POST-WAR CZECHOSLOVAK NATIONALISM IN THE MEDIA RECEPTION OF THE FILM ABOUT JAN ROHÁČ OF DUBÁ Cover Image

ČESKOSLOVENSKÝ POVÁLEČNÝ NACIONALISMUS V MEDIÁLNÍ RECEPCI SNÍMKU JAN ROHÁČ Z DUBÉ
POST-WAR CZECHOSLOVAK NATIONALISM IN THE MEDIA RECEPTION OF THE FILM ABOUT JAN ROHÁČ OF DUBÁ

Author(s): Kryštof Doležal
Subject(s): Media studies, Nationalism Studies, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Film / Cinema / Cinematography
Published by: Historický ústav SAV
Keywords: Nationalism; Warriors of Faith; Cinematography; Third Czechoslovak Republic; Hussitism, Pan-Slavism;

Summary/Abstract: This study explores nationalist strategies inscribed in the media reception of the 1947 Czechoslovak movie Warriors of Faith. While the Slovak press paid only marginal attention to the film, I demonstrate that the Czech press developed an exclusionary Czech nationalist discourse of Hussite tradition while entailing other components of Czech nationalism such as panSlavism. The analysis shows that the film reviews can be differentiated according to a clash between non-communist and pro-communist camps. Although the non-communist press criticized the principles of socialist realism, cultural nationalism, and a historicism, it failed to present any distinctive narrative. On the other hand, pro-communist reviews framed the movie as a normative model for Czechoslovak politics and society, emphasizing elements of Czech nationalism, rendering it an authentic part of communist ideology. They did so by transposing historical realities to the present-day moment and prompting the „legacy fulfilment“ of the proto-communist martyr Jan Roháč to (re)invent Czechoslovak unity and Slavic integrity.

  • Issue Year: 70/2022
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 87-113
  • Page Count: 27
  • Language: Czech