Critics rarely associate popular film with German cinema, despite the international success of films like ""Das Boot"" (1981), ""The Never-Ending Story"" (1984) ""Run Lola Run"" (1998) and recent German comedies, all representing a body of work outside the parameters of high culture. This success has compelled the editors of this volume to look at German popular film across the historical spectrum and to challenge the tendency among critics to divvy up German film, like Germans themselves, into the Good and the Bad. Together the essays re-examine popular film production along with larger cultural, historical and political meanings suggested by the term ""popular"". The essays challenge the traditional shape of German film history, while offering in-depth analyses of films that have, until now, been beyond the pale of critical attention. What emerges is a story of oft-repeated obsessions, overlapping generic forms, omnipresent or subtle nods to Hollywood and myriad political concerns irreducible to a unified message or aesthetic form - all bearing witness to the vibrance of German culture.
