scene they were all playing Nazi's or if they were all playing Jews, but I think the balance was good. Four of them were Jewish and two of them were Nazi's. I think it's saying, 'It's in us, it's our history (so two people as Nazi's to represent the history that is them) but we think it was horrible (hence having more of them as Jewish people).' I think it's a good, strong video and song. It's what I'd expect of them, as I've said this is how they roll. I totally understand the love/hate relationship thing with one's heritage and country and I like that they're good with laying it all out there even if you don't want to see it. I admire that. But then I'm like that myself. You don't have to like it, but there's no denying that it's a strong and powerful video hitting it home with a punch. (the lyrics are powerful too, but you don't need them if you know it's a love/hate fuck you lay it all bare German history video/song.)
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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