German Film, Aufgehoben: Ensembles of Transnational Cinema

5. See Anthony Smith, "Images of the Nation: Cinema, Art and National Identity," in Cinema and Nation. Smith proposes an "ethno-symbolic" approach that could be considered a cultural aesthetic. However, as it anticipates a certain universality of structures, it might be better considered a functionalist approach. He focuses on "various ethnic elements" as they function in the "visual representation of national identity" (57). See also Susan Hayward, French National Cinema (New York: Routledge, 1993). She identifies structural categories that belong to the formation of national cinema: narratives, genres, codes and conventions, gesturality and morphology, the star as sign, cinema of the center and cinema of the periphery, and cinema as the mobilizer of the nation's myths. Structurally these categories may mark sites of national enunciation, but that is neither their natural nor necessary function. In a subsequent essay, Hayward focuses her attention on the "writing of a national cinema," where her observations indirectly problematize her earlier work. See "Framing National Cinemas," in Cinema and Nation 88-102. 21. In the era of global capitalism attempts to contain finances within national parameters often turn out to be impossible; indeed, capital ends up flowing in unexpected directions. The requirement that film projects be certified as profitable proved problematic. German production companies could rarely achieve such certification and the new finance capital went instead to Hollywood. German investment money in fact created the budgets for Mission: Impossible 2 (John Woo, 2000), Double Jeopardy (Bruce Beresford, 1999), Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese, 2002), The General's Daughter (Simon West, 1999), 8mm (Joel Schumacher, 1999), Austin Powers (Jay Roach, 1997), and the remake of Rollerball (John McTiernan, 2002) as well as a host of other more or less successful deals. For discussions of these media funds, see Jochen Schutze, "Rendite mit Cruise and Co," Cinema 7 (2000): 108-10; Patrick Frater, "German Outfits Build US Presence with Raft of Joint-Venture Deals," Screen International 12 May 2000; Dana Harris and Charles Lyons "Will the Money Tree Wilt? Studios Harvest Euro Coin before Big Chill," Variety 21 Aug. 2000; Hans-Jurgen Jakobs, "Viel Geld, wenig Ahnung," Der Spiegel 14 Aug. 2000: 80-83; "Deutsches Talent und deutsches Geld in L.A.," Blickpunkt: Film 47 (2000): 33-34; Regine Funke "Medienfonds als renditeorientierte Beteiligung," Blickpunk