Jan Böhmermann in ZDF Magazin Royale: Why German films are men’s business

The German film is male and only knows three recipes. Is that correct? Jan Böhmermann investigates the matter in ZDF Magazin Royale. The TV review.

If there’s one thing you can’t blame Jan Böhmermann and his ZDF Magazin Royale for, it’s predictability. Outside the party quarrels between the CDU and CSU are raging, Söder taunts Laschet, Joe Biden disappoints people fleeing on the border with Mexico, Germany is going into the “final lockdown” – and what makes Böhmermann the main topic?

The German film. And (apart from a few and well-placed swipes) not those actors and actresses who have really and deservedly put themselves in the nettles with their embarrassing “# make it all up” campaign. No, Jan Böhmermann takes on German film as such.

German films work according to three recipes. Jan Böhmermann lists: “Recipe 1: Asshole with a heart made of gold finds great love. Recipe 2: young people get tragic diagnosis and go on a trip. And recipe 3: Our German Oscar concept – Nazi, World War, GDR. ”Hit, sunk. The whole thing is as varied as “a visit to the Nieheim Sack Museum”.

Jan Böhmermann in ZDF Magazin Royale: Why are so many German films about men?

There is also a thematic theme in German cinema. This is supported by film titles like men’s day care, men’s day, men’s business, men’s hearts, men’s pension, insane is masculine, insane are masculine, what a man, man does what man can, man has to go through, men like us and, well, something with men. It is a pleasure how Jan Böhmermann has these film titles read out wonderfully bored – by a woman.

But why is it that German cinema is so obsessed with men? Where are films like women’s day care, women’s day, women’s affairs, women’s hearts, women’s pensions, insane is feminine, insane are feminine, what a woman, woman does what woman can, woman has to go through, women like us and, well, something with women?

Does the movie poster for the movie Mannersache explain it? With the folk comedian, feminist of the heart and political expert Mario Barth in the lead role? What exactly does it say on it, dear Jan Böhmermann? “Two friends, one woman – and that is the problem”. OK. Thanks. And since the level of foreign shame is not yet fully exhausted, Böhmermann’s editorial team has added a few particularly enlightened quotes from German films.

Jan Böhmermann: Schweighöfer and Fitz want more women in leading roles – and cast themselves

Maybe Mathias Schweighöfer and Florian David Fitz can help? Single player. Schweighöfer: “In Germany there are hardly any women who say I will pay a cinema ticket for this woman. But again for the men – I’ll go in there. “And Fitz thinks:” The best mix would be if the woman were the main role. But you are responsible for that. ”His finger points to the camera. So to us. To the audience. But wait a minute, dear Mr. Fitz – is that actually true?

Jan Böhmermann sums up the words of the two men’s hearts as follows: “The sexist German cinema, you women got it into yourself.” Of course, Fitz and Schweighöfer could not have done much for it, in their film 100 things (their feminist statements come from an interview the accompanying promo tour) to make a woman the leading actress. After all, they were only actors themselves. And screenwriter. And director. And producer. And co-producer.

Jan Böhmermann makes it clear: Films with women in the leading roles generate income

Satirist Böhmermann knows the real reason for the German male cinema. The free market regulates, nobody wants to see women in leading roles. According to Böhmermann, this is shown by the terrifying box office results of films such as Frozen (1.28 billion US dollars), Captain Marvel (1.13 billion), Star Wars: Rogue One (1.06 billion), Wonderwoman (822 million) or The Hunger Games (694 million). A tragedy. It’s easy to imagine the sweaty hands of German film producers. A woman in the lead role? But Thomas (Hans, Dieter, Markus), nobody wants to see that.

Jan Böhmermann also thinks: “Much too risky.” But wait a minute, what kind of quote is that from “Die Zeit” that he shows? “According to a study, films with a female lead make more money than those with a lead. Böhmermann “doesn’t want” to accept that: “Yes, but German film is art and goes its own way.” Namely, the ways of German film funding, which, according to Böhmermann, adds around 400 million euros to German film every year.

ZDF Magazin Royale: Jan Böhmermann criticizes German film funding

Where does this money come from? And why do German films never actually get an Oscar, even though “we have the most committed and cleverest actors” (fade-in Jan Josef Liefers)? The answers: Among other things, from taxes and license fees and “it often seems that the lowest common denominator then prevails. Very often they are projects that reproduce what has already been successful at the box office ”(film journalist Ellen Weitstock).

And all of this so that in the production of German films, according to Jan Böhmermann, “something like creative momentum does not arise or – God forbid even innovation”. In other words: “Til Schweiger drew a lot of people into the cinemas with Keinohrhasen. Then he will probably also succeed with two-eared chicks. Or three-eyed hamsters, four-nosed vipers or five-mouthed fish. “Admit it, you’d go to the movies for five-mouthed fish.

Jan Böhmermann invites his audience to trip up the parties in the election campaign

In order to serve as a chronicler, it must be mentioned at this point that Jan Böhmermann sang a few very nice parodies of the German madness of work despite Corona (after all, the virus avoids overcrowded subways, so that everyone can get to work safely). Musically it was okay, in terms of content one has heard better from him. And that Jan Böhmermann has once again pushed an extremely important topic to the very end of his Royale magazine on ZDF.

Micro-targeting of political parties on Facebook. Micro what? In a nutshell: This is the parties’ snooping around for your preferences on the Internet. And if these preferences even remotely match the party, the ensuing harassment with campaign slogans, advertisements and unsolicited messages.

Jan Böhmermann and his team want to keep an eye on the microtargeting activities of the parties in the run-up to the federal election. Not a bad idea. To do this, he asks his audience for help, specifically to install a browser plug-in. This is available at whotargets.me/de and “a non-profit project by British programmers”, as Böhmermann explains. His promising appeal: “The more people participate, the happier ZDF Magazin Royale will be in autumn.” (Mirko Schmid)