The First Lady of Cinema and How She's Pushing Feminism to the Next Level.

“Youth, my youth. Where have you gone? Why do tears come to my eyes at the very thought of you?”

         

         Daisies was directed by Vera Chytilova in 1966. After winning the Grand Prix at the Bergamo Film Festival in Italy in 1967, it was immediately banned. The story follows two girls who are trying to figure out love and the world around them. Daisies is one the most known surrealist films that has come out of Czechoslovakia.

            Vera Chytilova was born on February 2, 1929 in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia. Ironically, she just died on March 12^th of this year. An avant-garde filmmaker, she was considered the “first lady of Czech cinema”. Her films were acclaimed for visual experimentation and for bold unmasking of the moral problems of contemporary society. Her art belongs to what Sergei M. Eisenstein described as "intellectual cinema", that embraces the mix of "avant-garde", "cinema verite", "formalism", "feminism and, with a good deal of humor.

            The film starts out with the main two characters talking to each other about how “the world is just spoiled”, and since the world is spoiled, they should be spoiled too. After this decision has been made, the two young girls run around Prague living frivolously and destructively towards themselves and the world around them. I decided to do research on the difference between feminism in the US and in Czech. I came to find that our views are basically opposite. For us, being a strong woman means a career, able to stand with guys, and going away from the traditional housewife. However, in Czechoslovakia, women view working nonstop as an old way of life seeing as how they were forced to work during the communist era. That being said, this film embraces women being carefree and asking questions about life, love, and existence.

            As the young girls trash the city, get drunk, seduce older men, and eat everything in sight, they begin to ask questions that I feel like all women should ask. In one scene, Julie asks why do we have to say, “I love you” why can’t you say something as simple as “egg” and have it mean the same thing? She wants to understand why and how those words mean so much when it’s obviously not about the words at all. Another theme is the questioning of existence. They start to ask each other if they’re real at all and if so, how do they know? One actually states that they might not exist because they don’t really have any strings attached to them. They don’t have families, jobs, or anything holding them back. So what makes them exist? I love this concept. It makes complete sense to me. If you’re not changing or affecting the world around you, do you exist? Does it matter if you do or not?

            This film is all about indulging and feeding into your urges. Not all of your desires or urges will be necessarily bettering for you or the world, but there’s something just beautifully sublime in just giving in to everything you want, to forget the social pressures and obligations that weigh down on you and to run free exploring your surroundings and your own self. I would love to not exist for a day.


A link to "10 things to learn from Czech women"

http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/czech-culture/10-lessons-we-can-learn-from-czech-women/

Milos Forman

         Milos Forman was born Jan Tomas Forman in Caslav, Czechoslovakia on February 18, 1932. His parents died in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwtiz leaving him orphaned at a young age. He studied screenwriting at FAMU and is a foreign director that has gained major success in the US. His film adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was the second film to win all four major categories at the Academy Awards. He is definitely one of the most popular and well-known Czech directors. During this semester, I’m watching his two of his films: Loves of a Blonde and Firemen’s Ball. Both of which are satires.

Loves of a Blonde

         Directed by Academy Award Winner Milos Forman in 1965, Loves of a Blonde is a film about the past, present, and future of love. It is comprised of three separate acts that can each stand on their own. That being said, I've watched this movie at least three times, all of which I was definitely rewinding and double watching certain parts. The acts are supposed to be in order in past, present, and future; however, there's definitely some plot changes that suggest otherwise. I think that's the point Forman was going for. It's a very subtle satire with a naive outlook on love. It's very interesting to see the differences in how Americans view love versus how Europeans do.  In this film, it's almost like the blonde is striving to have that American type of "fairy tale love story" but everyone around her is still on a very logical wavelength.

         The first act is supposed to be the past of love or more of the way that the blonde SHOULD look at love. The second act goes into the present of love, where she is an adolescent at a ball and falls for the young traveling pianist. The last act is the future. She travels to Prague from Zruc in search for her “lover”. When she reaches his parents’ home, they are not only unhappy but also very rude. They ridicule both of the young lovers for not knowing much about life. Also, the parents bicker constantly, giving the blonde insight of her inevitable future with love. On top of the parents, the pianist she “loves” basically kicks her out. The ending is insane and very realistic. The juxtaposition between the blonde’s surreal lovey-dovey outlook and the bleak realistic idea of love is showcased perfectly throughout this entire film.

         The film is bookended with two girls singing a pop song about love. One line that was repeated often was, “Oh this great love of mine has turned me into a hooligan.” This is definitely the path that this film takes, but it’s not a romantic comedy where everything works out in the end. It’s more of the blonde’s hopes and dreams being crushed, which goes into the refreshing realistic view I mentioned when talking about The White Dove. The bookending also sets up the film to seem lighthearted and whimsical; however, I just didn’t get that out of the film. I like that I didn’t get it as lighthearted. I mean I totally see how this is more comical and definitely satirical, but I’m very glad it didn’t end up as a traditional love story.

         One thing that should be pointed out is how everyone is so blunt. There’s one scene at the ball where these old, reservist, married guys are shamelessly trying to just bang out these three young chicks. The girls end up walking out, leaving these creepers to have an in depth conversation about who’s cheated on his wife, and whether these girls are coming back. They are only concerned with sex. It’s actually quite shocking to hear the way it’s just completely shameless. One of my favorite scenes is where one of the reservists drops his wedding ring. The camera follows the ring as it rolls around the dance floor through a lot of girl’s dancing feet and skirts. The entire time, the reservist is following it on the floor. The scene is way longer than expected to put emphasis on marriage and how the idea is basically a wash.

         I am definitely going to keep watching this film. There are so many little details that tell a lot about Forman’s vision, and they’re very easy to miss. Unlike The White Dove, this film is much more dialogue driven; however, I really enjoyed it. It’s quirky and fun yet realistic. 

Czech New Wave History

            Czechoslovakia, originally formed in 1918, was split into Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992. 1992? That blew my mind. The split happened during my lifetime, and yet I know nothing about it. This is actually quite scary to me. Why didn’t anyone tell me about cultures other than the USA? As I’ve grown up, I’m become more and more inquisitive about other cultures, patterns, and the reasons for demise. I intend to continue my research on the history of these two countries as I move through my films. I don’t want to get into the reason and effects of the split until I reach the issue in my screenings.

            Directed by Frantisek Vlacil in 1960, The White Dove is stated as being the “main precursor of the Czechoslovakian New Wave film movement.  Czech New Wave started in the early 1960’s and lasted until the early 1970’s. During this time period, the film industry was supported highly by the state. Unlike surrounding countries, filmmakers had no censorship on the films being created and distributed. The beginning of the end for Czech New Wave was in 1968 when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia and took over the capital, Prague. The reason for this takeover was because the Soviets decided that Czechoslovakia was becoming too westernized and way too political. The invasion is known as “Prague Spring” and imposed the strongest social and political regulations since the Stalin era. One of the most interesting yet chilling facts that I found during this research was the process called “Normalization”. This was when “Russia was disturbed by the country’s liberal direction and worried it might turn west, so they led the Warsaw Pact countries in an invasion of Czechoslovakia leading to harsh reversals of the reformist measures.”

            First off, just the term “Normalization” as a process is very creepy because of the sheer fact that a “normal” lifestyle is just so subjective. Secondly, the idea that these artists were heading a movement to call self-awareness of the citizens of this country is amazing to me. This leads me into presenting the written objective of Czech New Wave. The goal of this movement is as stated, “to make the Czech people collectively aware that they were participants in a system of oppression and incompetence which had brutalized them all.” Knowing this objective before starting my screenings has helped me to view the films as a citizen of Czech at the time rather than going in without any perspective. It really helps in understanding the WHY of the films as well as the symbolism that is laced through out. I absolutely love this motto for a film movement and would like to continue research through out other countries’ film movement to see how they relate or differ.