The Turnabout

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I had the same reaction. First, almost everyone is rude and bigoted beyond belief, calling her a whore and kicking in her television set. But when Emmi and Ali come back, everyone is nice to her, all in accordance with her incredible prediction. Granted, they all want something from her, but what a coincidence that everyone would want something from her all at the same time, and enough so to overcome all that prejudice.

But that isn’t the worst of it. The vacation changed them too, because Ali becomes sullen and ashamed of her (laughing at the “grandma” joke), and Emmi starts exhibiting prejudice against foreigners. She gives him orders to help carry stuff down to the cellar as if he were hired help; she refuses to cook couscous for him; and she talks to her coworkers about how clean he is while he just stands there, after which they examine him like a prize bull.

A little subtlety would have been better, both regarding the before and the after.

I think they are still at a minimum uncomfortable about Ali and likely still bigoted underneath their exterior friendliness.

They can be seen as selfish when they come to realize a benefit from a friendly relationship with Emmi - she has room in her cellar, she is a good customer, she is another ally in helping to get a raise, and she has time to babysit. Going back to ecology, there is the spectrum of 'mutual' (both benefit), commensal' (one benefits), and 'parasitic' (one benefits at the expense of another) relationships. Where exactly does Emmi benefit in any of these transactions? At best some are commensal transactions whereas they mostly seem parasitic to me.

With this, I think Fassbinder illustrates that racism is not always overtly spoken. Emmi's acquaintances still treat at least Ali unfairly (and depending on how you feel about the above transactions, Emmi too although Emmi may have been taken advantage of prior to her marriage anyway). Remember the scene where they all 'ooh and aah' over his muscles as if he were an animal? They even compliment him on the fact that he is clean and showers daily. The one lady talks literally behind his back as he stands there instead of asking him to sit with them (may seem normal these days, but I'm sure in the 70's lack of such manners would have been rude, although these folks do appear to potentially lack such refinement). These backhanded (no pun intended) compliments at first don't strike Emmi as racist, but they clearly show that no one's mindsets have changed. Instead of overt racist, it's just thinly concealed racism, which may even be potentially worse as Emmi does not even recognize it (as she had recognized everyone's racism before) and now joins them, unknowingly insulting Ali as well. Poor Ali, as the foreigner and likely used to veiled insults, very well understands these insults and leaves. Only the girls are confused when they ask 'what's gotten into him?' But to Ali and the audience I think it's quite clear what's going on.