Whose nostalgia? Differentiation in German television’s audience address

Abstract

Nostalgia is often examined as an element of the text. In this contribution, I argue that texts offer a number of spectator positions that can be perceived as nostalgic if the viewer has accumulated certain life experiences that render them so. Examining Babylon Berlin, I argue that the programme offers a spectator position that can look at its Weimar of 1929 anxiously and nostalgically. This is a spectator position that assumes a viewer who is likely to be from the former West and who likely is younger than 55 years of age.