"The east German socialists, committed as they were to socialist equality insisted on gender equal traffic light people. Since reunification, the east German cities have refused to give up their "ampel frau" and "ampel mann". I took these in Dresden in July."
Readers of my other (lesser!) web-blog may have noticed this link hidden in one of the comments.
Sent by regular reader Johnnyboy (mysterious chap without a blog, but probably quite attractive), it tells you about a terrible copyright battle going on between the person who made up little traffic lady (above) and the person who owns the rights to little traffic man (see below).
Come on people! Send them in!
8 comments:
I'm really confused about the East German thing. Your commenter says that before reunification they liked "gender equal" traffic light people, and that "Since reunification, the east German cities have refused to give up their "ampel frau" and "ampel mann"."
But that article you link to says:
"One of this city’s best known post-unification symbols, both here and abroad, was an unspectacular part of life in East Berlin: a pedestrian traffic light in the form of a little man known as Ampelmann (traffic light man)."
and
"Ampelmann’s considerably younger female counterpart, Ampelfrau, who began popping up at crosswalks in the eastern German city of Zwickau this year."
...which seems to imply that both AmpelMann and AmpleFrau are symbols of POST unification, not pre.
But what does "gender equal" mean? Does it mean a creature that looks neither male nor female (like gender-neutral, which is what I originally assumed it meant, and neither AmpleMann nor AmpleFrau could be described thus)? Or a creature that is somehow both at once? Maybe male for red, and female for green? Or maybe it means that they had determinedly female traffic light people, practising positive discrimination in the face of a determinedly pro-male bias in the rest of the world?
Well, anyway. Whatever. But seeing as, despite saying that AmpelMann and AmpelFrau are recent additions and are all about post-unification, the article also says, "Ampelmann’s roots date back to 1961 in Berlin"... I am thoroughly, thoroughly confused.
I'm with Clare. I am confused in exactly the same way as her. The article's message, unlike the message of the AmpelMann and AmpelFrau, is unclear...
Aha! Maybe they are West Berlin creations, imported to East Berlin after the wall came down?
Does it matter? I am not sure it does.
Have you seen this excellent advert?
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/450523/war_of_the_traffic_light_males/
It was regularly shown on ART, an Arabic sport channel which used to show English Premier League Football (soccer).
Have fun with it!
http://tinyurl.com/24e5w8
Oops!
Does it matter? Does it matter? Well of course it... oh. OK. Maybe it doesn't.
The Ampelmann is a genuine 1960s East German creation - the designer was worried that his hat might look a bit bourgeois. He was used in road safety films for children - watch out for those speeding Trabants...
The Ampelfrau is a completely post-reunification product.
The West German traffic men are of the fairly wimpy bog-standard European design, and when they started appearing in East Berlin after reunification, there was a campaign to bring the old Ampelmann back, and he can be found all over Berlin now, in both East and West.
Post a Comment