After doing the readings and watching the film, meditate on what elements of (East) German culture stood out to you in the film. (I.e. what seemed unexpected, weird, or otherwise very foreign in the film?) How do the readings help to contextualize and/or clarify these elements of culture?
Consider what it would be like to suddenly go from an economy of scarcity to the abundance and perhaps decadence of Western consumer culture overnight. What are some of the benefits and problems?
Do you find it weird that Ostalgia in general, and the film specifically, try to recreate some feeling of the GDR through consumer products? How might you interpret that?
How big of a deal is it for Alex that the GDR dissolves? Is he focused on politics or his day-to-day life? What does that mean to you?
Alex’s mom reveals at their cabin that their father hadn’t left them; rather, that she had been too scared to escape with her children and meet back up with their father. How does this revelation recontextualize her relationship to the SED and GDR, as well as to the mock-GDR that Alex was producing for her?