Iluminace 2019, 31(4):61-78 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1644

When National Female Bildungsroman Meets Global Fantasies about Nazis. Historical Roots and Current Troubles in Lída Baarová

Victoria Shmidt
Univerzita Štýrský Hradec

This text explores Lída Baarová (2016) by Filip Renč, a film that exceeds the limits of storytelling practices shaping views on female emancipation. Altman's semantic/syntactic/pragmatic approach to the genre frames the deconstruction of the film as an example of non-random cannibalization of narrative strategies and cultural codes. Introducing Renč's filmography sheds light on a specific set of intertexts for contextualizing Lída Baarová as mixing meta-cinematic farce and female bildungsroman. Examining Lída Baarová in the context of European meta-cinematic farce about female representatives of mass culture in fascist regimes aims to recognize the pathway of musealizing the totalitarian past. The comparison of Lída Baarová with Lili Marleen (1981), Marlene (2000) and especially La niña de tus ojos (1998) reveals the contest between multi-layered visual matches of Lída Baarová with these films and consistent deconstruction of the meta-cinematic farce in favor of reintroducing the binary distinction between us/them. Seeing Lída Baarová embedded in the formation of female bildungsroman directly addresses the role of the our/their dichotomy in building the Czech nation. Comparing From Subway with Love (2004) and Lída Baarová points to the intertextuality that interprets Lída Baarová as exaggerating the core of the master coming-of-age narrative. By juxtaposing meta-cinematic farce and bildungsroman, Lída Baarová determines the deconstruction of both units of cultural information and limited spectatorial pleasure from pedagogical emotions. Deconstructing Lída Baarová as a film crossing the borders between national and international narratives restores particular options for reengagement with sensitive issues of the post-socialist production and consumption of films.

Keywords: post-socialist cinema, meta-cinematic farce, female bildungsroman, intertextuality, semantic/syntactic/pragmatic approach

Published: December 1, 2019  Show citation

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Shmidt, V. (2019). When National Female Bildungsroman Meets Global Fantasies about Nazis. Historical Roots and Current Troubles in Lída Baarová. Iluminace, 31(4), 61-78. doi: 10.58193/ilu.1644
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