Abstract
This piece will introduce Czech ostalgic films set in the normalisation period (1969–1989) and will interpret the basic divide between nostalgic representation of the period and the openly anti-communist stances of the films’ creators. The methodological frame of this research comes from Robert Rosenstone’s approach of representation of history in film. To interpret ostalgia in Czech film, I use ideas from Daphne Berdhal and Svetlana Boym. I described the nostalgic elements and their functions in the structure of the films, taking into account their story, characters, settings, film style, narration, genre, and audience response (identification, causality of emotional experience). Czech ostalgic films about the normalisation period are interpretively ambivalent. The interpretational tension appears out of a fundamental divide between a clear refusal of communism and an idyllic view of the socialist past. They cannot be simply classified into restorative or reflective nostalgia. The younger generation of spectators perceives ostalgic films in the mode of reflective nostalgia; on the other hand, the older generation perceive the films in terms of restorative nostalgia. A different way of perceiving ostalgia reveals a misunderstanding between generations of the current Czech society. Due to singular anti-communist viewpoints and emphasised liberal values, the films cannot be interpreted in a desire for an idealised home in a communist past, but as a desire for a present home and its security, which cannot be clearly conceptualised. The concept of reflective nostalgia can be linked with the theory of Berdhal. The films cannot be perceived as a desire for an idealised home in a communist past due to specific anti-communist viewpoints and highlighted liberal values, but as a need for a home and security that cannot be directly conceptualised. This appearance of reflective nostalgia can be connected with the theory stated by Berdhal.
Highlights
This text introduces a summary of a side topic in my research of Czech historical film post-1989, which I worked on in 2014–2018 (Ptáček 2018)
Due to singular anti-communist viewpoints and emphasised liberal values, the films cannot be interpreted in a desire for an idealised home in a communist past, but as a desire for a present home and its security, which cannot be clearly conceptualised
The conclusion should result in an explanation of how the meaning of ostalgia is identic, and how it differs from the interpretations of Daphne Berdhal and Svetlana Boym
Summary
This text introduces a summary of a side topic in my research of Czech historical film post-1989, which I worked on in 2014–2018 (Ptáček 2018). In tradition the second the findings the analysis ofto nostalgic elements in films section is introduced ofsection, Czech nostalgic filmsoffrom the 1930s the 1980s and its various about normalisation the second level ofsection, character genre,ofand audience response are ideological functions. The contemporary, which mainly represents the behaviour and actions of characters, the audience response is interpreted a stance towards films their experience between characters, and arises fromasthe narrative or isostalgic presented bythrough a film narrator. To analyse ostalgia in Czech film, I use ideas from German sociologist Daphne Berdhal, mainly with post-communism. The contemporary Czech film closely analysed in the English-published book of Jan Čulík (2012). Czech television (public and private) repeat television shows and films from thepřípad normalisation period, including propaganda works like the series. Work was often based on fighting outer and inner ideological enemies
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