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Abstract
Helke Sander is not only known to some as the founder of the second feminist movement in West Germany, but also as a filmmaker and recently as a writer of fiction. In my discussion of the political and artistic nature of her major films as well as her literature I analyze Sander's feminist strategies and discuss the role that gender, subjectivity, authorship, women and humor play in her texts. In my close readings of her work, I draw from theories in the area of film studies, feminism, cultural studies, reception theory, humor and musicology. With this eclectic framework I show how this filmmaker and writer experiments with differing unconventional narrative strategies in order to highlight and question the gender split between female and male, the dichotomy between fiction and fact, sensuousness and rationality.
Sander's critique of both genders takes place on a textual and formalistic level, i.e. it builds and takes apart narrative structures to show how truth and knowledge come into existence. In her refusal to abandon the social subject, Sander shows a commitment to "cultural feminism" as opposed to "feminism in theory" without abandoning theoretical matters. I argue that she foregrounds both Woman (as construct) and women (as social subjects), and addresses the (female) viewer/reader directly. This direct address becomes of major importance during her later development as a filmmaker and writer. After leaving behind her early "militant" as well as her more experimental and self-reflexive phase, her attempts to reach the viewer/readers are characterized by an increase in witty and ironic episodes characteristic of feminist humor.
