Constructed Realities? Rhenish lignite mining in corporate films
- Phd project
- Researcher: Felix Frank
- Supervisor: Christian Bunnenberg & Juliane Czierpka
Corporate films claim a pseudo-documentary approach. This is primarily about the purpose of representation for the company and the associated internal
perception of truth. At the same time, advertising films of this type reached (and still reach) a wide audience and were sometimes used as information
and teaching media. Recipients are therefore only ever presented with an alternative form of reality. Against the background of the broad distribution
of these works, this is a remarkable fact. The question arises to what extent a possible manipulative character is accepted by the producers, but also
by the recipients. In terms of historical studies, this raises the question of the public confrontation with (pseudo)truths presented on film and their
source value. At the same time, the claim of society as a whole is the subject of the investigation. The interconnections of politics, economics and public
relations play a major role. This results in the necessity of evaluating historical images in public discourse.
The aim of the research project is to analyse and evaluate these films as a source for historical studies. In relation to the industry of lignite mining, the focus is
thus on the questions of the extent to which topics such as resource protection, landscape changes and resettlement are communicated and adapted to contemporary debates.
Likewise, the question arises of the power and impact of these media and how they can influence the shaping of reality by the public.