Between exoticism and cliché: the image of Chile on German television

How do perceptions of other countries and cultures arise – and what role do film and literature play in this? Students from Germany and Chile explored these questions in the binational online course "Estereotipos en la literatura y el cine. El caso de Chile y Alemania / Stereotypes in Literature and Film. The case of Chile and Germany," which was offered jointly by Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University of Chile in 2024. The course focused on comparing mutual perceptions: How do students from Germany imagine life and people in Chile – and vice versa? What images are conveyed and reinforced by literature and audiovisual media? The course participants have now published their answers to these questions in the international journal Comunicación y Medios.

Two television films, a recurring image

‘German television films set in Chile do not show a realistic picture of the country,’ explains Jorge Peña, lecturer on the course at the Institute of Romance Studies at the University of Jena and co-author of the study. ‘Instead, they make use of familiar clichés from classic Hollywood cinema – such as the passionate Latino or the powerful landowner.’ These stereotypes are further reinforced by cinematic devices such as a yellowish colour filter, which makes Chile appear foreign, dangerous and exotic.
The students examined two fictional productions by German public television: Mein Herz in Chile (My Heart in Chile, 2008) and Die Briefe meiner Mutter (My Mother's Letters, 2014). Both films were shot on location in Chile. The aim of the analysis was to examine the image of the country that the films convey to German television audiences.

Exoticism instead of reality

Using film and text analysis methods as well as imagological and postcolonial approaches, the authors show that Chile appears in both productions less as a real place and more as a projection screen for stereotypical ideas. Despite the time gap between the films, they draw on comparable narrative patterns and visual worlds. Chile is consistently constructed as a culturally ‘different’ space – characterised by emotionality, uncertainty and exoticism. 

A hierarchical world view

According to the study, the melodramatic narratives of the films are characterised by a clear hierarchy: German characters appear rational, modern and civilised, while Chile is portrayed as backward and emotional. The structure of this visual language is reminiscent of classic propaganda films in which a supposedly superior culture is confronted with a hostile environment. Germany thus positions itself at the forefront of modern civilisation, while Chile is portrayed as a peripheral region. At the same time, the productions cling to an outdated image of the country that is already familiar from earlier films such as ‘The House of the Spirits’. Its visual and narrative symbols are adopted almost unchanged, without updating the image of Chile. The films thus do not show a contemporary country, but use Chile primarily as an emotional backdrop for German stories. 

Original publication:
Peña, J., u. Gonzáles, P. (2025): „Entre la memoria el exotismo: Chile y Alemania en el espejo televisivo alemán. In »Comunicación y Medios« 34 (52), 93-106. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-1529.2025.78702