Modernization reflected creatively: Central European capitals in the mirror of horror movies
Abstract
The article deals with the creative interpretations of Central Europe by means of cinematography in the context of discussions about whether modernization means Westernization. The position is asserted that within Europe the ideal type of modernization is persistently associated with the West. The constructed in horror films images of Central European capitals are analyzed, with the example of such films as Short Night of Glass Dolls (La Corta notte delle bambole di vetro, 1971), The Spider Labyrinth (Il nido del ragno, 1988) and Hostel (2005). Prague (Chech Republic), Budapest (Hungary) and Bratislava (Slovakia), represented in these films, are marked with features of pseudo-modernity, which destroys the representatives of Western civilization or forces them to degenerate into monsters.
Article in English.
Kūrybiškai reflektuota modernizacija: Vidurio Europos sostinės siaubo filmų veidrodyje
Santrauka
Straipsnyje nagrinėjamos kūrybinės Vidurio Europos interpretacijos, pasitelkiant kinematografijos priemones diskusijų, ar modernizacija reiškia vesternizaciją, kontekste. Tvirtinama, kad Europoje idealus modernizacijos tipas yra nuolat siejamas su Vakarais. Analizuojami siaubo filmuose konstruojami Vidurio Europos sostinių įvaizdžiai, pasitelkiant tokius filmų pavyzdžius, kaip Trumpa stiklo lėlių naktis (La Corta notte delle bambole di vetro, 1971), Voro labirintas (Il nido del ragno, 1988) ir Nakvynės namai (Hostel, 2005). Šiuose filmuose vaizduojamus Prahą (Čekija), Budapeštą (Vengrija) ir Bratislavą (Slovakija) ženklina pseudomodernybės, griaunančios Vakarų civilizacijos reprezentantus arba priverčiančios juos išsigimti į pabaisas, bruožai.
Reikšminiai žodžiai: Vidurio Europos sostinės, kinas, kūrybinė refleksija, siaubo filmai, modernizacija, orientalizacija, stereotipai.
Keyword : Central European capitals, cinema, creative reflection, horror films, modernization, orientalization, stereotypes
How to Cite
Sautkin, A., & Philippova, E. (2018). Modernization reflected creatively: Central European capitals in the mirror of horror movies. Creativity Studies, 11(1), 172-183. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2018.5519
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Bishop, K. W. (2010). American zombie gothic: the rise and fall (and rise) of the walking dead in popular culture. Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
Bondanella, P. (2009). A history of Italian cinema. New York, London: Continuum.
Brioni, S. (2013). Zombies and the post-colonial Italian unconscious. CINERGIE: Il cinema e le altre Arti, 4, 166-182.
Cameron, R. (2006). Smash hit horror hostel causes a stir among citizens of sleepy Slovakia. Retrieved from http://www.radio.cz/en/section/arts/smash-hit-horror-hostel-causes-a-stir-among-citizens-of-sleepy-slovakia
Edelstein, D. (2006). Now playing at your local multiplex: torture porn. Why has America gone nuts for blood, guts, and sadism?. New York. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/movies/features/15622/
Giddens, A. (1996). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Inglehart, R. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization: cultural, economic, and political change in 43 societies. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Kerner, A. M. (2015). Torture porn in the wake of 9/11: horror, exploitation, and the cinema of sensation. New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University Press.
Middleton, J. (2010). The subject of torture: regarding the pain of Americans in Hostel. Cinema Journal, 49(4), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2010.0013
Olney, I. (2017). Zombie cinema. Series: Quick Takes: Movies & Popular Culture. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Said, E. W. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
Shklovsky, V. (1929). Iskusstvo kak priyom. In V. Shklovsky, O teorii prozy (pp. 7-23). Moskva: Federatsia.
Soltysik Monnet, A. (2015). The transnational zombie: postcolonial memory and rage in recent European horror film. In Ch. Decker & A. Böger (Eds.), Transnational mediations: negotiating popular culture between Europe and the United States (pp. 143-159). Series: American Studies (A Monograph series). Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter.
Takács, R. (2014). The vanishing Soviet Utopia in Hungary in the Light of de-Stalinization – Soviet Union as the Land of modernization in the Hungarian press, 1950–1958. Central European Papers, 2(1), 132-149.
Toporov, V. (1984). Peterburg i peterburgskiy tekst russkoy literatury. In Trudy po znakovym sistemam. Vol. 18 (pp. 4-29). Tartu: Tartu University Press.
Zarycki, T. (2014). Ideologies of Eastness in Central and Eastern Europe. Series: BASEES/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies. R. Sakwa (Series Ed.). Oxon and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315819006