Author Mennel To Discuss 1931 ‘Mädchen in Uniform’ Film At Free Screening Wednesday
Dr. Barbara Mennel will discuss the 1931 German film “Mädchen in Uniform” at a free screening on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Rudder Forum.
The recently restored “Mädchen in Uniform” — or “Girls in Uniform” — was directed by Leontine Sagan and is based on the play “Yesterday and Today” by Christa Winsloe. The 1931 film is considered a classic of women’s filmmaking and LGBTQ cinema and was a controversial, worldwide hit, according to Dr. Daniel Humphrey, professor of Visual, Material and Performance Cultures.
“The film allows us to better understand the present by seeing how things were in the past,” Humphrey said. “It is important for LGBTQ people to see others like them, especially during the time period of the film, as the culture was shifting from a progressive one into the nightmare of Nazi Germany. It also shows that LGBTQ love can be beautiful too, and that same-sex feelings have always existed.”
The screening is co-sponsored by the Film and Media Studies program, the Women’s and Gender Studies program, the Department of Global Languages and Cultures and the VMPC (Visual, Material & Performance Cultures) Speaker Series.
A reception for Mennel will be held Wednesday from 5:30-7 p.m. at the University Club atop Rudder Tower. She will also host a 60-minute lecture and preview of the material in her forthcoming book on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Langford Architecture Building C, Room 207.
Mennel is an author and professor at the University of Florida and works in the German Studies and English Department, where she is associated with the Film and Media Studies Program and the Feminisms, Genders & Sexualities Track. She is set to publish a book about “Mädchen in Uniform” as part of the British Film Institute’s Film Classics Series with Bloomsbury in May 2024.
“Mädchen” was a phenomenon in its debut, but it somewhat “fell off the radar” until the early 1970s with the rise of second-wave feminism and the LGBTQ liberation movement, Humphrey said.
“It was rediscovered and restored, and it was considered the first feature film focused on two women where there is this kind of unmistakable romantic desire between them,” he said. “It is generally seen as the first lesbian love story.”
The movie takes place at a boarding school for girls who are part of military families. The lead actress plays a 15-year-old schoolgirl who falls in love with her teacher, Humphrey said. What appears to be a crush later develops into a school scandal.
“This scandal leads to the ostracization of the student, and the headmistress plans to expel her,” he said. “But then the other students ultimately kind of rally around her and support her, so it has a happy ending.”
The film stresses a theme of anti-authoritarianism against a militaristic mindset that was growing in the years leading to the rise of the Nazi regime, Humphrey said. The student is choosing a rebellious mentality in affirming her romantic feelings toward another woman, and that is presented as a heroic pushback against the era’s rising authoritarianism, he said.
“It ticked a lot of boxes for people as this very progressive, pro-woman, feminist, lesbian film that came out in Germany, right as Hitler is sort of emerging on the scene,” Humphrey said. “And it was directed by a woman, which was rare at the time.”
Humphrey said he hopes students who see the film can appreciate the cinematography and the ways films have changed since the 1930s. He said the storyline suggests how all aspects of society are interconnected and relatable to themes today.
“It isn’t just about a girl falling in love with her teacher,” he said. “It is about how that becomes a challenge to other things in society. I would hope this film would increase anyone’s understanding through empathy, which would lead to compassion.”
