Wenders in Motion: A Study On The Way Of Characterization In Wim Wenders’ Road Movies

Authors

  • Erman Pehlivan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2013.63

Abstract

Famous for his road movies, WimWenders, has a deeper understanding of the word; motion. More than often,Wenders tells the story of wanderers by putting them in a constant state oftravel.  These travels alter thewanderers’ characters and play a key role in Wenders’ storytelling. This paperstudies Wim Wenders’ way of characterization in three parts. The first partstates out keywords to define Wim Wenders’ wanderers: movement/motion, thejourney, homesickness, spatial levels, the Ozu connection. And it mainlyfocuses on his road trilogy: Im Lauf der Zeit (1976), FalscheBewegung (1975), and Alice in den Städten (1974), whileexplaining the stated keywords. The second part only focuses on Paris, Texas(1984) and its main character Travis, who might be seen as the ultimatewanderer whom all other Wenders’ characters blend in to. Thethird and the final part takes Der Himmel Über Berlin (1987) as ‘avertical road movie’ hoping for finding a cure for the worldwide homesicknessthat all the Wenders’ wanderers suffer.  Also there are a handful of musicreferences hidden through the paper in homage to director’s love for rock ‘n’roll music.

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Published

2013-06-04

How to Cite

Pehlivan, E. (2013). Wenders in Motion: A Study On The Way Of Characterization In Wim Wenders’ Road Movies. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 2(2), 82–109. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2013.63

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