YouTube (2018) [online] available at: www.youtube.com (accessed 03/10/18)
YouTube (2018) [online] available at: www.youtube.com (accessed 13/10/18)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep_isfO8Xfs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_New_Wave
http://www.newwavefilm.com/international/czech-new-wave.shtml
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/czech-new-wave-movie-era/
https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/870-eclipse-series-32-pearls-of-the-czech-new-wave
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring
https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/256941-the-joke/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Joke_(film)
https://criterioncast.com/column/a-journey-through-the-eclipse-series/a-journey-through-the-eclipse-series-jaromil-jires-the-joke
http://greyfrankfilm.blogspot.com/2007/02/jaromil-jires-joke-1969.html
Peter Hames (2005) The Czechoslovak New Wave Second Edition. London: Wallflower Press
Editing inspiration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSdrbcBQVTs&t=1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzqZgUctlaA
Script:
Hello everybody! In today's film were going to discuss the czech new wave. Now you may be asking, sophie, what is czech new wave? Well listen here kids, and I will teach you what you need to know.
Czech New Wave in two words could be described as political and artistic. In the 1960s, the Czechs were under heavy soviet law, which left many people struggling to express themselves. A group of avengarte artists decided to create films with this in mind to showcase people the system of oppression they were living in. The films were rather a form of expressionism in majority, with only a few having narrative and having a heavy theme of poeticism. Many of the directors even led on to graduate from FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague).
Daisies, the third film by notorious director Vera Chytilova, is akey film in the Czech New Wave. The 1966 avant garde 'comedy' shows two girls boht named Marie living in a male dominated, communist society. The two girls, after having an epiphany decide to play a game of 'it doesn't matter/it matters'; causing them into bounds of mischief and illustrates the dangers of boredom. The lack of clear narrative and vacuum like space they live in suggests days blending into one another and the overall bleak life they have.
The film is a feminist one, and more so explores the idea that society expects women to act one way rather than another. This was a realistic expectation, not only in the 1960s but years before and after globally. An example of this particular ideology could be a comparison between the two Maries' drunken behaviour vs a behaviour seen in a Charlie Chaplin film years before.
[comparison clips]
Both act in oversized gestures with the people surrounding them frowning, but the outside world reaction was different to both; with Charlie's films being seen as comedies and eventually leading him on to having a famously large career whereas Vera's film eventually got banned. But you may be asking, why did it get banned? Well let's see the highly controversial scene that is labelled as the main reason for it being banned.
[comparison clips]
Both act in oversized gestures with the people surrounding them frowning, but the outside world reaction was different to both; with Charlie's films being seen as comedies and eventually leading him on to having a famously large career whereas Vera's film eventually got banned. But you may be asking, why did it get banned? Well let's see the highly controversial scene that is labelled as the main reason for it being banned.
[insert clip of food fight]
Now do you see why it was banned? According to the government, this food fight scene was the most offensive due to the amount of food wasted. The scene overall was meant to be an attack on the established order, opulence, good taste and good manners; it was more likely the anarchist actions of the females more than a squashed cake. Vera even added an end slate to her film dedicating to those 'who get upset only over a stomped upon bed of lettuce' rather than the real injustice happening in her country. The film as previously discussed shows this rebellion through editing styles also like the use of montages, layering of films and colour effects; it doesn't look like a traditional film, as the girls do not act like traditional women. But as the famous quote states 'well behaved women seldom make history'.
Milos Forman's 1967 film 'The Firemen's Ball' is a comedy about a fireman committee trying to organise the annual ball. They try to make an amusing, happy evening for everyone but things turn out catastrophic in the end; in a way Forman describes as a 'vision of what's going on in the world today'/ The film is more radical than his others, with its social criticism being more metaphorical.
The film uses it's comedy stylism to showcase Forman's negative views of the czech government. He does this by using examples from silent films with the scene with the ladder and inspiration from the cinéma vértité movement with scenes like the pageant line up. One of the firemen messes the original plan up and instead pulls a woman from the crowd last minute; this improvisation and quick thinking is one of the more common comedy elements in this film. The scene where the firemen try to collect all the missing lottery prizes in a hurried and poor manner is a perfect example of this.
[insert clip of lottery]
'Corruption, Incompetence and a lack of Compassion'; these are the key themes portrayed by the Firemen in this film. Corruption is seen where their intentions for a pageant turn into a sexual fantasy as they get they try to get the girls to perform in bikinis. This ultimately fails and begins the catastrophic events mentioned earlier when the girls all run into the bathroom and refuse to perform. This leads into the Incompetence and lack of compassion where the rest of the firemen slowly lose patience and ideas of what to do. More specific examples of this are seen when none of the firemen know how to put the fire out in the hall, and are too old to manually put out the fire with snow at the burning house. Their lack of compassion throughout is arguable as they are determined to throw a good event, but their actions are poor. As previously mentioned their actions towards women are rude and earlier on they even say they should have given the retired officers gift the year before instead of now as he is dying. Though nothing is directly tied to events in Czechoslovakia of that time, the narrow minded vision and small compassion is something Forman was inspired by from the government and which he openly talks about, much like other directors of that time.
Yet this strictness was key for his earlier films, so the question is was it somewhat useful? Not to Forman, who would eventually move to the US like other Czech citizens to live a much more successful career.
Based on the novel of the same name, The Joke by Jaromil Jireš is the darkest film I will be discussing today. The Joke tells the story of Ludvík Jahn, a man who seeks revenge after being expelled from the Czechoslovak Communist Party for an idle joke to his then girlfriend. The revenge he seeks through adultery as he pursues his former friends wife. The film was produced during the political liberalization of the 1968 Prague Spring and contains numerous scenes which satirize and criticize the country's communist leadership.
The main character's fixation on the past is another key element of the film, and more so drives the visual characteristics and narrative of the film. The beginning uses multiple juxtaposing shots to show Ludviík's obsession with the past; the past scenes are shown from P.O.V (point of view) shots whilst his reaction shots are set back in the present. Though these shots are set in different times, the editing projects the past into the present, much like Ludvík whose main narrative and mission is derivative of the past. He only wishes to bed Helena because of his past, and not for romantic intent. Similarly in the the finale of the film, a youth who was in love with Helena confronts Ludvik for hurting her; but as Ludvík defends and beats the boy he exclaims "it was not you who I wanted to beat up!". The film then abruptly ends. There is no resolution nor climax from the building tension and action throughout the film, ultimately making all or most of Ludvík's actions pointless. It almost makes Ludvík a memento mormi in the sense that he is the only person to care about his past and he is the only one who feels the pain from it; he is displaced in the mixed time editing and his fixation on the past is irrelevant to the livelihoods of people now. I think this was meant to be representative of how Jireš attempted to understand the mindset of people in that time, and even the human cost; everyone has moved on but Ludvík in a way like the youth have grown up only knowing one communist government rather than a constant war like the older citizens of Czechoslovakia. This even adds a sense of incidental verisimilitude as the film was unironically banned during the years of normalisation in the country; as though they wanted to move on without being too attached to the past, like Ludvík's 'friends'.
However, the film is not totally perfect and even comes across as misogynistic. The character Helena and her use throughout the film is the prime example of this. She is naïve and romantic, and more so is subjected to illusions of revolution and idealistic men. She is used only as a prop by Ludvík who uses her for revenge, beats her and forces her to undress. Similarly, Pavel's Girlfriend, Markéta, is only used for material acquisition. Neither of the women have strong roles, and are seen nothing more than 'bragging rights'. It could be argued this was the mindset of men in the 1970s and before, but when films like this were meant to argue the system of oppression it is questionable to the necessary reasons to why this was needed or portrayed.
Nevertheless, the film's particular underlying narrative laid way for films after it and more so discussed issues only a few films before have. It also no doubt gave confidence to directors after like Chytilova who created the iconic feminist movie, so all is forgiven, for now.
Well there you have it. I hope you found this video educational and useful! Overall I think we can agree the directors and artists were very influential and critical to cinema today, and more so have redefined what it means to break boundaries. I hope you walk away having learnt something new, and perhaps even with more confidence to show your views through film. Goodbye and don't forget!
[insert outro clip]
[insert clip of lottery]
'Corruption, Incompetence and a lack of Compassion'; these are the key themes portrayed by the Firemen in this film. Corruption is seen where their intentions for a pageant turn into a sexual fantasy as they get they try to get the girls to perform in bikinis. This ultimately fails and begins the catastrophic events mentioned earlier when the girls all run into the bathroom and refuse to perform. This leads into the Incompetence and lack of compassion where the rest of the firemen slowly lose patience and ideas of what to do. More specific examples of this are seen when none of the firemen know how to put the fire out in the hall, and are too old to manually put out the fire with snow at the burning house. Their lack of compassion throughout is arguable as they are determined to throw a good event, but their actions are poor. As previously mentioned their actions towards women are rude and earlier on they even say they should have given the retired officers gift the year before instead of now as he is dying. Though nothing is directly tied to events in Czechoslovakia of that time, the narrow minded vision and small compassion is something Forman was inspired by from the government and which he openly talks about, much like other directors of that time.
Yet this strictness was key for his earlier films, so the question is was it somewhat useful? Not to Forman, who would eventually move to the US like other Czech citizens to live a much more successful career.
Based on the novel of the same name, The Joke by Jaromil Jireš is the darkest film I will be discussing today. The Joke tells the story of Ludvík Jahn, a man who seeks revenge after being expelled from the Czechoslovak Communist Party for an idle joke to his then girlfriend. The revenge he seeks through adultery as he pursues his former friends wife. The film was produced during the political liberalization of the 1968 Prague Spring and contains numerous scenes which satirize and criticize the country's communist leadership.
The main character's fixation on the past is another key element of the film, and more so drives the visual characteristics and narrative of the film. The beginning uses multiple juxtaposing shots to show Ludviík's obsession with the past; the past scenes are shown from P.O.V (point of view) shots whilst his reaction shots are set back in the present. Though these shots are set in different times, the editing projects the past into the present, much like Ludvík whose main narrative and mission is derivative of the past. He only wishes to bed Helena because of his past, and not for romantic intent. Similarly in the the finale of the film, a youth who was in love with Helena confronts Ludvik for hurting her; but as Ludvík defends and beats the boy he exclaims "it was not you who I wanted to beat up!". The film then abruptly ends. There is no resolution nor climax from the building tension and action throughout the film, ultimately making all or most of Ludvík's actions pointless. It almost makes Ludvík a memento mormi in the sense that he is the only person to care about his past and he is the only one who feels the pain from it; he is displaced in the mixed time editing and his fixation on the past is irrelevant to the livelihoods of people now. I think this was meant to be representative of how Jireš attempted to understand the mindset of people in that time, and even the human cost; everyone has moved on but Ludvík in a way like the youth have grown up only knowing one communist government rather than a constant war like the older citizens of Czechoslovakia. This even adds a sense of incidental verisimilitude as the film was unironically banned during the years of normalisation in the country; as though they wanted to move on without being too attached to the past, like Ludvík's 'friends'.
However, the film is not totally perfect and even comes across as misogynistic. The character Helena and her use throughout the film is the prime example of this. She is naïve and romantic, and more so is subjected to illusions of revolution and idealistic men. She is used only as a prop by Ludvík who uses her for revenge, beats her and forces her to undress. Similarly, Pavel's Girlfriend, Markéta, is only used for material acquisition. Neither of the women have strong roles, and are seen nothing more than 'bragging rights'. It could be argued this was the mindset of men in the 1970s and before, but when films like this were meant to argue the system of oppression it is questionable to the necessary reasons to why this was needed or portrayed.
Nevertheless, the film's particular underlying narrative laid way for films after it and more so discussed issues only a few films before have. It also no doubt gave confidence to directors after like Chytilova who created the iconic feminist movie, so all is forgiven, for now.
Well there you have it. I hope you found this video educational and useful! Overall I think we can agree the directors and artists were very influential and critical to cinema today, and more so have redefined what it means to break boundaries. I hope you walk away having learnt something new, and perhaps even with more confidence to show your views through film. Goodbye and don't forget!
[insert outro clip]
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