Word: gnome
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Director and co-writer Bowers worked at Aardman Films under Nick Park (of Wallace and Gromit glory) and directed Flushed Away, that uneasy alliance of the gnome-artisans at Aardman and the brasher gang at DreamWorks. What both outfits stress is telling stories through characters, and Bowers (along with co-writer Timothy Hyde Harris) breathe a solid emotional life into Toby and Tenma, while adhering to the confines of a kid-oriented feature. The animation style is supple and assured. And if the audience includes any precocious kids like Toby, they'll be diverted by references to Isaac Asimov...
...your question "Can the nation ever escape its history?" there is a definitive answer: no. The gnome's gesture has touched a raw nerve, but so does almost everything Germany does: the country is under steady suspicion. Let's be honest. Imagine if Germany did "move on" and abolished the anti-Nazi criminal laws. I'm fairly sure that Time would be the first with the big headline: GERMANY PAVES THE WAY FOR THE RETURN OF NAZISM! So let's be realistic and accept the consequences of history. Istvan Nagy, WASSELONNE, FRANCE
...Nuremberg, the gnome's gesture touched a particularly raw nerve. The city played a key role in Hitler's rise to power, hosting the Nazi Party's annual rallies. In 1935 it gave its name to the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws, and later witnessed trials of war criminals. Now the gnome incident has some Germans questioning whether the country's strict anti-Nazi laws remain relevant in 2009. Germans have long understood that their country's constant struggle to distance itself from its past might mean it is doomed never to escape it. But what, some people are asking, does...
...vehemently that the laws should stay. "The criminalization of the use of Nazi symbols ... is justified because of Germany's Nazi history and Germany's historic responsibility," he says. "Germany's criminal legislation has a special symbolic significance." Jessberger says the laws could even justifiably extend to Hitler-saluting gnomes. "You could argue the garden gnome doesn't endanger public peace ... because as a work of art it poses no concrete danger. However, under existing criminal law, the mere abstract danger of harming the state and public peace is sufficient to establish criminal responsibility...
...enough to deal with far-right extremism while also allowing people to display or study symbols of the Nazi era. Younger Germans and many from the old East Germany are less angst-ridden about their country's history. Artist Hörl, who's now receiving requests for his gnome from around the world, says he's glad his work has put the laws under the spotlight. "Germans need to move on from the past," he says. For a country so weighted down by its sense of historical guilt and responsibility, though, moving on is easier said than done...