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Monday, September 18. 2006

Octoberfest and "Beerfest" movie

Posted by Editors in Transatlantic Relations, US Domestic and Cultural Issues on Monday, September 18. 2006

Can't make it to the Octoberfest, which started on Saturday? Interested in silly US-German competition? Want to waste some money? Then watch the U.S. movie Beerfest, which has just opened in US and German cinemas: 
When American brothers Todd and Jan Wolfhouse travel to Germany to spread their grandfather's ashes at Oktoberfest, they stumble upon a  super-secret, centuries old, underground beer games competition - "Beerfest" the secret Olympics of beer drinking. The brothers receive a less than warm welcome from their German cousins, the Von Wolfhausens, who humiliate Todd and Jan, slander their relatives, and finally cast them out of the event. Vowing to return in a year to defend their country and their family’s honor, the Wolfhouse boys assemble a ragtag dream team of beer drinkers and gamers.
The trailer states: "No Germans were harmed during the making of this film."
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JW-Atlantic Review - #1 - 2006-09-18 21:45 - (Reply)

Are those guys in Lederhosen supposed to speak German?

Does anybody know what "Tittzenshpritzen Schtüff Magazine" -- as seen on that banner -- is supposed to mean?

:-)

Just for the record: I am not criticizing the US film industry. Every country produces its share of bad movies.

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BernieGoldberg - #1.1 - 2006-09-18 22:40 - (Reply)

Never heard of the magazine, but I would sure have a look at it if it came into my hands. No creativity wasted on the title...

As for the movie itself: how many stereotypes about Germans (or Bavarians mistaken for representing the whole country) can one possibly fit into one film? Beer-drinking, leather pants-wearing, nonsense-talking (of course with the crude German "authoritarian" voice)...

But hey, does the movie not also promote people-to-people exchanges by making even more college kids want to come over to Europe to get properly wasted for the first time? And yes, Germany rocks!

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JW-Atlantic Review - #1.1.1 - 2006-09-18 23:19 - (Reply)

Bernie, before they come over to Europe, they will watch [b]EuroTrip[/b] (2004)
Tagline: "No actual Europeans were harmed in the making of this film."
Plot Outline: "Dumped by his girlfriend, a high school grad decides to embark on an overseas adventure in Europe with his friends."
Rated R for sexuality, nudity, language and drug/alcohol content.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356150/

And: [b]Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo[/b] (2005)
Tagline: "For the women of Europe... The price of love just got a a lot cheaper."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367652/

And when they then travel to Europe, they will be disappointed for not getting the sex that they expected. Then they return to the US and complain about European Anti-Americanism. ;-)

(Disclaimer: This was irony, sarcasm etc.)

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BernieGoldberg - #1.1.1.1 - 2006-09-18 23:51 - (Reply)

you're funny!

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Don - #2 - 2006-09-19 10:45 - (Reply)

So whatchew complainin' about, Joerg? That no Germans were harmed during the making of this film?!!! :)

A 'B' flick aimed squarely at the drunk off it's ass college freshmen and fratboy market. Assuming that it's not completely an internet joke. Did you check it in the Internet Movie DB? It might not even exist - even fratboy flicks usually have a little more intelligent marketing than this....

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JW-Atlantic Review - #2.1 - 2006-09-20 11:41 - (Reply)

I am not complaining, just documenting for fun ;-)

Do you want me to [b][url=http://atlanticreview.org/archives/396-German-911-Victim-Defamed-in-United-93-Movie.html]complain again about unfavorable stereotyping in a Hollywood film[/url][/b]? I didn't think so. I don't want to exaggerate. This is just a silly, but probably pretty popular B-movie.

Now we got two US movies that stereotype Germans. And I mentioned two more silly movies about stereotyping Europeans.
Do you know of any US movies showing Germans in a good light? Or any recent German or European movies stereotyping Americans?

Do you want me to go Davids Medienkritik describe the movie as "Great American Humor"?
[url]http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/2005/08/sueddeutsches_h.html[/url]
I don't think so. American humor is great. German humor is not so bad. Stereotyping exists on both sides of the Atlantic. Atlantic Review does not use one example to make general statements about "American humor" or "the American film industry".

Just for the record: I am not saying that Germans get as much stereotyped as Americans get.

Don, the link I gave for Beerfest takes you to a Warner Brothers website. Just for you: Here ist the Internet Movie DB link:
[url]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486551/[/url]

I really don't want to make a big deal out of it. It's just a movie.

The post should reminded folks of the Octoberfest.

Perhaps that refreshes some good
memories...

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Don - #2.1.1 - 2006-09-21 00:20 - (Reply)

"Do you want me to complain again about unfavorable stereotyping in a Hollywood film?"

If you did I think two groups would have cause for complaint. Germans (particularly Bavarians) - and US college students!

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Clarsonimus - #3 - 2006-09-19 21:10 - (Reply)

Oh man oh man. This one looks relentlessly dumb. Can't wait to see it - on TV sometime. In three or four years. Maybe.

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Celebrilla - #4 - 2006-09-20 15:57 - (Reply)

About what I heard so far, I can just say the english have always been more than welcome on the octoberfest in Munich.

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Pinkerton - #5 - 2006-09-20 16:21 - (Reply)

Wow, I've never heard of that movie. To be honest, I think it is just one of those movies aimed at teens or college kids that they put out every summer.

Of course there is going to be silly stereotypes, it's just a silly movie. They did exactly what they aimed to do, they combined drinking, sex, and laughs to put out a low-level comedy. It reminds me somewhat of "Animal House" with John Belluchi (sp?). That was the same thing, drinking, sex and American college fraternity stereotypes.

I'm all for movies like this because it is just to have fun. Isn't life hard enough these days? You might as well enjoy the lighthearted fun while you are young and you can do it, IMO.

The only movie that came to my mind regarding putting Germans in a good light, was "Das Boot". I don't remember too much about it, but I think it showed the German captain of the U-boat doing the same as the American captain of the submarine. They were both doing their best to fight the war, and protect their men. Unless I'm thinking of a different movie...obviously, I don't spend much time in the theaters.

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JW-Atlantic Review - #5.1 - 2006-09-20 16:43 - (Reply)

Yep, plenty of silly movies. No big deal.

You are right. "Das Boot" is a good movie.
[b][url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767802470/ref=nosim/atlanticrevie-20]Available at Amazon.com[/url][/b].

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mbast - #6 - 2006-09-21 23:05 - (Reply)

So, Oktoberfest is spelled with a "c" now, eh? Damned americanization :-D.

As for that movie: I absolutely loathe stereotypes. Can somebody please tell these people that not all Germans look like Schuhplattler dancers, speak English with a Nazi accent (as well as a Nazi attitude) and drink beer by the "Mass" all the time (I'm from Cologne; 'nuff said .... ;-)). Oh, and not all Swedes are blonde, female and sex-obsessed. And don't tell me it's all a joke. I'm half german, I'm genetically incapable of having a sense of humor, remember? Jeez...

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Don - #6.1 - 2006-09-22 02:36 - (Reply)

It can't be genetic. Genetically I'm about 75% German and I believe I posess a sense of humor; others may disagree of course.

My theory is that it's surgically removed at birth in Germany.

In France they obviously do something weird to inflate the ego beyond all normal human limits. My theory is that it's a process concpetually similar to the production of foies gras....

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mbast - #7 - 2006-09-22 23:23 - (Reply)

Don: In that case, I'm doomed. The other half of me is French :-D.

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Don - #7.1 - 2006-09-23 13:53 - (Reply)

Ah, but were you RAISED in France, mon ami?! ;)

My point was that it's nuture, not nature - in both cases!

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mbast - #7.1.1 - 2006-09-23 20:23 - (Reply)

Duh, there goes the "mon ami" again :-D. Just for info: calling a Frenchman "mon ami" all the time is exactly the same as calling an Englishman/American "my friend" in every second sentence. It's not wrong, it's just that nobody uses that phrase in current language. And before we get a "sacrébleu": that's a seventeenth century swearword. Don't use it with a Frenchman unless you're an actor in a musketeer movie.

Right, end of anti-french stereotype rant.

No, I wasn't raised in France. I was raised in Belgium (Flanders, actually). And concerning my "genetic" comment: I was just being sarcastic, of course :-).

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Don - #8 - 2006-09-23 22:08 - (Reply)

A Belgian? Zut Allors, this is fortunate! Who better than a Belgian to judge whether most Frenchman possess unnaturally swollen egos? None, I declare!

I've always had a secret yearning to buckle my swash, and was disappointed to learn upon visiting Paris for the first time that Baron Haussmann had removed the Paris of my fantasies whilst rationalising fields of fire - er building the boulevards.

Happy ending though - eventually I visited Rouen, and parts of Rouen look just like D'Aratagne's Paris to my eye at least.

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mbast - #8.1 - 2006-09-23 22:52 - (Reply)

What kind of Belgian are you talking about? Walloons? Flemish? Or even the German-speaking eastern Belgians?

And no, I'm not a Belgian. I was just raised there. Long story, don't ask. Suffice it to say that my upbringing was more European than Belgian.

As for French inflated egos: yeah, right. Another of these nice little stereotypes, mostly raised by some Americans, I'm afraid to say, who, of course, do not suffer from overinflated egos at all.... ever....

Where are you from, then?

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Don - #9 - 2006-09-24 01:57 - (Reply)

Milwaukee. By way of Trento, Stuttgart, London, Ipswich, and a number of other places.

Sounds like you might have spent time in a certain quartier of Bruxelles, eh?

I've never taken to Bruxelles much, but I love places like Bruges, Gent, and above all Antwerp.....

Americans don't suffer from inflated egos at all. How could anyone ever think that?!!! ;)

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