Dr. Martin R. Herbers

Stock characters in entertainment television are well known to all of
us: the wise old man, the nurturing mother, and the rebellious teenager
evoke images in our mind, accompanied by a set of character traits and
flaws. They are stereotypical depictions of societal roles, which help
us navigate through the story and set up certain expectations. Producers
script their behaviour and their ways of talking into the characters, in
order to meet audiences' expectations. These fictional stereotypes are
thus based on real-world people and thus encapsulate political power.
The often-repeated depiction of a certain social group might lead to
practices of real societal inclusion or exclusion, dependent on the
likeability of the fictional character. This becomes even more relevant
when the stock character of 'the foreigner' is introduced to a
television show.

One special form of foreigner, 'the immigrant', is painted in a rather
diverse manner, at least on German entertainment television. Following
'established' cultural and national stereotypes, in particular serial
fiction blatantly refers to stock characters. For example, Germany's
longest running daily soap opera* *[*Gute Zeiten, Schlechte
Zeiten*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gute_Zeiten,_schlechte_Zeiten) (*Good
Times, Bad Times*) broadcast since 1992, which is set in Berlin,
features several second- and third generation Turkish immigrants. When
it comes to their 'occupations', they are presented as owners of small
convenience stores or are shady, small-time crooks. Germany's weekly
crime drama [*Tatort*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatort)* (Scene of
Crime)*, dealing with the underworld of major German cities, often
depicts migrants as perpetrators. Contrary to the aforementioned show,
the producers of *Tatort* frame these fictional criminal activities in
regard to the social background of the characters and even feature
detectives from migrant communities, thus depicting them in a more
positive light. This 'reframing' of the stereotypes associated with the
migrants is taken to the extreme by the weekly soap
opera [*Lindenstraße*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindenstra%C3%9Fe),
running since 1985 every Sunday evening. The show is set in a suburb of
Munich and features a Greek family, which runs the local
bar/restaurant *Akropolis -- *the heart of the social life
of *Lindenstraße's *neighbourhood. A nearby Turkish fast food venue
serves the same purpose, showing 'fully integrated' migrants,
contributing to the social life of their community. All these examples
depict them as blue-collar, working-class people, with no ambition, or
possibility, to liberate themselves from these positions, thus
perpetuating established stereotypes. Nevertheless, since these are
fictional stories, there should be at least the possibility for these
characters to go beyond their limitations and start to thrive.* *Thus,
fictional entertainment on television is a double-edged sword, as far as
the (re-)presentation of the issue of migration and the stereotypical
depiction of migrants are concerned.

The migrants genuinely do not have a say in their mediatised depiction,
they have to live with the real-world consequences of these media
images. Yet, there is a way of subverting and re-inventing these
stereotypes -- through *comedy*, which allows the migrants to reclaim
their voice and talk about the processes of estrangement and *othering*.

Comedy in general can be constructed as a form of communication which
provides a 'social shelter', which is free from established power
constellations, making it save for the communicators to voice certain
opinions or topics, which are otherwise a social taboo, as Dutch
sociologists Anton C. Zijderveld argues in his *Sociology of Humour and
Laughter* (1983). This form of shelter necessarily only lasts a certain
amount of time, as it deconstructs the established social and symbolic
orders and shows their arbitrariness. This form of communication has a
rich history in Germany and the German-speaking countries, leading to a
variety of institutional forms, such as carnivals and cabaret. Their
mediatised offspring is television comedy, which is an important part of
German television programming, especially for the public service media.
Political comedy, or cabaret, takes on political issues and their
mediatised images as well.

 

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With regard to the issue of migration, one show especially stands out:
the comedy show
"[*StandUpMigranten*](http://www.einsplus.de/-/id=11792722/1tgq4fr/)"
(*StandUpMigrants*), broadcasted every other Saturday in a prime-time
slot on eins\|plus, a smaller public service channel, provides its own
take on the issue of migration and migrants. Running since 2013, it is
now in its 3^rd^ season. Hosted by the German-Moroccan
comedian [*Abdelkarim*](http://www.abdelkarim.tv/), each episode
features up to three stand-up comedians with a distinct migratory
background. A shisha bar in Munich serves as a makeshift comedy club,
rich with 'ethnic' and oriental decor for the comedians that perform in
front of a live audience. The comedians' *shtick* is usually taken from
their own life and experiences as migrants (or second or third
generation immigrant) in Germany. Thematically, their routines deal with
all aspects of migratory life, such as language difficulties, or the
German administrative system. Nevertheless, they take on their
stereotypical depictions as well. They reinforce German prejudiced
stereotypes of Turkish migrants selling *Doner kebab*, fundamentalist
Arab migrants, and imperialistic Americans. But these comedians need to
build upon these stereotypes in order to break them down through humour.

Take for example [Idil Baydar](http://www.idilbaydar.de/) (age 40),
famous for her character Jilet Ayse, an obnoxious, loudmouth,
18-year-old, 3^rd^ generation Turkish immigrant in Berlin and regular
guest on S*tandUpMigranten*. She portrays everything you know (or think
to know and maybe fear) about Turkish migrants in Germany. She does so,
in order to express her seemingly erratic behaviour by *explaining* it
-- her way of dressing, acting, her cultural background and of course,
her life as a teenager. Thus, she fills her character with life and a
backstory, which gives insights into the life of a Turkish teenager, far
beyond the established stereotypical forms of depiction.

*StandUpMigranten* seems to have a clear political agenda. It gives a
voice to the often-silenced groups of migrants, which mostly appear in
entertainment media as crooks and troublemakers. The (migrant) comedians
build on theses stereotypes and subvert them, by placing their
characters in everyday situations, which are familiar to German
audiences, but narrate them through migrants' eyes. They take on their
own stereotypes of Germans as well -- with their seemingly endless
words, their complicated grammar, their highly regulated administration,
and of course their lack of humour. Thus, they place these everyday
situations in a new context and disturb the established routines of
everyday life on both sides. These deconstructions may only last until
the laughter is gone, but nevertheless contribute to the public
discussion of migratory life in Germany.

 

 

**Dr. Martin R. Herbers** works at the Zeppelin University in
Friedrichshafen, Germany. Other than getting great views of Lake
Constance, he spends a lot of time watching television, especially
comedy. In "[Ridiculing
Stereotypes](https://www.zu.de/lehrstuehle/amk/forschungsprojekte.php?mode=detail&id=479)",
his on-going research project, he analyses the contribution of
"StandUpMigranten" to the public discussion of the issue of migration in
Germany. Based on content analyses of the stand-up routines by the
comedians, he investigates the routines of (de)constructing the
established stereotypical depictions of immigrants and the accompanying
subversion and re-interpretation of these stereotypes. In a second line
of research he conducts guided interviews with the show's production
team in order to grasp underlying editorial processes. Results will be
available in Spring 2016.


Stock characters in entertainment television are well known to all of us: the wise old man, the nurturing mother, and the rebellious teenager evoke images in our mind, accompanied by a set of character traits and flaws. They are stereotypical depictions of societal roles, which help us navigate through the story and set up certain expectations.

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

STEREOTYPICAL DEPICTIONS OF IMMIGRANTS – THE CASE OF GERMAN ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION