9/27 The Blue Angel

Assignment due 10/11

Part 1:

Night Ghost - by Rudolf Nelson, lyrics by Friedrich Hollaender 

I’m the night ghost, your sweet night ghost,
I wake you up each time you call me your darling.
Don’t be so scared, It's only me waking you.

Ich bin das Nachtgespenst, dein suesses Nachtgespenst.
Ich weck dich, wenn du pennst, sooft wie’s du mich Liebling nennst.
Sei bloss nicht so erschreckt, du wirst nur aufgeweckt.



For this first song I chose these particular lines because they remind me of the Freud's interpretation of dreams as discussed in the lecture. The "night ghost" to me is the thoughts that we repress which then take form in dreams that keep us up at night. When we repress something we don't want to deal with it comes to life in our unconscious thought, just as Freud describes. I had a bad dream recently where I dreamed I was in a car accident. Earlier that day my friend had actually gotten into a car accident and I repressed my feelings of fear of getting into an accident myself while I drive. That same night I dreamed that terrible dream that was recalling those feelings of fear and repression. Just as the song says, we call out to these strange dreams due to these external events that occur within our daily lives. We repress them and for the most part dream of them and depending on the intensity of having a repression break free is this idea of waking up because of it.  




Lavender - by Mischa Spoliansky, lyrics by Kurt Schwabach

They make our lives hell here on Earth
poisoning us with guilt and shame
If we resist, prison awaits so our love dares not speak its name
The crime is when love must hide
From now on we'll love with pride

der klug und gut, jedoch mit Blut

von eigner Art durchströmt ist,

da grade die Kategorie

vor dem Gesetz verbannt ist,

die im Gefühl bei Lust und Spiel

und in der Art verwandt ist?

Und dennoch sind die meisten stolz,

da sie von anderm Holz!

These lyrics that I chose from this second song titled Lavender ties into the paragraph 175 we had to also read. These lyrics explain the hate towards the homophobic treatment of people at the time since 1871 (when it was enforced and unchanged into the Nazi Era)(All of this info is coming from the website where the paragraph is). These lyrics directly links to the punishment of imprisonment for any sexual act between two people (the actual law specifies males only) and how they are not going to take the repression anymore. Societies view on how individuals should live their lives is leaking into the most personal of places, their sexual orientation. Homophobia is not something new and it was clearly taboo during this time period. I don't completely know whether or not the lyrics translate directly, but I don't think they do. There is a lot lost in translation (I am studying german on my own time). 

Part 2:

Paragraph 175 Summary and Interpretation: 

Paragraph 175 discusses the laws that are based on homophobia. The laws state that any man that does anything sexual with another man (willingly or forced through abuse) will be punished through imprisonment. The laws limits the age to being over 21 to take these legal actions towards the individuals that would be in question. The law also states that any relation between humans and animals are to also be punished by imprisonment. These laws violate the rights of an individual to live as they wish. Like it was discussed in the lecture there were strict regulations when it came to what individuals could and could not do. It places into question what is truly considered to be free will. Free will, in the most simplest of terms means you are free to do as you wish. You would assume that this also incorporates one's personal life as long as harm is brought upon others. Yet the true definition of free will is stained with these contradictory theories of people like Kant. Other's would say that free will is the will to follow along with what is good with the collective, you have the right to have free will as long as that free will is to obey. I might be getting ahead of myself because that is all Rousseau I am speaking of. However, I believe that this paragraph shows the way that the free will of people has never truly been free, the same way that there is no such thing as TRUE democracy. This all gives a rise to Nihilism (as was also discussed in the lecture) where people don't see a true meaning to anything when even their freedoms are limited by laws that violate their natural rights to pursue happiness as they wish.