2023-05-02 19:10:58
FGraduated from high school, moved from the village to the city, living without her parents for the first time – the time spent studying is formative for life. This time is particularly hard for Lennart Schowiak (Mirko Muhshoff) in “Something with media”. As a self-overestimating mama’s boy in a long-distance relationship, he begins his bachelor’s degree in media art in Weimar and lets viewers of the Ufa “mockumentary” on MDR participate. The genre means that the whole thing is supposed to appear real, but it just isn’t. Reality should rather be mocked in the sense of the word “mock”.
Another important characteristic of the popular genre, in addition to the participation of the camera in what is happening like in a documentary, is the shame of others. “Stromberg”, its English version “The Office” or “Jerks” have proven that. And “Something with media” offers plenty of potential for that. Whether it’s at a house party that Lennart interrupts because he’s afraid of a corona infection, or at a photo project where he paints himself and explains: “I’d like to be black.”
Lennart, who grew up as the only child of a single mother, is fundamentally naïve, his thickly applied zest for action is boundless. This gets on the nerves of those around them. For example, the long-term student Simon (Jano Kaltenbach), who has been stuck in the same bachelor’s degree for five years and is simply too lazy for any hard work.
Situational comedy would have helped
The eight episodes offer a charming turning point. While Lennart became less and less popular with his fellow students during his first semester, Simon, in his eleventh semester, became his only friend. The two couldn’t be more different. A love-hate relationship ensues. Simon simply can’t get rid of Lennart, who he sees as a troublemaker. Or does he not want that at all? During his lengthy studies, Simon lost many friends. And he appreciates Lennart’s loyalty. The loneliness unites both. And they both get a lesson: Lennart is confronted with the reality of life in fast forward, just like the loafer Simon, who wanted to avoid that for a long time.
With the locations school, supermarket (“discounter”) and workplace, mockumentaries on German television have already shown what the genre has to offer. The university offers good conditions to rank. Everyday student life gives plenty of occasions to turn the serious into the comic. It is about, for example, the first flat-sharing community, entering university life, the relationship between professor and student, but also dealing with sexual orientation and the big question of what you actually want to achieve in life. So all the things that concern young people.
“Something with media” exploits all of this with black humor and has the current topics of debate ready. A positive gonorrhea test is confused with a corona test, the pronunciation of foreigners is meticulously improved, and polygamous forms of relationship life are labeled “heteronormative blah blah”.
The relevance is there, the sayings are right, and yet the implementation of “Something with media” is problematic. The punchlines of the individual episodes, each of which deals with a social topic such as inclusion, migration or relationships, are sharply pointed and almost exclusively subscribed to humor to make others ashamed. A bit of comedy out of the situation would have helped. The viewer often wants to look away – and the dramaturgy does not attract in such moments.
Nevertheless, the two directors, screenwriters and leading actors Mirko Muhshoff and Jano Kaltenbach manage to authentically bring the experiences of the first semester closer to the viewer. The fact that the two studied media art and design at the Bauhaus University in Weimar certainly helped.
The first season of Something to do with media is available in the ARD media library.
#media #MDR #mockumentary #studying