Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

historyhit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 229 posts

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#181

Post by smcl »

aussiesnack wrote: post #173
smcl wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of these continental orgs are quite flexible about what countries they permit to join. For example Israel is also in Eurovision, but it’s not in Europe. Similarly Australia are part of the Asian Football Confederation rather than Oceania’s Football Confederation (and Israel is a member of UEFA rather than AFC, for obvious reasons) I don’t think anyone is saying “Australia is part of Europe” with a straight face…

Saying , no, but feeling, yes. Keating's "Asian Century" version of Australia never took strong cultural hold. Our nearest neighbours PNG & East Timor are ignored except by our NGOs and spies, and few visit Indonesia other than the Bali beach resorts. A brief 1990's spurt in Mandarin teaching in schools is in decline, with European languages remaining the most popular. Australia is still by far the most Eurocentric o…

I wasn't suggesting it was part of Asia, rather highlighting that it was not unusual for Australia or indeed other countries to be part of continental organizations (Israel/UEFA and Aus/AFC/Eurovision) that are different from the continent they're usually considered to be a constituent of (Israel/ME, Aus/Oceania). Regardless I do not think skin tone should come into it.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#182

Post by ivanhoe »

tpm wrote: post #147
tut-urut-utut wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for pointing out. I was confused by parent calling it „communist Czech movie“. It’s a fairy tale FFS, what does it have to do with communism? I never understood that obsession some people have with communism to see everything in the world through their iron curtain glasses.

It's important to understand that everything, even fairytales went through censorship / ideology conformity reviews, especially in those years ("normalisation", after the events of 1968/9). Many movies were either not produced at all or banned after production, others were heavily cut. Yes, even fairytales had to adhere to the communist ideology - for example the poor were usually shown as being morally superior, whi…

It's also important not to forget that West Germany wasn't immune to the censorship either, and bans, beside what realistically was a Soviet propaganda, also included some really good documentaries and artwork even by today's standards.

https://film-history.org/approaches/not-approved-screening

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#184

Post by Chinjut »

lqet wrote: post #90

German here - New Year's Eve preparations are nearly done. The Raclette is ready, and I have prepared "Do-it-yourself Mr. Bean" and "Dinner for One" for repeated re-watching. My 3 year old loves it, as I did when I was 3, and as my parents did when they were 3 in the 60ies. The same procedure as every year.

Your parents loved it when they were 3 in the 60s? The article suggests it only became a regular part of German New Year's Eve celebrations starting in 1972.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#185

Post by wendyshu »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #162
jamesblonde wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is huge here in Sweden. As an Anglo Saxon, I was surprised it was so popular and we never heard of it.

What is an "anglo-saxon"? iirc they died out a thousand years ago.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon#Noun

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#186

Post by smcl »

stemos wrote: post #166

In a similar vein, "Sound of Music"[1] about the Austrian Trapp family is a very popular Christmas movie in the US, but barely anyone in Austria (and Germany) watched it. The reason may be that Schnitzel is served with noodles in the movie[2]. NO Austrian would ever do that! [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music_(film) [2] - https://oe3.orf.at/stories/2916424/ (German)

I never thought about the schnitzel/noodles thing before, I guess "schnitzel with potato salad" doesn't quite fit with the rhyme nor the rhythm of the song :)

Those famous musicals made during that era aren't usually very culturally accurate. For example Dick Van Dyke played a cockney chimney sweep in Mary Poppins, made a bit of a pigs ear of the accent but otherwise turned in a performance that was really fun, and if you're able to let a few things slide they can be quite enjoyable.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#187

Post by mbg721 »

sebmellen wrote: post #140
pm3003 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germans stereotypically have a conceptual intelligence. If something is good, they will like it. This is why they like badly-translated US sitcoms so much when there's a laugh track. This is why the French sell so much bad-tier wines in fancy bottles (even if you know the producer and the wine, don't buy it in Germany unless you've tasted it or it's certified like AOC). This is why their sense of humour is so...stran…

I’m German-American, and I would say I am culturally much more American than German, but I find German comedy quite funny. I think it is much more observational and satirical than US standup comedy, but it’s also more biting, which makes it funny in a more self reflective way. German comedy seems to play the role of a court jester speaking uncomfortable truths through humor. American comedy to me is much more surface…

I think German improv is generally better than German sitcoms. I have the disadvantage of mentally translating and overanalyzing as I watch in a way that a native speaker wouldn't, but Schillerstraße, for example, strikes me as funny.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#189

Post by aussiesnack »

smcl wrote: post #181
aussiesnack wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying , no, but feeling, yes. Keating's "Asian Century" version of Australia never took strong cultural hold. Our nearest neighbours PNG & East Timor are ignored except by our NGOs and spies, and few visit Indonesia other than the Bali beach resorts. A brief 1990's spurt in Mandarin teaching in schools is in decline, with European languages remaining the most popular. Australia is still by far the most Eurocentric o…

I wasn't suggesting it was part of Asia, rather highlighting that it was not unusual for Australia or indeed other countries to be part of continental organizations (Israel/UEFA and Aus/AFC/Eurovision) that are different from the continent they're usually considered to be a constituent of (Israel/ME, Aus/Oceania). Regardless I do not think skin tone should come into it.

My "Asia" comment wasn't really a response to you - it's been a part of internal Australian debate since the 1980's. Keating crowned the 21st the "Asian Century", and claimed Australia should turn towards Asia. My point is that never really bit culturally. Australia is geographically Pacific, economically Asian, and culturally European/American Despite self-perception, there isn't really much non-derivative Australian culture beyond some small Indigenous influence, though we're probably a century behind NZ in that respect.

> I do not think skin tone should come into it

It shouldn't, but it certainly does. Little can be understood about Australia without it (well, ethnicity at least - broader than 'skin tone'). A large part of Australia's Europe-longing comes from a historical fear of China (as a kind of stand in for people of Asiatic ethnicity).

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#190

Post by timwaagh »

As a Dutch: never heard of it until very coincidentally earlier today. We decided to spend New Year's in Bremen (beautiful old center btw) so we looked up German new year's traditions online. Apparently the Germans like to eat on the evening before new year's so we were a little unlucky in the finding a restaurant department.
Post reply on HN