„Díky, Ameriko!“: dramaturgická analýza Slavností svobody v „nejameričtějším“ městě Evropy
“Thanks, America!”: A Dramaturgical Analysis of the Liberation Festival in the “Most American” city in Europe

Summary/Abstract: The following article aims to provide an interpretation of the annual public occasion called the “Liberation Festival” in Pilsen. The Liberation Festival serves as a celebration of the liberation of Pilsen by the U.S. army. Our paper presents a dramaturgical analysis of this occasion. More specifically, our effort is focused on two main interpretative threads. With respect to the first one (called “the production of discourse”) we analyse the processes of the (re)production of political discourse related to this public occasion. We also identify the main discourse that is typically produced or reinforced during the Liberation Festival. The second interpretative thread is called “the organizational line of the Liberation Festival”. Here, we try to provide examples and identify characteristics of the strategies and practices that can be employed by state apparatuses to present themselves as guarantors of the security of festival goers. Our findings confirm that public ceremonies (like the Liberation Festival) can fulfil the role of a medium that serves to spread actual political discourse, the veneration of actual societal normative order, and a positive portrait of state apparatuses. Our article can thus be viewed as a contribution to the debate on the reproduction of political discourse through public spectacles.

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