Page - 105 - in >mcs_lab> - Mobile Culture Studies, Volume 2/2020

Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 6 2o20 (Travel) Anna Karina Sennefelder | Revival of the cultural stereotype? 105 travellers have more sensitivity for what is comforting, compared to ‘the others’ from whom they clearly distinguish themselves. In fact, it is of course a matter of privileges that decides whether you are able to take a step back and get out of inconvenient lifesituations by simply travelling away from it. What really sets the travellers apart is their level of privilege, not their need for rest and peace. This is followed by another nocturnal vlog clip from inside the car, in which Wendt com- ments on the different European and African cultures of communication with which she and her partner cope differently, whereby the topoi of ‘absolutely wanting to get involved in the unknown’ and ‘improving oneself’ are formulated once again: “I think we Europeans are a bit different from Africans in this respect. But we are here in Africa to get involved, so we have to work on ourselves here” (Wendt and Stirnat 2019a: 22:30–22:37). The vlog ends with the ques- tion of how long Stirnat can endure this effort and whether they can continue and complete their journey together. The theme of this vlog is not only about the difficulties between Wendt and Stirnat, a very common subject of ‘couple vlogs’5, but also Wendt’s conscious approach to ‘cultural differences’. However, it is exactly this “expectation to leave ‘the own’ and to meet ‘the other’ in its original form and in its proper place” that constructs the “symbolical order of the world in which the active and free, because mobile, part of the world is confronted with many authentic parts that are at a historical standstill” (Goethe 2015: 27). The stereotypical depiction of ‘intense African life’ is continued in another sequence in Reiss aus that I would like to mention. It begins with guitar music and soft, pop-sounding vocal sing- ing and medium long shots of images of nature, such as flying pelicans or Stirnat surfing, then street scenes that depict poverty and colourfulness as connecting motifs (Wendt and Stirnat 2019a: 23:05–23:25). Finally, the guitar music is supplemented by Wendt’s VO: “Africa, Africa, finally. I could fall over with happiness. Ever since I was little, the people here have attracted me magically. It is like coming home. Why can’t I experience this feeling of freedom in Germany, a feeling that comes over me every time I step on African soil. As hard as life is here, that is how it is lived. My everyday life at home: working myself sick, frustrated consumption and a million insurance policies, it feels like a bad joke. A very sad joke, unfortunately” (Wendt and Stirnat 2019a: 23:25–24:04). During this narration, we see Stirnat and Wendt laughing in the car, a black woman with a blue headscarf, red necklaces and white nose jewellery, women working with mortars, Wendt with over-ear headphones, dreamily stroking a donkey, a black girl hula hooping on the beach, Stirnat climbing a tree, and children with a baby turtle. Finally, the opening establishing shot of the pelicans is repeated, which makes the sequence stand out as an especially closed unit, some pictures from which are shown in Fig. 12–15. The contrast between African and European culture, previously verbalised in the vlog, is further revealed here in a stereotypical way, loosely based on the idea that in Africa, life is hard but intense and beautiful; in Europe, people work themselves sick and are trapped in the ham- ster wheel of capitalism. ‘Africa’ is longingly constructed as a whole continent and, in a double exclamation, emphatically constructed as a home with “magical attraction”, a motif that, from the mouth of a white European, can be considered at least naïve. The assumptions about the people living a hard but intense life in Africa are generalising and categorising. The stereotype of the colourful, happy, albeit poor life is then accentuated through the text-image relations. 5 Cf. <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgh8048Z1rsbFkRz6-6Xot0-W0HzHhQCW> [accessed 8 July 2020]