“Turkish fur Anfanger”: is history repeating itself?

The move towards having a more inclusive environment on television has seen a wide variety of programs change and disappear altogether. It’s no secret that American television has become substantially more politically correct over the course of the last 20 years. Plenty of programs have changed over this period of time in the United States, but it took some European countries a little bit longer to move towards less divisive narratives.

Last semester I began to watch a series called “Turkish Fur Anfanger” or Turkish for beginners to help me along in my quest to learn the German language. The premise of the show seems very comedic on the outside. It tells the story of a mixed family through the perspective of the youngest daughter, Lena. Lena is the daughter of a German woman who decides to move in with her new partner and his children. This becomes a more complex situation once it is revealed that the new partner and his son and daughter are from Turkey and are not German. This of course was instantly painted to be a problem in an early aside with Lena. A narrative that can be analyzed even deeper in a nation where being ethnically German was used historically to suppress and take advantage of minority populations.

The show commonly makes jokes using the differences between these two cultures. For example, one of the most consistently joked about aspects is that the Turkish daughter, named Yagmur, is a practicing Muslim. Those who practice Islam have historically been targeted for practices that the western world typically deems “weird.” Lena will often challenge Yagmur and try to make her go against her religion. Usually, this is done by harassing her and exposing her to things that she doesn’t like due to her religion, such as alcohol and European nightlife. Yagmur always refuses, but Lena, along with the other characters of the show continue to press her—often to the extent of demeaning her for her beliefs and her Islamic faith.

It gets even worse when you realize that Yagmur is not the only target of the jokes. The show also mixes in an equivalent amount of anti-Turkish content as well. The father and brother on the Turkish half of the mixed family also face scrutiny for who they are. They are often played out to be less competent than their ethnically German counterparts which perpetuates anti-immigrant norms that have long been a thorn in the side of progressive Germans. If German entertainment continues to keep these exclusionary principles alive, we may be doomed to see history repeat itself in a country that has done more than flirt with hyper-nationalism in the past.

“Turkish Fur Anfanger” is a show rooted in a solid comedic base. Unfortunately, that base is too often only presented through racist and prejudiced manifestations. If you truly want to learn a language, the use of a show like this will certainly immerse you into the language and for that, I would totally recommend it. But if you are looking to watch a show that is politically correct and does not perpetuate nationalist ideals, then surely you should avoid “Turkish Fur Anfanger.” While I will admit that my current consumption of German culture is extremely limited, this program certainly leaves me feeling that Germans are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Isolating marginalized groups whether that be for comedic purposes or anything else is never okay, and while “Turkish Fur Anfanger” may be funny at times, it spends most of its time making you feel like society is moving backward. For language learners, it’s a must-watch, but for anyone else, especially young and impressionable minds, it may be more advantageous to consume media that does not make light of nationalistic ideals.