Imitation, Reconstruction, Propaganda: Cold War Wanderings of the European Western
Abstract
The article deals with West and East German films about the American Wild West made in the period of 1962-1983. The films from both sides of the Berlin Wall, the majority of which was co-produced with Yugoslavia, are discussed in a broader perspective of the Cold War geopolitical situation, as well as in the context of the changes taking place in American and European western at the time. The West German adaptations of Charles May’s novels are the apotheosis of the conservative and pro-American ideology of the classical western, while the polemical East German Indianerfilme refer to the aesthetics and in some respects to the revisionist world views of American anti-western and Italian spaghetti-western. The context of Yugoslav cinematography, and especially characteristic for the propaganda apparatus tendency to combine Hollywood patterns with socialist ideology, is also an important theme.
Keywords:
western, Cold War, anti-western, spaghetti-westernReferences
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Authors
Michał Bobrowskikwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Jagiellonian University Poland
Doktor filmoznawstwa Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Opublikował książkę Akira Kurosawa. Artysta pogranicza (2012) i współredagował tom Obsession, Perversion, Rebellion. Twisted Dreams of Central European Animation (2016). Autor artykułów naukowych poświęconych amerykańskiemu oraz japońskiemu kinu gatunkowemu. Obecnie wykłada na Wydziale Filozoficznym Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Jest dyrektorem programowym StopTrik International Film Festival (Maribor, Słowenia), współpracownikiem festiwali filmów animowanych (Animateka, Etiuda&Anima IFF) oraz kuratorem pokazów prezentowanych m.in. w Polsce, Słowenii, Chorwacji, Holandii.
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Copyright (c) 2017 Michał Bobrowski
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