the braun of a new age

Apple design and uncanny similarities with post-war design of Braun products. coincidence? Not at all and perfectly comprehensible. The marriage of Apple and Braun design is also uncannily like Werner Fassbinder’s post-war triology, in particular the Marriage of Maria Braun. So, we have the marriage of the Braun’s, both as a metaphor for voids in identity, aggression and the will to power, the empowerment of women, linited by patriarchy and structural misogyny to be limited to the rise to power through sexuality and consumption…

…hailing a new design era spearheaded by design genius Jonathan Ive. What most people don’t know is that there’s another man whose products are at the heart of Ive’s design philosophy, an influence that permeates every single product at Apple, from hardware to user-interface design. That man is Dieter Rams, and his old designs for Braun during the ’50s and ’60s hold all the clues not only for past and present Apple products, but their future as well:When you look at the Braun products by Dieter Rams…and compare them to Ive’s work at Apple, you can clearly see the similarities in their philosophies way beyond the sparse use of color, the selection of materials and how the products are shaped around the function with no artificial design, keeping the design “honest.”…

…Ive’s inspiration on Rams’ design principles goes beyond the philosophy and gets straight into a direct homage to real products created decades ago. Amazing pieces of industrial design that still today remain fresh, true classics that have survived the test of time.The similarities between products from Braun and Apple are sometimes uncanny, others more subtle, but there’s always a common root that provides the new Apple objects not only with a beautiful simplicity but also with a close familiarity.Read More:http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-secrets-to-apples-future

After being married, Hermann trudges off to the Eastern front.  Maria is informed of his death and she becomes  part of a seedy black market underground culture typical of  Germany at the time. Fassbinder’s  own cameo appearance depicts how German culture devolved during this epoch when he employs Beethoven’s fifth symphony to signal his lookout, just before offering Maria a swiped copy of the collected works of Heinrich von Kleist. This, Maria refuses, choosing instead  a bottle of booze and a  black dress.

Lo and behold, Hermann returns from the dead ,but only after Maria is involved  with a black American soldier stationed there. The American battles with Hermann, defending Maria,but not surprisingly she sacrifices the Black, killing him.  To spare her,noble Hermann takes the rap  and heads to prison. Maria then undertakes a new career trajectory in the textile business and develops and a  relationship with a textile owner who helps build her fortune. Still, Maria continues to see Hermann in prison, who condones the new relationship. At least  until his release from prison.

Maria is symbolic of post WW2  Germany’s efforts to deal  and recover from its atrocity filled past.  There are connections   between the trope of separated lovers indicating  a divided nation.  In an attempt to turn the page, Maria attempts to ignore her past, placing her morality in limbo , in her quest for material wealth: a characteristic considered typical of Germany in the 1950s. Like Braun design, the theme was order and pleasure, with the pageantry and pomp reductively channeled into minimalmism, with an underlying sexual current.

…Rams’ rationalist and minimalist approach design is emblematic of Modernist design of the first half of the twentieth century. Part of the appeal of that style – whether in architecture or design – was that it provided a sense of order after the death, turmoil and destruction of two world wars, and the Depression. People wanted to have a sense that they could control their own lives and surroundings again, that technology could provide a way to restore order and pleasure to life.

Today, the beguiling simplicity and rationality of Apple’s products also provides an oasis of calm and personal control in a world where we have massive social upheaval, numerous wars of various sizes, a dragged-out global recessi

multiple environmental problems, overpowering consumerism, and societies and cultures that seem to have less and less ability to find coherence and common ground.Read More:http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/finding-the-common-themes-of-braun-and-apple.html

At the end of the movie, one wonders whether Maria, who is seen as a contemporary, modern figure, an independent heroine,the individual rebel, or a victim? Maria’s undoing is falling for the strategems of male suppression. She fails in a masculine world, similar to pre-war, where she realizes the necessity of embracing society’s male values to aid her ascent in the patriarchal hierarchy. She is also manipulated by men, who conclude a  financial agreement secretly in her ignorance, keeping Hermann Braun overseas . There is also a scene of being noisily surrounded by raucous German victory celebration at the world soccer championship,  Europe’s male sport, where forbidden nazi era anthems are sung, under the patriarchal eyes of statesmen such as Adenauer, and Schmidt. So, the post-war rise Maria Braun shares with Germany rubs upon feminist elements. In terms of critical women’s views, there are feminist components and Maria Braun the sexually armed social climber is also tragically a victim of her own economic advancement, as Germans are of the larger economic “miracle” or reconstruction. Reconstruction to marvel at Braun design. The Brechtian underpinning of Fassbiner’s narrative is how to maintain dignity and ethics under this corporatized democracy, the pretty cousin to ugly fascism, but equally determined to arrive at similar ends.

 

ADDENDUM:

Rams put it like this: “I believe that the product should play a secondary role in the relationship with the user; that it should not permanently vie for attention, that it should leave the user freedom and leeway for his own self-assertion as an individual.” “This is why we do our utmost to give Braun products this austere beauty which remains appealing for years. We are convinced that a well-balanced, quiet, clear, neutral and simple design corresponds best to the real needs of the users.”…Read More:http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/finding-the-common-themes-of-braun-and-apple.html

And a dozen years ago, Apple also walked away, at the 11th hour, from discussions with IBM about merging. It would have created a PC powerhouse, and the deal was all but done. Apple and IBM senior executives met at a hotel near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in October 1994 to thrash out the final details. At the last minute, Apple’s CEO Michael Spindler demanded more money, and the IBM guys walked away.

Apple’s recent dummy spit over Young’s book comes just after it sued some young bloggers for publishing details of new Macs they had heard about from friends working at Apple. Apple is paranoid about controlling information about itself, while pretending to champion free speech and creativity. Apple’s corporate slogan is “Think different” – memorable, if ungrammatical. The problem is, Apple always thinks the same. Read More:http://www.theage.com.au/news/Perspectives/Why-Apple-and-folly-go-handinglove/2005/05/09/1115584883745.html