The European Gap: What We Can Learn From the Films of the Marshall Plan to Overcome the European Crisis

Recently, a key element in the successful strategy of the post-World War II “European Recovery Program” has been rediscovered: the comprehensive and complex film program of the Marshall Plan to win the “hearts and minds” of both allies and former enemies. These audio-visual narratives provide a neglected subtext within the discourse of transcultural conflicts and the propagandistic promise of a new beginning for a new generation of young Europeans. The films focused on democratic re-education, the promise of American democracy and the vision of a “Young Europe.” Apart from economic visions regarding issues of free trade and new opportunities of international cooperation, the call for multi-ethnic tolerance played a crucial role. The efforts of forging a new cosmopolitan society after the disaster of World War II placed special emphasis on modern educational methods and innovative school concepts. Young people from all over Europe fulfilled a double role: first, they acted in Marshall Plan films to embody a future generation according the American democratic ideals. Their screen presence seemed to be a living proof of the motto e pluribus unum. Second, young people also served as a commodity of modern entertainment for audiences hungry for new stories in post-war Europe. My talk will focus on how European film makers of the Marshall Plan used docudramas to envisage a multi-ethnic and cosmopolitan “Young Europe” before it became a commonplace in the media discourse of the new millennium. What kind of audio-visual strategies did Marshall Plan films employ in order to overcome national chauvinism, ethnic confrontations, and language barriers? What kind of processes regarding cultural translation, cultural diplomacy, and mediation are at work in the films? From this analysis I will offer a comprehensive outlook on how the films of the Marshall Plan can help us to better understand current problems in the search for a European identity and rethinking strategies to overcome the European Gap – namely the discrepancy between the principles of the European Union and the practices of nation states.