his television works dramatizes how TV can constrain viewer consciousness; the playwright hopes to create people who break away from commercial culture and act as citizens rather than consumers. Gérard Thiériot divided his mainstream work into three phases: up to 1972, 1972–1980, and 1980 onward. The Nest has been called a morality play, and different from most of the works in the second phase. Rolf-Peter Carl, in Franz Xaver Kroetz (1978), divides his works into those before 1972, an "experimental" phase (1972–73), and those since 1974. In a 1996 article about Bauern sterben (1985), Moray McGowan wrote that Bavaria's Catholicism, obstinate conservatism and distrust of modernization were emphasized as elements of Kroetz's work in the early 1970s, but that the contribution of his Bavarian identity to certain tensions in his work later became ignored. Awards 1972 – Deutscher Kritikerpreis 1974 – Hannoverscher Dramatikerpreis 1976 – Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis for Das Nest 1985 – Ernst-Hoferichter-Preis 1995 – Bertolt-Brecht-Literaturpreis 1996 – Oberbayerischer Kulturpreis 2005 – Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 2007 – Marieluise-Fleißer-Preis 2008 – Bayerischer Filmpreis for Die Geschichte vom Brandner Kaspar Reception Early works Michael Toteborg wrote that while Kroetz writes controversial content for serious purposes and "never wanted to raise himself above the characters interacting on the stage [...] the question concerning the aesthetic and political worth of Kroetz's dramatic productions is debatable". Carl accused the playwright of theoretical banalities but also defends the earlier works against the playwright's later indictments. He praised Farmyard as capable of stirring audiences to social involvement, but criticized Men's Business for its ending and Munich Child for its "demagogy". Henry J. Schmidt, reviewing Carl's book on Kroetz, criticized Carl for discussing the political effectiveness of Men's Business without recourse to audience response, however, and described the ending of Men's Business as "one of Kroetz's most effective scenes". In a review of Farmyard and Four Plays (which contains Farmyard, Request Concert, Michi's Blood, Men's Business, and the Men's Business revision A Man, A Dictionary), Dasgupta billed the playwright's works as "lyrical, scathing, humane dramas". Jeanette R. Malkin referred to Farmyard and Ghost Train as the most important dramas of his early period. Frank Rich wrote in a review of Michi's Blood that it is not one of Kroetz's best work, and said the playwright engages in "uncharacteristic point-making, by force-feeding his heroine [...] Beckett-isms". The Washington Post's David Richards argued, "Unpleasant