eJournals Colloquia Germanica 56/4

Colloquia Germanica
cg
0010-1338
Francke Verlag Tübingen
121
2023
564

The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge (1969-70): Luis Trenker and Transnational Bergfernsehen

121
2023
Daniel Winkler
Andreas Ehrenreich
Luftsprünge, a 13-episode television series from 1969-70, represents an early color series. The co-production of the Second German Television (ZDF) and the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) not only occupied a prominent broadcasting slot, but also represented a kind of high-quality mainstream program designed to meet the diverse expectations of transnational audiences. Alongside the young Tyrolean ski instructor Toni (Toni Sailer), 77-year-old South Tyrolean Luis Trenker plays the temperamental hotelier and ski school owner Hannes Kogler. In the area of tension between sporting pleasure and tourist work, the light-hearted series strategically brings together atouts from different generations, genres and media sectors. The analysis of Luftsprünge thus explores the question of how television adapts the genre of the mountain film. This adaptation process is closely related to Trenker’s notoriety. Due to his advanced age, he skillfully used the new medium of television from the late 1950s on to change his public image. Luftsprünge is a prime example of this strategy. We argue that the television series takes key elements of the mountain film and remediates the genre according to the advanced age of its protagonist, the affluence achieved in Western Europe, and the changing media landscape. The televisual reappraisal leads to a different mode of representation that deviates from the narrative concerns of the classic mountain film. While earlier mountain films glorified masculinity and self-discipline in the context of conquering pristine mountain peaks, what we call mountain television softens these outdated values by staging the Alps as a site of transnational tourism and tourist labor. Mountain television softens the inherent drama of the mountain film genre, replacing alpine life-and-death struggles with comedy and love stories between the slopes and the hotel. In Luftsprünge, the mountains are no longer conquered, but consumed by relaxed vacationers. Aesthetically, mountain television adopts the conventions of the conventions of the television play.
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The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge (1969-70): Luis Trenker and Transnational Bergfernsehen Daniel Winkler and Andreas Ehrenreich University of Heidelberg / Independent Scholar Abstract: Luftsprünge , a 13-episode television series from 1969-70, represents an early color series� The co-production of the Second German Television (ZDF) and the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) not only occupied a prominent broadcasting slot, but also represented a kind of high-quality mainstream program designed to meet the diverse expectations of transnational audiences� Alongside the young Tyrolean ski instructor Toni (Toni Sailer), 77-year-old South Tyrolean Luis Trenker plays the temperamental hotelier and ski school owner Hannes Kogler� In the area of tension between sporting pleasure and tourist work, the light-hearted series strategically brings together atouts from different generations, genres and media sectors. The analysis of Luftsprünge thus explores the question of how television adapts the genre of the mountain film. This adaptation process is closely related to Trenker’s notoriety. Due to his advanced age, he skillfully used the new medium of television from the late 1950s on to change his public image� Luftsprünge is a prime example of this strategy� We argue that the television series takes key elements of the mountain film and remediates the genre according to the advanced age of its protagonist, the affluence achieved in Western Europe, and the changing media landscape. The televisual reappraisal leads to a different mode of representation that deviates from the narrative concerns of the classic mountain film. While earlier mountain films glorified masculinity and self-discipline in the context of conquering pristine mountain peaks, what we call mountain television softens these outdated values by staging the Alps as a site of transnational tourism and tourist labor� Mountain television softens the inherent drama of the mountain film genre, replacing alpine life-and-death struggles with comedy and love stories between the slopes and the hotel� In Luftsprünge , the mountains are no longer conquered, but consumed by relaxed vacationers. Aesthetically, mountain television adopts the conventions of the conventions of the television play� 342 Daniel Winkler and Andreas Ehrenreich Keywords: TV series, “Bergfernsehen”, Tourism, Ski comedy, Heimatfilm, Hotel series, sexploitation The Austrian-German co-production Luftsprünge , a television series of 13 episodes with a duration of 25 minutes each, was broadcast from 1969 to 1970 every Friday evening on two TV stations, reaching an average of 21 million viewers on the West German market alone (Schaffner). A mere two years before shooting began in 1967, the era of color television had been symbolically inaugurated by Vice Chancellor Willy Brandt at the German Broadcasting Exhibition (Hickethier 213)� Since Luftsprünge was a color series at a time when color television was relatively new, the broadcasters decided to package it as premium content. The series, a co-production of the Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) and the Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), not only occupied a prominent time slot, but it also represented a kind of high-quality mainstream program designed to satisfy the diverging expectations of transnational audiences� Set against the backdrop of the socioeconomic prosperity of the 1960s, the series narrates the adventures of the employees and guests in a Kitzbühel winter sports hotel� Alongside the young Tyrolean ski instructor Toni (Toni Sailer), the 77-year-old South Tyrolean Luis Trenker plays the spirited hotelier and ski school owner Hannes Kogler. While negotiating sportive pleasure and touristic work, the lighthearted series strategically brings together stars from different generations, genres, and media industries. Our analysis of Luftsprünge traces the ways in which television remediates the Bergfilm genre� This process of adaptation is closely related to the stardom of veteran performer Trenker, who appeared in many roles in the Bergfilm cycle of Arnold Fanck in the 1920s and personally directed and produced even more alpine feature films in the 1930s, combining the Bergfilm with diverse genres such as the biopic, the historical film, and the Western. Due to his high-profile contributions to the German and Italian cinemas of the Fascist era, Trenker became politically compromised after the Second World War. Moreover, having turned 60 in 1952, his age became a major concern, given that his public image was still associated with athletic and powerful characters. As a result, starting in the late 1950s, he skillfully used the new medium of television to alter his public image and promote himself as a keen mountaineer and storyteller while omitting his complicity with the Third Reich and embracing his advanced age� Most of these mass media productions, often broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), try to bring his homeland of (South) Tyrol closer to the (tourist) audience of the late 1960s, a period that was shaped by increasing prosperity and media consumption� The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge 343 Luftsprünge is a prime example of this strategy� We argue that the TV series perpetuates key elements of the Bergfilm , transfiguring the genre in accordance with the advanced age of its protagonist, the prosperity achieved in Western Europe, and the changed media landscape. The televisual remediation results in a different mode of representation that deviates from the narrative concerns of the classical Bergfilm � Whereas earlier Bergfilme glorified virility and self-discipline associated with conquering pristine mountain peaks, what we call Bergfernsehen attenuates these outdated values by staging the Alps as the locus of transnational tourism and touristic labor� Bergfernsehen softens the drama inherent to the Bergfilm genre, preferring comedy and love stories over alpine life-or-death struggles� In Luftsprünge , mountains are no longer vanquished but consumed by laid-back vacationers. Aesthetically, Bergfernsehen adopts the conventions of the TV play. Before we dwell on its topical and aesthetic strategies, it is worthwhile to consider the way in which Trenker became a figurehead of the televisual genre� By the time Luftsprünge went into production, the South Tyrolean Luis Trenker, born in 1892, had already built a long and wide-ranging media career, which had taken him from Arnold Fanck’s so-called “Freiburg School” of cinematography to the media metropolises of Berlin, Rome, and Munich. As an actor and filmmaker, novelist and non-fiction writer, and a promoter for a range of products, Trenker had become a household name by the 1920s� He performed with Leni Riefenstahl in some of Fanck’s Bergfilme , such as Der heilige Berg (1926) and Der große Sprung (1927), and he collaborated with other Bergfilm directors of the silent era in features such as Der Kampf ums Matterhorn (1928) and Der Ruf des Nordens (1929)� Going back to early romantic landscape representations and Christian representation conventions, which allegorized the striving for divine knowledge on high, the highly experimental camera technology of the Bergfilm forms a complementary device to the consumer and everyday culture of modern metropolises of the 1920s. Allowing the audience to cultivate sublime, contemplative feelings without having to forego the melodramatic, the Bergfilm stages excursions to high mountain peaks with ice axes and ropes, dangerous falls, avalanches and rescue operations around athletic (savior) figures who strive upwards and conquer previously unexplored peaks (Rentschler, “Mountains and Modernity” 147—51). A few years later, after the wave of success of this silent Bergfilm cycle, Trenker began working on his own, more hybrid sound films, such as Berge in Flammen (1931), Der Rebell (1932), and Der verlorene Sohn (1934), as an actor, (co-)director, and co-screenwriter. Classic Bergfilm scenes, which include long non-narrative ascents and descents and static mountain and cloud panoramas, still played an essential role in his first successful films in the 344 Daniel Winkler and Andreas Ehrenreich 1930s, oscillating between Bergfilm and other genres such as adventure films set in the Alps and historical and war movies� Focusing primarily on mentally and physically virile, determined characters who often make the conquest of space in the age of European colonialism a goal in life, these films continue to aim for a mythical-sacred effect as they stage an allegorical visual language of the transcendental high-altitude landscape� Trenker assumed an important role in the film industry when Germany was rebuilt as a totalitarian state� Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels not only appreciated some of Trenker’s films, such as Der Rebell , but also met with the director to discuss his ideas about film art (Alt 6, 12). The filmmaker was entrusted with high-profile German-Italian state projects such as Condottieri (1937)� Despite his tight relations with the regime, Trenker was not a staunch Nazi but an opportunistic entrepreneur who seized the chance to make more films when he realized that the Nazis were interested in his topics and artistic approach. In the 1930s, Trenker fell out of favor with the regime because of his hesitation about the South Tyrol question and the national and religious ambivalence of some of his films. When his job opportunities diminished, he moved to Rome and sought to gain a foothold in the Italian film industry - a ploy that proved ineffectual and resulted in growing financial difficulties for the filmmaker (cf. Birgel; Daffner). After the end of the Second World War, Trenker struggled to carry out film projects and measure up to the popularity of his earlier work� Through a number of court cases, he became infamous as a forger and plagiarist. Allegedly, the cash-strapped filmmaker had counterfeited the diary of Eva Braun, Hitler’s wife, in order to make some money. The fake diary, which contained intimate details of the couple’s sexual life, was published in France in 1948 (Atze 236—37). After 1945, on top of his association with Fascism and his artistic dishonesty, age became a problem for the Bergfilm star, whose public image depended on his ability to portray vigorous and adventurous characters. Consequently, having made only three fictional feature films in the 1950s, he focused on producing short documentary films instead. Owing to the limited demand for cinema projects, Trenker embraced the opportunity to work for the comparatively new medium of television. In 1959, he began hosting the show Luis Trenker erzählt (1959-1973), which was broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk. The format of the show features the filmmaker standing in the snug set of a living room and retrospectively telling, in a seemingly improvised manner, stories about his turbulent life and screen career, which creates a distance between the mature raconteur and the fearless alpinist of the 1920s and 1930s that media audiences had come to associate with his name� Gesticulating animatedly, the host’s verve makes even the most trivial anecdote worth watching. In addition to the show’s 42 episodes, Trenker hosted nature The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge 345 documentaries, such as the 10-episode series Berge und Geschichten (1972-1973), and appeared in numerous other TV series (Panitz 186—87)� In an attempt to consolidate his status as a darling of the public across different media formats, Trenker also published a number of best-selling books and records about the alpine region� For Trenker, the new medium represented a convenient means to assume a public presence more suitable for his age, reach audiences from different age groups, and actively revise his tarnished reputation. While the earlier film roles emphasized the actor’s attractiveness and physical performance, his TV persona refrained from the habitus of virility and adventure. The filmmaker’s televisual activities allowed him to disburden his public image and address older spectators who were familiar with his cinematic work of the interwar period as well as younger audiences who were oblivious to his previous career and became acquainted with the politically ‘purified’ Trenker. In the late 1960s, when the ZDF and the ORF decided to produce the series Luftsprünge , Trenker had already gone out of his way to reinvent his media persona. By casting the filmmaker as the ski school owner Hannes, the series’ producers sought to capitalize on his sustained popularity with TV audiences� Trenker had directed his last theatrically released film, Sein bester Freund , in 1962, and throughout the 1960s, his stardom depended largely on his appearances in non-fiction TV content and not, as in the previous decades, on fictional film roles, but these older Bergfilm roles were still an integral part of the veteran performer’s public image. Therefore, casting Trenker was a clear reference to the Bergfilm genre� As Trenker’s movies of the interwar period had attracted large audiences, the broadcasting companies speculated that Bergfernsehen , an updated televisual entry into the genre, might become a similar success. In order to gain a more nuanced understanding of Bergfernsehen , it is useful to see Luftsprünge as a remediation of the Bergfilm � Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin have proposed the notion of remediation as a means to understand the interdependence between old and new media� Instead of conceptualizing media history as a diachronic succession, the authors propose that old media coexist with new ones� Each new medium adopts some aesthetic elements of available media and neglects others: “[N]ew media are doing exactly what their predecessors have done: presenting themselves as refashioned and improved versions of other media” (Bolter and Grusin 14—15). In contrast, old media react to the challenges posed by the new competition� Bolter and Grusin point out that remediation is an ambivalent phenomenon, as it unites opposing drives: “Our culture wants both to multiply its media and to erase all traces of mediation” (5). The underlying strategies that define every process of remediation are immediacy and hypermediacy� While the former 346 Daniel Winkler and Andreas Ehrenreich term refers to a media aesthetic that seeks to immerse the spectator, rendering the medium itself indiscernible, hypermediacy draws the spectator’s attention to the medium itself� Luftsprünge oscillates between these opposing movements� Before dwelling on its adaptation of Bergfilm elements, it is worthwhile to explore the mode in which the TV series remediates theater and film aesthetics. Again, these formal qualities depend on contemporary production practices. A significant part of Luftsprünge ’s narrative is set in the Sporthotel Alpenhof� Fusing theatrical and televisual qualities, the indoor sequences of Luftsprünge conform to the conventions of the TV play, a genre of literature and theater adaptations that emerged in the late 1950s. In its early phase, TV plays depended on extended rehearsals and accurate choreography� As it was impossible to record them, the performances were broadcast live until the early 1960s. Despite eventually resolving this technical limitation, the TV play maintained an aura of restraint and inanimateness all the same so that by the end of the decade the genre was considered outdated (Pollach 31)� Taking up traditions such as the TV play and folk and improvisation theater, Luftsprünge is typical contemporary television entertainment, but it does not quite harmonize with the liberal post- 68 zeitgeist � The fact that a high-quality co-production such as Luftsprünge relies on antiquated aesthetics betrays the public service broadcasters’ fundamental uncertainty in developing appealing up-to-date content� Instead of relying on outdoor action sequences, Luftsprünge allows Trenker to perform freely within the confines of the hotel while limiting narration. At times, his appearances give the impression that he is extemporizing, which is evocative of the way he hosted Luis Trenker erzählt � Most scenes take place in two emblematic locations, the ski slopes and the hotel, which is located in a valley. The indoor sequences, mostly set in the hotel lobby and the bar, exhibit theater aesthetics. Besides Trenker’s theatrical performance, this effect derives from the mise-en-scène, the cinematography, and the recording technique. The actors tend to enter the setting from the left or the right as if they were on a stage. Employing mainly proscenium shots, the camerawork is rather stationery and refrains from exploring the depth of the space. By means of studio lighting, which produces peculiar shadows and shiny reflections, the interior sequences appear flat and stylized. Moreover, there is a striking aesthetic disparity between the outdoor scenes shot on film and the indoor scenes shot on video, which originates from the formats’ different material properties and color palettes. Through the alternation of film and video sequences, the static character of the hotel setting stands out and makes it discernible as a studio stage� Given its conflict between immediacy and hypermediacy, Luftsprünge is a typical product of television (Bolter and Grusin 185)� Trenker’s seemingly improvised acting style gives the impression of liveness, of directly attending an The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge 347 intense performance. In contrast to this kind of acting-related immediacy, the alternation of theater and film aesthetics constantly remind the spectator that the TV series is a hypermediated spectacle. In addition to stylistic remediation, Luftsprünge ’s other major concern is reworking the Bergfilm genre to achieve a shift in content and tone� Bergfernsehen approaches scenes of mountaineering and skiing, a central attraction of the Bergfilm cycle, in a completely different manner. While citations of the dynamic Bergfilm style remain an attraction in some ‘light’ comedies of the 1930s, such as Liebesbriefe aus dem Engadin (1938), thus reflecting sublime alpine representation conventions and the heroic-patriarchal thinking of the time, they can hardly be conveyed in a TV series of the ‘Wirtschaftswunder’ such as Luftsprünge . In each 25-minute episode, there is in the literal and figurative sense no time or room for mountain climbing as an essential, rewarding challenge in itself� Rescue scenes no longer depend on the physical exertion of skilled alpinists. For example, in episode 3, when the Scandinavian princess and hotel regular Britta has an accident, she is rescued by Hannes and Toni with the support of a helicopter� Skiing and mountaineering are not depicted as exhaustive exercises but as comfortable, elegant leisure activities which are facilitated by technological means such as ski lifts and aircraft� This narrative concern aligned the series with the topical conventions of the popular media of the 1950s and 1960s, in which mountain climbing and sublime representations of alpine environments were rarely major film topics. The new media landscape was much more concerned with confirming the social values prevalent during the ‘Wirtschaftswunder’ era (Haque 605—06)� Like the Bergfilm, Bergfernsehen idealizes natural landscapes as an antithesis to the ‘decadent’ urban space. However, the TV genre attenuates the classical film genre’s penchant for intense drama. The individual conflicts of certain figures on high-altitude crests are replaced by a charming, yet harmless, alpine world that revolves around social conflicts within the collective, which are negotiated in the valleys� Whereas the Bergfilm of the interwar period focused on spiritually and physically resolute men striving towards a peak, Bergfernsehen abandons this interest. Instead, it narrates the seemingly peaceful coexistence between hotel workers and the guests who explore the Alps as a tourist territory (see Nenno). Bergfernsehen displaces the Bergfilm ’s vertical morality with a horizontal spatial logic in tune with the post-war TV era� Ideals of virility are replaced by desacralized, politically unobtrusive forms of content, i.e., everyday life and work within a tourism context in the valley� The remediation of the Bergfilm is clearly associated with Luftsprünge ’s character Toni, who is played by the Kitzbühel-based professional skier and threetime Olympic champion Toni Sailer. Since the late 1950s, Sailer had branched 348 Daniel Winkler and Andreas Ehrenreich out in the media industry as an actor and singer� While Trenker and the interior sequences emphasize the theatrical quality of the series, Sailer dominates the exterior shots and provides much of the narrative’s skiing action. Crucially, this action is measured, illustrating Luftsprünge ’s televisual domestication of the much more dynamic Bergfilm genre: Toni explores hills, not mountains. His downhills are relatively short, relaxed excursions at moderate heights. For a couple of hours, Toni and his students consume the alpine landscape at a leisurely pace before returning to the cozy hotel in the valley� What remains of the Bergfilm are merely the mountains as a narrative space that facilitates short-lived touristic pleasures, such as Britta’s awkward ski lessons. Even Toni’s group lessons for talented skiers do not lead to actual alpine adventures but rather culminate in tame, beautifully choreographed descents of skiers wearing brightly colored suits� By renouncing the drama of ascents and downhill racing, Bergfernsehen dispenses with a significant narrative device that accounted for much of the spectator’s pleasure in the Bergfilm . Instead, Luftsprünge relies on the representation of amorous relationships. Flaunting its attractive actors, the series devotes much attention to the depiction of its characters’ sexual interests� This is an essential attraction of Bergfernsehen that is supposed to compensate for the lack of summit cult drama, suspense, and adventure. The remediation of the Bergfilm in the valley goes hand in hand with the pronounced staging of erotic desire� Therefore, the TV series has an affinity with the sex film cycle that enjoyed immense popularity in Austrian and West German cinemas starting in the late 1960s (see Steinwender and Zahlten). This connection is made evident by Franz Muxeneder, a comedic mainstay of many sexploitation movies who starred in Luftsprünge as the hotel’s concierge Alois� Muxeneder’s casting demonstrates that the ORF and the ZDF attempted to profit from the ongoing sex film boom. Through innocuous anecdotes from a winter sports resort, the TV stations also catered to a male audience familiar with more adult-oriented film content. Incessantly contriving situations in which straight twosomes are caught in intimate bodily and emotional proximity, Luftsprünge resembles a sex film that, as a concession to its design as family-friendly entertainment, is always forced to dissolve erotic tension in a non-sexual manner� The TV series’ complex remediation pacifies and conceals the politically ambivalent history of the Bergfilm � Detached from the dimension of adventure in alpine heights, Bergfernsehen now fully emphasizes light entertainment, which is intended to reach the broadest possible cross-border audience through various forms of co-production and genre hybridization� Freed from energetic-patriotic echoes, socioeconomic prosperity and touristic mass entertainment are at the narrative center of TV productions such as Luftsprünge � The valley and the The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge 349 skiing hills are populated with economically beneficial activities and facilities such as hotels and ski lifts for the tourist masses. Influenced by the period’s economic expansion, which was propelled by locals and foreigners alike (see Anderson; Groß), Bergfernsehen opens up a transnational dimension that becomes its central topical concern� The transnational remediation of the Bergfilm in Luftsprünge is closely connected to the format of the hotel series. Ever since the advent of cinema, the hotel has represented the paradigmatic locus of transnationalism in audiovisual media� The series’ small permanent constellation of actors is supplemented by changing national and international guests� In the fashion of hotel series such as Das alte Hotel (1963), Luftsprünge strings together relatively similar episodes. Within that spectrum, the guests of the Sporthotel Alpenhof offer some variation as each episode focuses on a vacationer or a couple of tourists whose behavior and personality stand out� Well-known media stars such as Jane Tilden, Hans von Borsody and Dietmar Schönherr, as well as Vivi Bach and Rudolf Schock, both of whom appear in more than one episode, serve more as additional attractions for the viewing audience than as catalysts that advance the plot. In this sense, transnationality is in Luftsprünge above all a symbol for the thriving consumer culture of the 1960s, represented by media stars from diverse film and media formats. By providing temporary lodging for money, the hospitality industry lives on guests from distant regions. Thus, transnationality lies at the core of the business, in terms of tourists and the workers who maintain the touristic experience. Whereas the tourists are often foreign or, at least, from other Austrian regions outside Tyrol, the workforce is mostly Tyrolian with the exception of the West German citizen Steffi (Petra Mood). A number of scenes, such as Alois speaking broken French and Italian on the telephone for comedic effect (episodes 2, 11) and Steffi teaching skiing to children in English and French (episode 5), suggest that the hotel also has a more international clientele, but this kind of transnationalism is not explored in detail� The only recurring character who does not have an Austrian or German background is the Scandinavian Britta� On the whole, the transnational exchange that takes place at the Sporthotel Alpenhof occurs mostly between Austrians and Germans� Mette Hjort’s concept of “affinitive transnationalism” describes such interactions� Hjort speaks particularly of “‘the tendency to communicate with those similar to us,’ with similarity typically being understood in terms of ethnicity, partially overlapping or mutually intelligible languages, and a history of interaction giving rise to shared core values, common practices, and comparable institutions” (17)� The series uses a domesticated Bergfilm setting to stage a process of cross-cultural self-understanding that attaches importance to the 350 Daniel Winkler and Andreas Ehrenreich amicable collaboration of Austrians and Germans in consuming alpine nature� Much of this communication about similarities and differences depends on the dialogue between the characters or, more exactly, their divergent dialects. It is idioms that nuance the notion of national belonging� The series does not only identify the characters as Austrian or German; rather, these national categories are split up by region� The spectator recognizes a character’s regional identity through its corresponding dialect. For instance, German audiences immediately grasp that Jette (Ilse Pagé), the fashion photographer’s assistant, is from Berlin (episode 5), and recognize the Viennese accent of vacationer Elisabeth, played by Burgtheater actress Jane Tilden (episode 10). In order to guarantee intelligibility, speakers often have to code switch. Transitioning effortlessly from his regional dialect to standard German, Hannes is a particularly flexible communicator who can quickly accommodate his interlocutors. His linguistic adaptiveness connotes experience and sophistication� But it is not only the Tyrolian tourism professionals who adjust their manner of speaking; occasionally, the vacationers try to fit in too. After Toni manages to persuade the German guest Bernd (Helmut Schmid) to fly a helicopter in order to rescue Britta, the pilot exclaims enthusiastically “Na schön, probier mas! ” and gives Toni a thump on the shoulder (episode 3), signaling approval and excitement about the unexpected challenge. These language exercises, which are usually portrayed for comedic effect, represent fundamental vocal performances of affinitive transnationalism. Besides the continuous arrival, presence, and departure of nondescript tourists who stay in Hannes’ hotel, Bergfernsehen is populated by characters who, in addition to the affinitive transnationalism between Austria and West Germany, evoke a different idea of transnational relations. A number of minor characters live outside these German-speaking countries or have jobs that require frequent traveling. Axel (Karl-Heinz Hess) and Bernd, two guests from northern West Germany, work as pilots (episode 2). Despite being on vacation, Bernd is forced to stand in for a helicopter pilot who has broken his arm during a search operation for the missing Britta (episode 3)� The series also introduces a male Tyrolian expat: Ulli (Dietmar Schönherr), a talented ski racer and former instructor in Hannes’ ski school who runs his own ski school in a U�S� mountain resort� While claiming to look for his friend Rudolf Schock, Ulli has actually come to poach Toni and take him to America (episode 13). Playing a fictionalized version of himself, Schock appears as a renowned opera singer from Duisburg who performs on the world’s major stages and spends his winter holidays in Austria or the United States (episodes 6, 13). In a similar way, the Berlin fashion photographer Benno (Peer Schmidt) and his models seek out exotic and visually impressive locales across the globe in order to advertise their customers’ The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge 351 trendy clothes (episode 5)� For the solidly middleand upper-class customers that frequent the Sporthotel, crossing borders is an ordinary job requirement or a lifestyle choice� This could be termed jet-set transnationalism� By combining affinitive and jet-set transnationalism, the narrative fuses divergent modes of transnational discourse� Only one episode of Luftsprünge puts on display transnational movement on a diegetic level, i.e., the crossing of borders as a material act. In Episode 2, the U.S. based stewardess Kathrin (Hannelore Auer), Toni’s love interest, takes advantage of a stay in Munich in order to see Toni in Kitzbühel for only one day. To catch her plane back to New York, she has to return to the Munich airport that same evening� The series stages Kathrin’s car ride to the mountains as a suspenseful endeavor that endangers her romantic meeting with the ski instructor� Her arrival is delayed by a long passport inspection line at the border between Bavaria and Tyrol� When at last she shows her passport to the border agent, he barely looks at it and waves her through. In a narrative that celebrates the easygoing consumption of mountainous landscapes and other tourist treats, the act of crossing national borders stands out due to its association with slackness and displeasure� Kathrin is stressed because she is deprived of Toni’s company and the clear mountain air� In this scene, transnationalism is visualized as uncomfortable precisely because the dead time spent at the border post defies any kind of consumption. In other words, even the material expansion of space does not break through the basic construction principle of Luftsprünge , namely the remediation of the vertical logics of the Bergfilm into a Bergfernsehen that stages a ‘flat’ transnationality that is thoroughly interwoven with the hospitality industry in the form of the tourism of the Tyrolean ski valleys� Kathrin and Britta, both women with a transnational background who are attracted to Toni, personify different forms of touristic labor. Whereas Kathrin excites the ski instructor by making herself scarce, Britta repels him because she is so readily available and evidently willing. The Nordic vacationer repeatedly fumes at Toni’s rejection and seeks his attention in odd ways. For instance, during their ski lessons Britta deliberately abandons him out of anger� Her subsequent accident on a closed slope is caused as much by her lack of talent as by her desire to be looked after by Toni� A search-and-rescue operation by helicopter ensues� Saving Britta from the consequences of her whims is as much a moderate action sequence as it is an illustration of touristic work� In rescuing her from the forbidden slope, Hannes and Toni do not perform a virile deed, as they would have done if they were Bergfilm protagonists; they simply maintain the physical integrity of a guest to ensure she can continue her holidays and her consumption of tourist services� 352 Daniel Winkler and Andreas Ehrenreich Luftsprünge is surprisingly concerned with the representation of transnational tourism as a form of labor� In depicting the increasing social relevance of tourism, the series explores its hotel setting not only as a space of leisure but as a place of employment that can appear unpleasant at times� As oppositional notions, leisure and physical chore are intimately entangled. An extensive stay at the Sporthotel Alpenhof not only requires adequate financial means on the part of the guests but also a number of attractive employees who create and maintain the tourist experience� Closely connected with the narrative emphasis on amorous adventures and petty conflicts, the TV series depicts mass tourism as a vivid representation of wage work in the transnational hospitality sector� Despite the effort put into drawing a positive picture of the trade, a job in the tourist sector strikes the spectator as a rather arduous enterprise. No matter the time of the day, Hannes and his team are always busy satisfying their guests’ every desire� For the hotel owner and his employees, work and leisure merge constantly. It seems that when they are not occupying the front desk, teaching skiers or meeting guests at the station, they remain on the hotel premises, mostly drinking wine or dancing at the bar� As a bustling entrepreneur who reached retirement age a while back, Hannes embodies the extent to which private and professional spheres conflate in his business. Following Gilles Deleuze, we might call this kind of occupation gaseous, as it intrudes into every compartment of human existence� In Luftsprünge , labor is everywhere all the time. It permeates the lives of the hotel staff, making impossible the distinction between personal and corporate affairs. In contrast to the disciplinary institutions that governed Western culture until the Second World War, the society of control is marked by individual self-control and the continuous deferral of desires� The mode of work congruent with control societies is autonomous (everybody monitors his or her efficiency) and expansive (the tasks can never be finished). The infinite postponement of leisure time that the series’ wage earners endure serves as a motivation for more assiduity. Instead of the factory, the staff toil in the seemingly personal environment of the company. Hannes, the owner, is the moody soul of his enterprise, and all his employees struggle hard to live up to his volatile expectations� As a savvy businessman, Hannes himself plods incessantly, and he has internalized the paramount importance of marketing, another distinguishing feature of control societies (Deleuze). When Toni refuses to teach Britta in Episode 1, Hannes is astonished: “Unser prominentester Gast, und du willst nicht rausgehen. Stell dir vor, die Reklame für uns! ” As the advertising power of Britta’s patronage cannot be allowed to go to waste, Toni is coerced into submitting to the princess and suffering her overt sexual advances. The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge 353 The dispute between Hannes, Toni and Britta is one of many workplace conflicts that shape the experience of laboring in the Sporthotel. The staff is permanently concerned with the difficulty of disagreeing with their transnational guests. Often, their discontent can only be expressed confidentially in the company of colleagues. The workers’ subordinate position results in different behavior patterns: Concierge Alois is usually servile but has contempt for guests whom he suspects to be in some way substandard� Despite showing his will to revolt to Hannes, Toni continues to teach Britta and is forced to tolerate her forthright sexual advances. Steffi, Hannes’ niece who helps out her uncle due to a staff shortage, is in a similar position. She cannot openly repel the ever-present aggressive men that happen to stay at the Sporthotel� Invasive sexual behavior represents a key workplace conflict negotiated in the series� Toni usually gets along with Hannes; in Episode 10 they even go touring together on a Sunday. But sometimes, even the owner and his prime ski instructor fall out due to business-related problems� Princess Britta is one such recurring issue. To uphold the good reputation of his hotel, Hannes demands that Toni meet her every desire� Britta takes sexual services for granted and is frustrated when the object of her desire does not comply. In Episode 4, she tries to force Toni to teach her after he cancels their lesson in order to see Kathrin� The angry princess reminds him of her superior social status: “Du vergisst, wer du bist und wer ich bin. […] Und wir sind verträglich [sic] miteinander verbunden.” When the annoyed instructor goes away, the princess announces that he will have to face the consequences of his insubordinate behavior� Toni’s sexual availability is not only part of an unspoken agreement between the hotel owner and the prestigious guest but also the reason Britta returns every year. The fact that the erotic component, in line with the conventions of family-friendly television, is never fulfilled as expected adds to the entertainment� The heteronormative notion of gender is reversed: the woman is the one who is sexually aggressive and rejected by the reluctant man. Also, the disappointment of an attractive woman who, in reality, would likely rarely struggle to fulfil her sexual desires provides comic relief in the fictional narrative. For Toni, contact with Britta is a constant problem, especially when she tries to force intimacy between them. The ski instructor has to find a way to satisfy the demands of Hannes and Britta as well as those of his love interest� For the sake of consumer satisfaction, Hannes suggests time and again that Toni let the spoiled princess have her way. In Episode 1, after observing his employee’s unwillingness to comply, the hotelier warns him about the serious consequences that could arise from his refusal: “Du bist nicht der erste Schilehrer, mit dem ich Schlitten gefahren bin, verstanden? ” Hannes calls attention to Toni’s replaceability and implies that the instructor will be fired if he does not play along. This 354 Daniel Winkler and Andreas Ehrenreich is not an idle threat: in Episode 4 the manager casually mentions that he had to dismiss one of Toni’s colleagues without explaining the reasons� While the relationships of dependency prevalent in the hospitality industry influence Toni and Britta’s relationship, the hierarchical and transnational frictions between them are also fueled by divergent national ideas of appropriate behavior for men and women� Toni is startled by Britta’s assertiveness and the unequivocal articulation of her sexual desires� The kind of assertiveness embodied by Britta underscores stereotyped differences between German notions of womanhood and Nordic ones. Britta and Steffi are both emancipated to some degree - in fact, Britta is regularly outspoken about her sexuality. German women, by contrast, do not verbally communicate their erotic needs. In the series, transnationalism frequently results in sexual tension. Bridging the vague ideas of Berliner-ness and Austrian-ness, Jette and Alois are fascinated by their different origins, dialects, and environments. But the nexus of transnationalism and erotic attraction is most pronounced in the pairing of Steffi and expat Ulli, who rapidly move from mutual antipathy to teasing and affection, to marrying each other at the end of the series (episode 13)� While he admires her principled German character, she is intrigued by his blend of Tyrolian stubbornness and flamboyant American self-confidence. It is the attractive Otherness inherent to affinitive and jet-set transnationalism that sparks their relationship. The relation between Otherness and attraction is key in Bergfernsehen � In the Bergfilm genre, mountain peaks that have never, or rarely, been climbed are symbolic of the alien aspect of nature and appear to elicit a feeling of quasi-sexual attraction� Reaching the summit is a sign of one’s own physical and spiritual vitality, which is often allegorized as a service to the regional or national community (e.g., Trenker’s 1931 film Berge in Flammen , set on the Austrian-Italian border during the First World War). Here, interpersonal sexual dynamics play at best a supporting role� In Bergfernsehen , as evidenced by Luftsprünge , economically interwoven networks of quotidian relationships in the valley replace this vertical spatial logic. At the same time, relationships of dependency within a touristic and professional setting are connected to linguistic and cultural foreignness and demands of sexual availability. Thus, sexuality is omnipresent in the Tyrolean sports hotel as a kind of desire for Otherness; however, the dramaturgy of Luftsprünge as a hotel series requires that the unbound spatial and physical development of the individual be domesticated for Bergfernsehen � The hegemony of the hospitality industry’s economic principles sets clear limits to dynamics linked to sexuality and Otherness and, outside of marital constellations, only allows episodic pleasures that are intended to serve as light entertainment for a mass media audience� The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge 355 Accordingly, the final episode of Luftsprünge , entitled “Die Abwerbung,” domesticates this desire for Otherness in the form of the Christian wedding of Ulli and Steffi, framed by the Alps. The episode, which flaunts an excess of celebrities by bringing together the recurring actors Trenker, Sailer, and Mood and the guest stars Bach, Schönherr, and Schock, ties the series to Heimatfilm morals: Rudolf Schock’s song about the pain of having once left home, a Norbert Schultze aria originally adapted for Hans Quest’s 1955 Heimatfilm Der fröhliche Wanderer , sounds from the gallery and is accompanied by a children’s choir, emphasizing homecoming and forgiveness� 1 Thus, the dramaturgy of Bergfernsehen is clearly characterized by symbols of alpine traditions that depict economically lucrative tourist fantasies and genre conventions. In other words, if the episodes of Luftsprünge are about entertainment and leisure, which reflects the spirit of the time, the dramaturgy of the series is dominated by the staging of the petit bourgeois happiness available only in the Tyrolean homeland� The genre logic of the Heimatfilm thus reflects the central political concern of the post-war period: restoring community in a peaceful and faithful, that means, above all, in a patriarchally structured and economically successful way� As a televisual remediation of the Bergfilm cycle, Luftsprünge deviates significantly from its genre origins� By distancing itself from the melodramatic dramaturgy of the Bergfilm , the TV series domesticates the ambivalent political history of the older film cycle and its protagonist Luis Trenker at the same time. Luftsprünge ’s Bergfernsehen represents lighthearted serial entertainment that is intended to reach Austrian and German audiences through various forms of genre crossing, remediating the classic Bergfilm and also more recent formats such as the TV play and the sexploitation cycle� The series opens up a transnational dimension on the levels of production and representation� The mountain setting remains the pivotal space of the narrative, but its imposing and awe-inspiring character is not relevant anymore� Mountains are no longer vanquished or associated with lonesome virile heroes and a vertical landscape but consumed by wealthy vacationers from different regions and nations� In Bergfernsehen , the alpine space is thus represented as a horizontal and commercialized environment that, owing to the imperative of transnational tourism and labor in the tourist industry, has to be accessible to winter sport tourists of different age groups and proficiency levels. The Alps serve as an accessible leisure park that is dominated by the dogma of purchasability� Personal well-being, sexual desires, and sportive achievements are subordinated to this principle� 356 Daniel Winkler and Andreas Ehrenreich Simultaneously probing tourist and worker characters, Luftsprünge devotes significant attention to the everyday labor that sustains the hospitality sector. Overall, the series betrays a rather conservative ideological stance which cherishes hard work and steadfast loyalty to the employer. Still, its perspective on touristic labor is critical, stressing workplace conflicts and sexual harassment in a transnational setting� Submitted to the powerful economic rationale of the hospitality sector, even the locals themselves become a tourist commodity. The series emphasizes the fact that the Alps are not the only physical entities subject to commercialization; people are too� Although we do not know how Luftsprünge was received by general TV audiences, there is record of one particular reaction to the series that originated in Austria’s literary avantgarde movement. In a collage from 1970, author Elfriede Jelinek referred to Luftsprünge as an example of everything that was wrong about state broadcasting� Her experimental piece wir stecken einander unter der haut denounces popular TV as an oppressive ideological instrument that helps to preserve existing power relations and gender imbalances: “ mit luftsprüngen sollen uns im 14 tage rütmus luis trenker der einen hotelbesitzer und schischulleiter spielt vivi bach als pikantes prinzesschen toni sailer als trenkers paradeschilehrer und franz muxeneder als hotelportier und aushilfsschilehrer kurz als hans moser auf den skiern erfreuen ” ( Jelinek; italics in the original)� Drawing on the rhetoric of movie trailers, Jelinek’s mocking of Luftsprünge attacks the intentional depiction of Austria as a harmless, winter sports-obsessed country where politics seem to be irrelevant. Invariably, the principal performers were strongly associated with escapist entertainment and signaled Luftsprünge to be one more iteration of a dishonest national self-perception� In particular, the decision to feature Luis Trenker and Hans Moser was enough to give away the series’ reactionary stance seeing as these artists managed to continue their careers during the National Socialist regime. Trenker’s and Moser’s names are redolent of the nation’s dubious past and indicate the undeniable continuities of Nazi cinema in popular television of the post-war era. The text vents the author’s anger about Trenker’s seemingly infinite media presence some twenty-five years after the defeat of National Socialism. In the overall composition of Jelinek’s collage, Luftsprünge figures as a side note. Still, this exemplifies the immense range of influence and social impact that public television enjoyed� The series’ passing mention demonstrates that the left-wing intelligentsia regarded such TV content with great suspicion� Trenker’s diligent remediation of his own public persona by means of television might have been successful with some audience members, but his involvement in the Nazi film industry still resonated with many when the series was broadcast between 1969 and 1970. However, the star’s persistent high profile The Primetime Television Series Luftsprünge 357 on cinema and TV screens eventually came to an end� Luftsprünge constituted his last major role although he did not retire immediately� From the 1920s to the 1980s, Luis Trenker accomplished the feat of maintaining his career in the infamously volatile media industries� He remained visible and active during democratic and totalitarian periods� The transition from Bergfilm to Bergfernsehen enabled him to continue his work despite his old age� By sustaining his screen presence for seven decades, Trenker’s stardom projects a sense of transhistorical continuity. Overall, Bergfernsehen was instrumental in familiarizing a new generation of media consumers with the tropes of the historical Bergfilm � Notes 1 In addition, Ulli’s return home also remediates the ending of Trenker’s Der verlorene Sohn (1934)� Like Trenker’s international success about a South Tyrolean emigrant, falling into poverty in New York, and finally returning home to find happiness, the series’ ending delivers an implicit anti-American message: Rather than praising U.S. capitalism, whose values had been previously embodied by Ulli in his attempt to poach Toni for his larger and more lucrative ski school in the States, the finale’s happy ending celebrates the values of homeland, family, and religion (see Rentschler, “No Place Like Home”)� Acknowlegdments We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers, Kamaal Haque, Christian Quendler, Cora Rok, and Camila Torres for their support and suggestions. 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