STALIN’S GIFTS: THE THEMES OF YUGOSLAV FEATURE FILMS 1945-1955 Cover Image

СТАЉИНОВИ ПОКЛОНИ - ТЕМАТИКА ЈУГОСЛОВЕНСКОГ ИГРАНОГ ФИЛМА 1945-1955
STALIN’S GIFTS: THE THEMES OF YUGOSLAV FEATURE FILMS 1945-1955

Author(s): Goran Miloradović
Subject(s): Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Cultural history, Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Film / Cinema / Cinematography
Published by: Institut za savremenu istoriju, Beograd
Keywords: Yugoslavia; feature films; Joseph Stalin; film propaganda; socialist realism; Hollywood style;

Summary/Abstract: The mass interest that movies attracted made film an extremely important means of influencing public opinion in Yugoslavia. As a result, the party-run state strove to keep the film industry under rigid control. In the first decade following World War II the Yugoslav film reflected the state’s new policy of turning towards the West, gradually drawing away from socialist realism and adopting Hollywood-style forms of propaganda. Although for reasons of foreign policy Yugoslav communists had veered towards the West in the beginning of the fifties, they had not done much to introduce democracy in the country’s internal relations. The appearance of new and more liberal trends in art drew criticism and repression. Modern themes were undesirable despite their authors’ unreserved loyalty to the Party because they inevitably disturbed the mythic perception of reality that the Party had endeavored to create. Because of its importance in forming the perception of the masses film-making was entrusted only to individuals who had proven themselves beyond doubt both ideologically and politically. Despite the rigid rule exercised over the ‘brotherly’ nations of Yugoslavia such deviations occurred which cannot be ascribed to coincidence or to individual digressions but are more likely to have been the result of some form of political pluralism. The fact that this pluralism appeared within a specific single-party system makes this phenomenon even more interesting and its consequences more complex. The critical spirit managed to survive and grow in art despite state and party control and overt political pressure, occasionally producing outstanding works. Film quite frequently preceded other forms of art in this respect.

  • Issue Year: 2002
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 97-114
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Serbian