Berlin in Television Drama Series: A Mediated Space

Abstract

Since the early days of film Berlin and the film studios in its suburbs was an important site of production. Signature films for film historians such as Metropolis and The Blue Angel were shot at the UFA studios in Babelsberg. Throughout its history Berlin was and is a popular place for media productions with the city functioning as a text, full of meaning that turns into branded value. The article will investigate the complex relationship of historical and societal events and Berlin as a production site and an imaginary landscape respectively cityscape. Based on the analysis of national and international drama series we will argue that the increasing importance of Berlin as production site and location goes hand in hand with an increasing mediated imagination of the city as a cinematic respectively televisual space that is able to represent past events such as the Nazi regime and the cold war and actual events such as organised crime, counter terrorist activities, and an intercultural life in a modern metropolis.