Die Verwandlung to go (Kafka in 11 Minuten)
Sommers Weltliteratur to go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wipzxqzDclA

Transkript (automatisch erstellt)

0:00 SOMMER’S WORLD LITERATURE TO GO IS PRESENTED BY RECLAM SOMMER’S WORLD LITERATURE TO GO EPISODE 12 THE METAMORPHOSIS
0:15 One morning, when Gregor Samsa awoke from restless dreams, he found himself in his bed transformed into a monstrous vermin. So begins Franz Kafka’s famous story<i> The Metamorphosis</i>
0:26 and with that, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve all been there. You wake up with a strange taste in your mouth,
0:33 your bodily functions don’t want to play along, and you’re terrified of opening your eyes. It’s a commonplace experience
0:40 that Franz Kafka presents us in his story<i> The Metamorphosis</i> , but with a few eerie ingredients and players. They include the man who awakens,
0:50 who over the course of the story becomes homebound: Gregor Samsa. They also called him the “Bed Bug.” This fabric salesman is his little family’s breadwinner.
1:01 Memorize this face, so that you can recognize him later. Another member of the family is his old dad. He drove his own company into the ground.
1:11 Maybe that’s why he’s not very nice. But his old and asthmatic mom is nice. And then there’s his sister Grete,
1:20 who’s young and musically gifted. So of course she’s quite nice. Then there’s someone who’s not nice: the manager of Gregor’s company. He’s an evil capitalist. as we see here.
1:31 And finally, the family has a fragile housemaid at first, but then a so-called servant, a domestic worker. And, as you see, that’s a real broom.
1:40 She always has a broom in her hand. At some point money gets tight and they have to take in boarders.
1:46 These so-called lodgers all have scary hipster beards. The most wonderful thing about this story is that it has only two settings: Gregor’s bedroom and the adjacent family living room.
2:01 That’s why we have this great set consisting of the family living room and Gregor’s bedroom. And, like all horrible things in life, the story begins in the bedroom.
2:12 It’s a normal workday. When Gregor awakens, his mouth feels furry inside. But it’s not a hangover.
2:19 It’s a bug. He thinks that it’s silly, but he’s also still in a daze. Then he looks at his alarm clock and thinks:
2:26 He should have gotten up at 4! Now his train’s long gone and he’s thinking about how to get up. Because for a bug lying on its back
2:33 that’s not so easy. Then his whimpering mom knocks on the door and says: “Gregor, didn’t you want to get up early?”
2:40 “Yes, Mom, everything’s fine.” Then his dad bangs on the door: “Gregor.” Now his sister: “Gregor, are you okay?”
2:47 But Gregor’s little insect feet are tied up with trying to get up. Then the doorbell rings. Gregor hears that it’s his office manager and falls out of the bed in fright,
2:58 hitting his head. His unpleasant supervisor in the next room hears this. And his dad says: “Gregor, your office manager’s here.
3:07 Can he come into your room?” When Gregor finally says something, unfortunately it’s “No!” The manager interrupts the stunned silence to express his indignation:
3:15 “Listen, Mr. Samsa, you’ve been displaying a lack of commitment recently and the boss suspects you of embezzlement.”
3:22 That upsets Gregor to no end. He asserts that it’s all nonsense and he’ll open the door at once. But all that comes out is:
3:31 The manager says: “That’s an animal voice.” Dad sends the housemaid to get a locksmith and a doctor because you never know.
3:38 Gregor works hard to open the door with his mouth and then opens it wide. When he looks out, the others are not happy about it.
3:47 Mom goes... ...and faints. Faint!
3:51 The manager says: “Oh!” And Dad gets really angry. Gregor tries... ...to deescalate the situation, but his wimp of a manager runs away.
4:00 Gregor tries to go after him before it’s too late. But Dad grabs the manager’s cane and a newspaper to become a bug tamer.
4:09 He shoos Gregor back into his room. The problem is that he’s not yet able to crawl backwards. That’s why it takes forever.
4:18 He eventually turns around. But he no longer fits through the door. He’s too wide. He used to just slide through. His dad shows no mercy
4:26 and kicks him through the door into his room. Once Gregor lands there, he falls asleep, exhausted. A mutation like that is pretty exhausting.
4:36 He awakens in the evening to find that Grete left him a bowl of milk with little pieces of bread. “Thank God, I’m so hungry.
4:45 But milk is my favorite food. Why is it so disgusting to me?” Maybe bugs are lactose intolerant, and no one told him. The next morning, Greta discovers after a short series of tests
4:56 that old cheese and moldy vegetables are now the proper diet for Gregor. One less concern for the bug, who nonetheless still has plenty of them. “Yes, what about money now that I’m not earning anything anymore?”
5:10 But Dad tells the family that evening: “Don’t worry. We still have some savings.” Gregor’s surprised to hear this:
5:17 “Wait a minute, I’ve always worked my ass off. And if he still has money while I pay off his debts, well... In any case, I’ll send Grete to the conservatory at Christmastime.”
5:27 A bug conservatory, unless he transforms back. They settle into a routine: Every morning, Grete comes and opens the window wide because of the stench in the room.
5:38 He creeps away under the sofa and covers himself with a blanket, to avoid her seeing him. She then sweeps out the old food and lays out fresh food for him.
5:48 In time, Gregor gets more or more skilled in moving around like a bug. He can even go backwards and move along the wall. Crawling, that is.
5:56 Grete notices that. When Dad isn’t around, she says to her mother: “Let’s take that desk out of his room.
6:05 Then he’ll have more space to move around.” And they roll up their sleeves and carry the desk out. While they’re doing it, Grete says:
6:14 “I have another idea. Let’s take out the rest of the furniture. He’ll have even more room.” But Gregor thinks it’s a stupid idea
6:21 because it would mean that every trace of his past life as a human would disappear. So he sticks to the wall. On the painting of a beautiful lady,
6:29 which he has lovingly placed in a fretwork frame of plywood. The moving crew returns. His mother is the first one to see him sticking to the wall in all his glory.
6:39 So far the rest of the family has shielded her from him. So she does what she does best: She faints. Of course, Gregor wants to come to her rescue and rushes to the next room.
6:50 But just at the moment he comes out, his dad returns home and is furious to see that the beast has escaped again. He quickly chases Gregor around the table,
7:01 grabs some apples and throws them at Gregor. One of these vitamin bombs hits him in the carapace and gets stuck between two layers of chitin.
7:10 “Ouch!” And since he can’t get to the projectile to pick it out, it stays lodged there and rots away.
7:17 That’s disgusting and hurts like hell. Dad’s now working at a bank. Grete is a salesperson and Mom is a seamstress.
7:27 In the evening, they’re all exhausted. The evening’s entertainment: They leave the door slightly open for Gregor to watch his dad sleeping.
7:36 Before the invention of television, that was considered entertaining. They’re all working and no longer have time to care for their pet. That’s why Gregor’s room is such a mess.
7:46 They hire a new servant. She’s very curious and soon discovers what’s up with Gregor. She finds him but isn’t afraid and says something like:
7:57 “Come here, you old dung beetle.” She has a way with animals. In a huff, he moves closer to her, but she picks up the chair to keep him away.
8:05 Gregor stops eating for the most part. But now there are three new lodgers who need to be fed. Every evening, they get a meal in the living room.
8:14 One evening, Grete plays violin to lighten the mood. Her playing is very lovely. And Gregor is attracted to this music as if by magic.
8:24 Unfortunately, the servant left his door open. So he looks through the opening because that’s all he can do. When they see him, all hell breaks loose.
8:32 “Disgusting!” Dad tries to push them out of the room. But the damage is done and they say:
8:40 “We’re moving out at once and we’re not paying. You’re lucky we don’t report you to the Department of Health.” Grete is appalled,
8:47 but more by Gregor than the nasty lodgers: “We can’t go on like this. We have to get rid of it.” Dad yells: “Right!”
8:55 And Mom yells: Gregor, utterly sad, turns around slowly and with difficulty. He’s very weak and goes back to his room.
9:07 The next morning, when the servant comes in to clean up, she discovers him lying flat on his back. He’s not nothing but a shell.
9:14 She pokes him, but he doesn’t move. And she yells: “It’s dead!” Then she disposes of him.
9:20 Overjoyed, old Samsa throws the servant out, even though she just cleaned up, and says to what’s left of his little family: “Now that we’re rid of Corona...I mean, that beast, let’s do something for ourselves.
9:34 Let the three of us have a nice day: We’ll take the tram to the countryside. Prague is lovely in spring.” They remember that they need to find a husband for Grete.
9:44 She’s the right age, and the family needs a new breadwinner. And that’s the end of the story. In conclusion:
9:52 “Blood is thicker than water,” which people like to say, means that you can rely on your family when the chips are down. Kafka obviously sees it differently.
10:01 As long as Gregor functioned as a workhorse, he was treated okay. But the minute he malfunctions, he’s lucky
10:08 if he isn’t mistreated with kicks, punches and projectiles. There’s not a lot of love in this family. Dad has none to give.
10:15 That was probably true of Kafka’s father. All Mom can do is faint. And slowly but surely, Grete stops being the nice little sister
10:23 and goes on an ego trip, which makes her parents proud. It’s not easy for a family living under capitalism. Especially if someone’s in need of care.
10:34 Thank God life as a giant bug isn’t a barrel of fun, which is why Gregor eventually realizes what’s best for everyone: He dies. And that, dear community, was Franz Kafka’s <i> The Metamorphosis</i> .
10:47 Thank you very much.