Popular Cinemas in East Central Europe: Film Cultures and Histories

Description

The continued interest in the social and cultural life of the former Warsaw pact countries - looking at but also beyond their socialist pasts - encompasses a desire to know more about their national cinemas. Yet, despite the increasing consumption of films from these countries - via DVD, VOD platforms and other alternative channels - there is a lack of comprehensive information on this key aspect of visual culture. This important book rectifies the glaring gap and provides both a history and a contemporary account of East Central European cinema in the pre-WW2, socialist, and post-socialist periods. Demonstrating how at different historical moments popular cinema fulfilled various roles, for example in the capacity of nation-building, and adapted to the changing markets of a morphing political landscape, chapters bring together experts in the field for the definitive analysis of mainstream cinema in the region.Celebrating the unique contribution of films from Hungary, the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia and Poland, from the award-winning Cosy Dens to cult favourite Lemonade Joe, and from 1960s Polish Westerns to Hollywood-influenced Hungarian movies, the book addresses the major themes of popular cinema. By looking closely at genre, stardom, cinema exhibition, production strategies and the relationship between the popular and the national, it charts the remarkable evolution and transformation of popular cinema over time. Cover Author bio Endorsement Title page Copyright information Table of contents Figures Graphs Tables List of contributors Acknowledgements A Note on Naming Conventions Introduction Part I Politics of Popular Cinema in the Interwar Period 1 Czech Historical Film and Historical Traditions Historical Narratives Shaping The Merry Wives The Merry Wives: A Comedy Taking a Political Stance Conclusion Notes 2 Starlets and Heart-throbs Glamour Comedies and the Rise of the Male Stars Turning Toward Melodrama: The Film Industry From 1936 Onwards Conclusion Notes Part II Towards Socialism: Continuities and Ruptures 3 The Stripping of His Charms The Star Lead The Transformed Lead The Resisting Lead Conclusion Notes 4 Transformations From the Commercial Film Industry to the State-Owned Cinema Culture Hungarian Cinema for the Millions From Socialist Realist Operettas to Satirical Comedies Crime Cinema During Socialism: Mission Impossible? From the Precursors of the Present to Historical Adventure Conclusion Notes 5 Postwar Czechoslovak Comedy The Autonomisation of Parody, and Lemonade Joe (1964) Comedy in the Political History of Czechoslovak Cinema Industrial Authorship and Group Styles in the State-Socialist Production System Lemonade Joe: Paradoxical Historicity of Czech Film Parody Autonomisation of Parody Conclusion Notes Part III Socialist Film Cultures 6 How To Be Loved? Three Takes on ‘The Popular’ in Socialist and Non-Socialist Cinema ‘Serious’, ‘Unserious’, ‘Art Cinema’ and the ‘Epic’ Kitsch and Realism Notes 7 ‘Humanist Screens’: Foreign Cinema in Socialist Poland (1945–56) Humanist Screens and Mass Audiences 1949: When Films Were Not Socialist Realist Enough 1951: Cinema Should Educate Rather Than Entertain 1955: Genre Isn’t So Bad After All The General Public: Humanist Screens’ Spectators Conclusion Notes 8 Poland’s Wild West and East Lonely Heroes, Settlers and Gunslingers: How The Polish West Was Won Defending the East: Soldiers and Rezuny Conclusion Notes 9 Film in Full Gallop Notes 10 The Czechoslovak–East German Co-production Tři oříšky pro Popelku/Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel/Three Wishes ... Popularity With Two National Audiences Children’s Films at Barrandov and DEFA: A Temporary Reconciliation of Production Concepts Cinderella, a Transnational Character Conclusion Acknowledgement 11 The Paradox of Popularity Introduction Popular Film and the Politics of Power Popular Film and the Politics of Auteurs After 1968 The Case of the Crime Movie The vulture Conclusion Notes Part IV Out of Socialism: Co-habiting Models of Popular Cinema 12 Popular Nostalgia Notes 13 The Power of Love Heritage cinema: the (un)certainties of the past Melodrama: Historical Trauma as an Affect Romantic Comedy: Modernity Domesticated Conclusion 14 When Walls Fall Notes Part V National Cinemas and Globalised Film Cultures 15 The ‘Hollywood Factor’ in the Most Popular Hungarian Films of the Period 1996–2014 When a Small Post-communist Cinema Meets ... Small Hollywood ‘Popular’ on a Small, Post-Communist Scale Computing Popularity: a Post-Communist Challenge Hollywood in Our Bedroom Conclusions 16 The Exhibition of Popular Cinema in the Czech Republic and Slovakia Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index