Society in Distress: The Image of the Czech Republic in Contemporary - Softcover

Culik, Jan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845196309 ISBN 13: 9781845196301

Publisher: Liverpool University Press, 2014

Synopsis

Jan Culik's book analyses the value system constructed by Czech feature films produced since the fall of communism in 1989. It provides an overview of some three hundred Czech feature films made during this period. Over fourteen chapters, the book shows how Czech film makers have dealt with the legacy of communism and other traumatic past experiences, and how they have borne witness to recent political and social developments in the Czech Republic. In Culik's view, Czech feature film constructs an image of society which is still heavily influenced by the so-called "normalisation" regime of the 1970s and 1980s, which was created in Czechoslovakia after the 1968 Soviet invasion. Czech feature films bear witness to a society which suffers from fairly weak social and political structures. Many Czech films highlight the subordinate position of women in Czech society and project an image of impractical, inefficient, and aggressive men. In discussing the films, Culik uses the methodology of Cultural Studies, in which art is seen primarily as a specific kind of social communication within a certain cultural and historical context.

About this title

About the Author:

Jan Culik is senior lecturer in Czech studies at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He conducts research into social self-examination and myth-making in Central Europe, using literature, cinema, and television as material culture.

Review:

"Jan Culik's book is an excellent, well-organized, thoughtful, informative, illuminating and thoroughly scholarly work. It is also easily accessible to the general readership. I fully recommend it." -- Josef kvorecky, Novelist. The Late Professor Emeritus of English & Film, University of Toronto "This is a remarkable contribution to the analysis of the value system disseminated by contemporary Czech cinema within Czech society." -- Professor Jiri Holy, Charles University, Prague "Culiks book is invaluable as a source of information on a national cinema that has long since receded from visibility." - Jonathan Owen, Department of Film Studies, University of St Andrews, Slavonic and East European Review (vol. 92, no. 1, January 2014).

About this edition

• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1845196309
• ISBN 13: 9781845196301
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 390