Intrepid Mountaineers and Damsels in Distress: The Sportswoman in the 'Bergfilm'

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyse the German Bergfilm of the 1920s and 1930s from a gender perspective in order to explore the role played by female characters in the skiing and mountaineering world depicted in this genre. To this end, it focuses on the figure of the sportswoman in all six films directed by Arnold Fanck that feature Leni Riefenstahl, in addition to Mountain of Destiny, in which the female character is played by Hertha von Walther, and The Blue Light, directed by and starring Riefenstahl. The article begins with a brief outline of the gender conflict provoked by Riefenstahl’s entry into the male-dominated world of Arnold Fanck’s films, followed by an exploration of the films themselves from a narrative perspective that considers the role and agency of each female character in relation to sport. While the visual representation of the sportswoman in these films is similar to that of the sportsman, the storylines position these characters as strangers to mountain sports and often as pupils of men.