Going to the Cinema as a Czech : Preferences and Practices of
Czech Cinemagoers in the Occupied City of Brno, 1939–1945

J 2019

Going to the Cinema as a Czech : Preferences and Practices of Czech Cinemagoers in the Occupied City of Brno, 1939–1945

SKOPAL, Pavel

Basic information

Original name

Going to the Cinema as a Czech : Preferences and Practices of Czech Cinemagoers in the Occupied City of Brno, 1939–1945

Authors

SKOPAL, Pavel (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Film History, 2019, 0892-2160

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

60405 Studies on Film, Radio and Television

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

URL

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/19:00107467

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/FILMHISTORY.31.1.0027

UT WoS

000469286000002

Keywords in English

cinemagoing; audiences; Second World War; cinema culture in an occupied society; Nazism; cinema and national identity; Czech cinema

Abstract

V originále

After the occupation of the Czech lands by Nazi Germany in March 1939, Czechs embraced domestic (and ignored German) movies more vigorously than they had before. This implies that the occupation caused notable changes in the mode of movie reception. After about 1942, however, the popularity of a portion of German production was increasing. This fact raises the question of whether cinemagoers' values and identities were undergoing significant change under the occupation. This paper focuses on Brno, a city with a long history of coexistence and rivalry between those who identified as Germans and as Czechs. I argue that watching a Czech movie became one of the behaviors that defined the Czech national identity. The later embrace of German entertainment by Czechs was accompanied by two strategies that redeemed watching the desired cinematic distraction from being an un-Czech behavior: by indexing the movies as not fully German due to the presence of non-German stars, and by a parallel redefinition of cinemagoers' Czech behavior from choosing Czech movies to choosing cinemas identified as non-German. These strategies represent culturally specific reactions by Czech audiences living in a nationally divided city to the distribution and exhibition practices applied during the occupation.

Links

GA16-13375S, research and development project

Name: Česká filmová kultura a německá okupace: procesy kulturního transferu

Investor: Czech Science Foundation

Files attached

Film_History_1_2019_Skopal.pdf

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Citovat

SKOPAL, Pavel. Going to the Cinema as a Czech : Preferences and Practices of Czech Cinemagoers in the Occupied City of Brno, 1939–1945. Film History. 2019, vol. 31, No 1, p. 27-55. ISSN 0892-2160. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.2979/FILMHISTORY.31.1.0027.

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   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/FILMHISTORY.31.1.0027},
   keywords = {cinemagoing; audiences; Second World War; cinema culture in an occupied society; Nazism; cinema and national identity; Czech cinema},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {0892-2160},
   journal = {Film History},
   title = {Going to the Cinema as a Czech : Preferences and Practices of Czech Cinemagoers in the Occupied City of Brno, 1939–1945},
   url = {https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/40467},
   volume = {31},
   year = {2019}
}

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N2  - After the occupation of the Czech lands by Nazi Germany in March 1939, Czechs embraced domestic (and ignored German) movies more vigorously than they had before. This implies that the occupation caused notable changes in the mode of movie reception. After about 1942, however, the popularity of a portion of German production was increasing. This fact raises the question of whether cinemagoers' values and identities were undergoing significant change under the occupation. This paper focuses on Brno, a city with a long history of coexistence and rivalry between those who identified as Germans and as Czechs. I argue that watching a Czech movie became one of the behaviors that defined the Czech national identity. The later embrace of German entertainment by Czechs was accompanied by two strategies that redeemed watching the desired cinematic distraction from being an un-Czech behavior: by indexing the movies as not fully German due to the presence of non-German stars, and by a parallel redefinition of cinemagoers' Czech behavior from choosing Czech movies to choosing cinemas identified as non-German. These strategies represent culturally specific reactions by Czech audiences living in a nationally divided city to the distribution and exhibition practices applied during the occupation.
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SKOPAL, Pavel. Going to the Cinema as a Czech : Preferences and Practices of Czech Cinemagoers in the Occupied City of Brno, 1939–1945. \textit{Film History}. 2019, vol.~31, No~1, p.~27-55. ISSN~0892-2160. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.2979/FILMHISTORY.31.1.0027.

Detailed Information on Publication Record