The Specter of Ethnonationalism: Films from the Post-Yugoslav period (original) (raw)

In the Name of the People: Yugoslav Cinema and the Fall of the Yugoslav Dream

2017

This dissertation outlines the trajectory of Yugoslavias decline through an examination of select works of Yugoslav cinema from the late 1960s to the late 1980s which cogently commented on their sociopolitical context. It brings together various interpretive perspectives and utilizes film studies, cultural studies, political history, and postcolonial studies to discuss how the Yugoslav society and its political system are scrutinized through allegory, satire, and genre revisionism, for instance, and to elucidate what the films contribute to discourse on the origins of Yugoslavias violent breakup. Through a discussion of cinema, arguably the most politically subversive form of expression in the Yugoslav public sphere, this dissertation offers insight not only into why the country broke up but also, and perhaps more importantly, into what was lost when it broke up. Although it revolves around Yugoslavias failure, the dissertation validates the egalitarian, anti-imperialist Yugoslav id...

Cinematic representations of nationalist-religious ideology in Serbian films during the 1990s

2009

of the Thesis This thesis is a critical exploration of Serbian film during the 1990s and its potential to provide a critique of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. In this dissertation I focus upon how selected films provide insight into the ideological discourse of the 1990s within the Serbian socio-political and cultural context. I discuss a range of Serbian films produced during the 1990s, and I analyse in detail several films, in particular Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (Lepa sela, lepo gore, Srdjan Dragojevic, 1995) and Wounds (Rane, Srdjan Dragojevic, 1998), in which I focus on the depiction of nationalist and religious elements in the films. I analyse cinematic representations of the nationalist-religious ideology, its characteristics, impacts and promotion. On the basis of this analysis I consider the extent to which these cinematic representations are subversive. My dissertation has seven chapters. In chapter 1, which is an introduction to the thesis, I state my research quest...

HOW 'POST' CAN WE GO? SHIFTING PARADIGMS IN RESEARCHING POST-YUGOSLAVIA

2016

he post-Yugoslav framework in exploring cultural spaces of former Yugoslav republics needs to be re-conceptualised. Although many disciplines have to a certain degree recognized and institutionalised an approach which goes beyond temporal conceptualization of post-socialism, literature and ilm studies mainly still resist going down that path. he intention in this essay is to map in wide brushstrokes the main characteristics of what I call 'the war paradigm' and to drat the motives for its change. In order to outline the current dominant approach, I will be looking at two books: Pavle Levi's Disintegration in frames: aesthetics and ideology in the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav cinema and Gordana Crnković's Post-Yugoslav literature and ilm: ires, foundations, lourishes (2014). By focusing on ilm exclusively, I shall point to diferent ways of overcoming the war paradigm in writing about post-Yugoslav cinema. Библид 0350-6428, 48 (2016) 158, стр. 329-334. / научна критика УДК 791(497.1)"1994/..."

Post-Yugoslav Film and the Construction of New National Cinemas

Contemporary Southeastern Europe, 2018

Post-Yugoslav cinema is commonly seen as a field abundant in nationalist traits, while the work of post-Yugoslav scholars is criticized for advocating the notion of continuity of nations. However, by analyzing the most representative films from Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav eras, it can be argued that many traits dominant in post-Yugoslav cinema (not exclusively those connected to the prevalence of nationalism) began long before the actual dissolution of Yugoslavia. However abrupt these historical occurrences might have been, Yugoslavia and its cinema still did not sever all ties with the past: the newly forming national cultural traditions and discourses still shared some traits with traditions and discourses from the Yugoslav period of history. This text attempts to explain the elements of these continuous traits, including those which can be observed in films made both before and after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, but also in the films created on the border of the two eras. Since post-Yugoslav countries and cinemas diverge in many ways, this article concentrates mostly on Croatian examples, hoping they will also illuminate other post-Yugoslav situations, while not completely disregarding examples from other leading centers of (post-)Yugoslav cinema.

History and Popular Culture in Yugoslavia 1945-1990

This book analyzes the changing portrayal of Yugoslavia's World War II experience in music, film, and literature. It argues that the disappear­ance of unifying themes from the cultural sphere opened the doors to the popularization of controversial and divisive subjects. Shifting perceptions of how Yugoslavs fought and survived the Second World War contributed to the destruction of Yugoslavia. The first chapter focuses on World War II in Yugoslavia. The second chapter discusses the early development of Yugoslav culture and its dependence on the Second World War. The third chapter follows the development of Yugoslav culture through the 1960s and 1970s when political liberali­zation promoted greater freedom in the arts. Aside from inspiring artists to address new themes and approach old themes from a fresh perspective, it also permitted the stirrings of political dissent. The fourth chapter addresses the disappearance of the Yugoslav idea from the cultural realm during the 1980s.

Ethnic Stereotypes in the Discourse of Former-Yugoslav TV and Cinema

Jezik, književnost, diskurs: Zbornik radova, 2015

This paper is an attempt to analyze particular scenes from the TV series “Složna braća” and “Crni Gruja” and the film “Balcancan” for the purpose of surveying the featured stereotypical representations of former-Yugoslav ethnicities, identifying their roles within the said examples of film and TV discourse, and proving that familiarity with the discursive practices of these particular cultures (discourse communities) is essential for interpreting these artistic discourses (texts) in the manner intended by their authors. Ethnic stereotypes are, therefore, discussed as socio-cultural constructs or myths generated by the discursive practices of a particular culture, as, it is discourses that “bring cultural objects into being by naming them, defining them and delimiting their field of operation” (Stam, Burgoyne and Flitterman-Lewis 2005: 216). They are also viewed as part of a larger structure – a discursive universe comprised of interrelated mythical texts (Johansen and Larsen 2002: 55–56) shaped by former-Yugoslav discourse communities. For this reason, the mentioned texts will be analyzed as sharing the said discursive universe.