{"product_id":"ministry-of-illusion-eric-rentschler-9780674576407","title":"Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife","description":"\u003cp\u003eGerman cinema of the Third Reich, even a half-century after Hitler's demise, still provokes extreme reactions. \"Never before and in no other country,\" observes director Wim Wenders, \"have images and language been abused so unscrupulously as here, never before and nowhere else have they been debased so deeply as vehicles to transmit lies.\" More than a thousand German feature films that premiered during the reign of National Socialism survive as mementoes of what many regard as film history's darkest hour. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Eric Rentschler argues, however, cinema in the Third Reich emanated from a Ministry of Illusion and not from a Ministry of Fear. Party vehicles such as \u003ci\u003eHitler Youth Quex\u003c\/i\u003e and anti-Semitic hate films such as \u003ci\u003eJew S?s\u003c\/i\u003e may warrant the epithet \"Nazi propaganda,\" but they amount to a mere fraction of the productions from this era. The vast majority of the epoch's films seemed to be \"unpolitical\"--melodramas, biopix, and frothy entertainments set in cozy urbane surroundings, places where one rarely sees a swastika or hears a \"Sieg Heil.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMinister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels, Rentschler shows, endeavored to maximize film's seductive potential, to cloak party priorities in alluring cinematic shapes. Hitler and Goebbels were master showmen enamored of their media images, the Third Reich was a grand production, the Second World War a continuing movie of the week. The Nazis were movie mad, and the Third Reich was movie made. Rentschler's analysis of the sophisticated media culture of this period demonstrates in an unprecedented way the potent and destructive powers of fascination and fantasy. Nazi feature films--both as entities that unreeled in moviehouses during the regime and as productions that continue to enjoy wide attention today--show that entertainment is often much more than innocent pleasure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Eric Rentschler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674576403\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674576407\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/01\/1996\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 480\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.53lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.13h x 6.30w x 0.85d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/15\/1996 pg. 70","brand":"Eric Rentschler","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43925563244799,"sku":"9780674576407","price":52.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_257f9a34-83a8-4da9-a56e-c38eed143411.jpg?v=1681078012","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/ministry-of-illusion-eric-rentschler-9780674576407","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}