Our time in Germany is nearly up. The Ferry home's tomorrow. Back to Blighty.
Looking back over a month here I recall a theme I've blogged about afore. How countries have distinct popular cultures. Logical I hear you say. I guess it is.
In the UK we expect some space toys at car boots, lots of old toys made in Hong Kong, American TV merchandise and Marvel and DC comics.
Not so Germany. The car boot pop culture is quite different and distinct. Tons of Playmobil and I mean tons. Mountains of Kinder toys. German TV character toys that we never had in the UK ( for example Lurchi the Salamander) and libraries of German comics, a thriving scene in its own right: Asterix, John Sinclair, Perry Rhodan, Zack and countless more.
Other than Playmobil, I didn't see a single space related toy at any boot sale.
Obviously there are international brands. Barbie, He-Man, Transformers, WWF but your as likely to see some old French toys. I saw a lovely boxed Charlie Chaplin in a French or Belgian box.
Beyond toys, two things stood out for me. McDonalds isn't the mammoth fast food presence here. It seems muted against the local competition of an entire Wurst culture, Currywurst being almost a national dish, which you can get everywhere.
The other thing is Monsters. As you know I'm a monster nut. I grew up on a strict diet of Universal Monsters and Hammer Horrors as a baby boomer in Britain. It's in my blood.
So when I saw an book about visiting castles along the Rhine I was amazed to see Castle Frankenstein! Wowzers! A castle with the name of the most famous monster of all. Surely there's a connection even if it's just the name. I expected a footnote making it clear.
Nada. Nichts. Nowt! Not a word. I couldn't believe it. Surely it was an error.
I discussed this at a meal with our two baby boomer German mates and their big young family of thirty somethings, a decent enough sample group of the country. I was sure they would agree. The castles book has simply made a mistake missing out something about Frankenstein's monster.
Who?
Our mates actually said Who?
They had never seen Frankenstein the film and even worse never heard of the famous novel by Mary Shelley!
It just wasn't on the German radar.
I was gobsmacked. The monster has a German name for Gott's sake!
I staggered out of their house later, after several biers, imitating said Creature with my outstretched arms and Karloff walk but I might as well have been the invisible man!
Is Frankenstein well-known in your neck of the woods readers?
When I was a student, I spent a term on an exchange programme, at a State University in upstate New York, USA.
ReplyDeleteWhilst there, an election took place for one of the student bodies and despite being from the UK, I was allowed a vote.
On checking the candidates, I was amazed to find that one of them was called Richard 'Dick' Frankenstein. I kid you not !
Needless to say, I voted for him.
I felt we needed more 'monster maker' representatives running the Union.
Ha ha, I hope Monster Dick won! In my old Skool we had a Head called Dick. His name badge read: Dick, Head!
DeleteHilarious Woodsy.
ReplyDeleteI am somewhat familiar with Burg Frankenstein as we passed through the town of Frankenstein a couple of times in order to ride the Kuckucks-Bähnel in Elmstein. I had wanted to stop and and least take photos of it high atop the hill however, sadly, never got around to it :-( They did have annual Halloween celebrations there though quite popular with American servicemen
ReplyDeleteWow! You've actually been Ed! Fantastic! On the strength of your comment about parties there I looked on Wiki. Yep, they still hold Halloween parties there, the biggest in Germany. I take all back, Castle Frankenstein is indeed on the German radar!
DeleteI hope you get a chance to go there Woodsy and party. While there, do check out the Kuckucks-Bähnel
DeleteAs an American, I am consistently amazed by the differences that exist in so many western cultures. American and British, British and Western European, Western European and Eastern European...
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised at all, if it turned out that Frankenstein WAS unknown in Germany as you first thought.
I watch a lot of Japanese programs (translated into English) on their equivalent of Public Broadcasting. And it's surprising just how different things we take for granted (and some that our culture may have gone insane about) just don't appear to enter into their news.
PS. Weird Star Trek Aliens ain't got nothing on Japan and Germany!
DeleteI lived in Germany nine years and the impression I got was that a lot Germans really don't seem to appreciate their own history. But in a way we're the same. How many people do you know actually liked history in school, or can talk about history in general? It's not as exciting as that new iPhone app or the latest round of sports games on TV. The world wars are of course are not talked about much (although I do have a couple of stories from Bettina's relatives) but they don't seem to 'get into' their own, extremely rich history. I lived in towns where the houses were older than America and it doesn't phase them because it's just the house they grew up in. They do of course take pride in the older buildings and architecture but that's kind of on a different level. When I met my wife I told her and her mother, "Stick with me and I'll show you Germany." They laughed but in large part it was true.
DeleteYeah, the knowledge of history is difficult.
DeleteWhen I was a kid in school, I thought it would be neat. My dad was in the Navy from 1942-1970, and I grew up around Navy Museums and stuff, so I thought history would be neat and interesting.
But, History was a struggle in school, because they didn't like teaching the fun side of American History. Then High school was worse. They wanted to teach how America was bad. College was even worse. They wanted to teach how America was Evil.
It wasn't until I graduated and started watching The History Channel (Now junk) that my interest in history rekindled.
The Germans I've met have little knowledge of German History. I think it was from an distaste for looking at WWII.
I remember teaching a friend about German Naval History of World War One. He was amazed.
Yep, Europe is made up of lots of distinct nations with wholly different cultures. I've visited quite a few but it would take a lifetime to spend time in them all. I imagine very few Americans get to visit every state.
DeleteThere were no old Universal monster movies on TV in New Zealand in the 1960s and 1970s, and little Hammer. So I simply did not grow up with monsters the way you did. There was The Munsters on TV, but I did not realise who these characters were based on. There was a Monster type family on The Flintstones. I knew about the book, and Mary Shelley, and films, but only dimly. It was only as an adult that I discovered the fun of the old monsters, and their films. I certainly had no idea there were kits of them by Aurora, and never saw any in New Zealand in my early days as a modeller. So, no, monsters were not big in NZ in the 1960s and 1970s. Probably not considered suitable fare for children anyway.
ReplyDeleteInteresting Paul. I wonder just how far the monster craze spread out from the US?
Delete