Overview

This project was created by Mak Mckinney for the course "German 423: Cinematic Cities Berlin" at the University of Tennesssee under the guidance of Dr Maria Stehle.

This project seeks to refer to visual cultures in Berlin city-scapes, including a potential site visit located in Berlin. SO36 is a queer bar located in the Kreuzberg neighborhood in Berlin, on Oranienstrasse. It was selected for this project due to its role in various filmscapes as well as its openly queer nature. In addition, the movie Decoder (1984) was selected because it was filmed at SO36 and because it experiments with color and sound in a unique way.

Important Definitions and Notes

To understand this project, there are a few important film phrases to understand. A few of the important ones are listed here.

FILMSCAPE: A filmscape is a space in a movie created by visual and aesthetic elements through the use of cinematic techniques. For example, Decoder (1984) creates its filmspace using elements of techno-color and juxtaposing calming music to inciting music.

SPATIALITY: The physical location and layout of an area. For example, the spatiality of SO36 is the Kreuzberg neighboorhood and the layout is very pro-intersectional.

INTERSECTIONALITY: The ways in which identites intersect. In the case of SO36, the identites that most intersect are Turkish identity and LGBTQ+ affiliation, but there are also space-sponsored accessibilty for disabled patrons.

QUEERSPACE: Any space frequently inhabited or intended to inhabit the LGBTQ+ Community's members and cultures.