‘One Feels so Much in These Times!’ Emotional Education and the Construction of New Subjectivities: Sex Education Films in Early 1960s GDR

Abstract

Shown in different formats—from cinema to television—in a variety of settings, this chapter outlines the role these films played in discourses on sex education in the GDR in the 1960s, which for their part were highly influenced by psychology and pedagogy. The article will argue that these films not only served the pedagogical function of teaching viewers about sexuality, but also aimed to (re-)produce the ideal of the ‘new man’ for a newly emerging socialist society that was to be founded on a new way of educating emotions. Since the education of youth was regarded a key issue for the construction of new selves, the medium of film with its special attractiveness for the young generation can be viewed as an instrument for forming new subjectivities.