Babylon Berlin and Black Sun – Two Hardboiled Period Dramas
Abstract
The paper analyzes TV series Babylon Berlin (Tykwer, von Borries, Handloegten, 2017, Seasons 1 and 2) and Black Sun (Bjelogrlić, 2017, Season 1) as works in which the period drama genre meets neo-noir and police procedural, on the common foundation of hardboiled crime fiction. Starting from the premise of intermedial connections between literature and television series, the present analysis relies on the theoretical framework of the studies on detective fiction and hardboiled crime novels. Highlighted are the characters of investigators (specifically police inspectors) and the way in which their characterization reflects the intersection of their professional work on criminal cases, particular historical circumstances (the late 1920s) and their personal attitudes. The social context being one of the key themes in both series, the detective characters quite expectedly gain a new dimension as compared to the classical hardboiled detectives. The focus is not solely on solving a particular crime, but also on the manner in which the police inspectors balance between serving justice and preserving one’s own integrity on the one hand and remaining loyal to the police and state institutions on the other.
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