„Und ich bin das Schnitzel“

The article undertakes a first approach to Thomas Brasch as a ‘media figure’. First, his audiovisual media presence during his lifetime is questioned in terms of how he participated in shaping his image as a public figure and developed a star persona as a German-German artist and man. The focus is on the first documentary about him, Annäherung an Thomas Brasch (1977, Georg Stefan Troller) and the television recordings of his ‘anti-acceptance speech’ on the occasion of the awarding of the Bavarian Film Prize in 1982. Due to the programmatic character of Brasch’s self-staging in front of the camera, these can be understood as basic texts for his media image. Using the example of numerous interviews and television appearances, it can be shown how Brasch linked his GDR origins and German-German identity with a specific representation of masculinity. Following the first phase, which is characterized by Brasch retaining control over his media figure, feature-length films about him and his life are examined: Brasch – Words of Want, Words of Fear (2011, Christoph Rüter), The Brasch Family (2018, Annekatrin Hendel) and Dear Thomas (2021, Andreas Kleinert) and the question of whether and how established (self-)images and biographical narratives are adopted and solidified or also questioned.