Pink Riefenstahl
(Un-)Authentische Inszenierungen von Homophilie und Homophobie im Musikvideo ’Mann gegen Mann’ von Rammstein
2013
in: Ware Inszenierungen. Performance, Vermarktung und Authentizität in der populären Musik (= Beiträge zur Popularmusikforschung, 39),
hrsg, von Dietrich Helms und Thomas Phleps, Bielefeld: transcript, S. 187–209.
21,80 EUR bei transcript Verlag.
Online-Volltext eingebettet von Uni Gießen.
Few other bands rival Rammstein's capacity to polarise opinion, particularly on the question of authenticity and artificiality. Controversies have centred on the issue of whether the band is fascist or apolitical, homophobic or pro-homosexuality, irresponsibly provocative or liberating.
This analysis does not aim to decide this question by defining the authentic expression of opinions. It would be inappropriate and misleading to search Rammstein's songs for signs of the band's true convictions. By shifting the focus to the question of whether, to what extent and through which specific artistic means the band's work may seem fascist, pro- homosexuality etc, at a given moment, this paper shows that an elaborate interplay of inconsistent, equivocal and diffuse quotations, allusions and symbolism constitutes the effective strategy of Rammstein's work. This strategy may have the potential to stimulate social discussions on extra-aesthetic topics, but it is nevertheless of a genuinely aesthetic kind, as is the provocation it may involve.
A detailed analysis of the music video "Mann gegen Mann" provides an example of the indissoluble ambiguity of pro-homosexual and homophobic implications as its central aesthetic point at the levels of text, music and video.
(Abstract, ebd., S. 209)
