During the course of this semester we have examined the use of various motifs in Eastern European Cinema. We have looked at the imagery of phalluses and food, as well as the role of song and editing in each of the films. Along with the many motifs examined, there is one I have noticed was present in almost all of the films. Since the end of World War II, countries in Eastern Europe have continuously struggled with their allegiance to the communist state. Whether it be to denounce the communist party all together or to agree partially and look for new way to adapt to the ideologies, liberation from or toward communism has been an issue in nearly all of the films and the common motif to represent this in these films is the act of sex. Sex,
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The films I will discuss in reference to this claim will be: Jiří Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains (1966), Juraj Herz’s The Cremator (1969), Dusan Makavejev’s WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), Mladen Djordjevic’s The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009), and Maja Milos’ Clip …show more content…
Sex is a big part of the plot in Closely Watched Trains but, it had a clear reason that it successfully represented. Constantly, the idea of “completing the sex act” was pushed in Milos’s direction throughout the entirety of the film. This, in my opinion, was a clever depiction of how the War was pushed onto the Czechs during WWII. After the Germans invaded then “innocent” Czech territory, they were constantly trying to Germanize the Czech population in efforts to have them identify with the nationhood of Germany and the Nazi regime. In addition, the act of sex portrayed in Closely Watched Trains, in my opinion was artistic. The act was not obscene when it was present. In fact, the act was filmed in a way where the audience is asked to imagine what they were not seeing. In my opinion, this choice of portrayal was a big contributor to the effectiveness of the sex as a motif of liberation. In this instance, the act of sex itself did not overshadow
The films I will discuss in reference to this claim will be: Jiří Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains (1966), Juraj Herz’s The Cremator (1969), Dusan Makavejev’s WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), Mladen Djordjevic’s The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009), and Maja Milos’ Clip …show more content…
Sex is a big part of the plot in Closely Watched Trains but, it had a clear reason that it successfully represented. Constantly, the idea of “completing the sex act” was pushed in Milos’s direction throughout the entirety of the film. This, in my opinion, was a clever depiction of how the War was pushed onto the Czechs during WWII. After the Germans invaded then “innocent” Czech territory, they were constantly trying to Germanize the Czech population in efforts to have them identify with the nationhood of Germany and the Nazi regime. In addition, the act of sex portrayed in Closely Watched Trains, in my opinion was artistic. The act was not obscene when it was present. In fact, the act was filmed in a way where the audience is asked to imagine what they were not seeing. In my opinion, this choice of portrayal was a big contributor to the effectiveness of the sex as a motif of liberation. In this instance, the act of sex itself did not overshadow