engleski

Balkanism on Film – Representation of the Balkans in Western Cinematography

The Balkans, except signifying a geographical area, has been used throughout history as a metaphor for undevelopment, savagery, violence, war, killing, etc. The text is dealing with the depiction of the Balkans in the cinematography of the West. It should be also mentioned that the text follows the development of the Balkans as a metaphor and the ways in which media such as art, mass media like TV or popular film, are using a stereotypical image of this region. With the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans became a metaphor for underdevelopment and savagery. This image and the way of representation of this part of Europe became most effective after the Great War. Since the future and the progress of the Western civilization were questionable, Eastern Europe and the Balkans were constructed as the opposition to the West. In order to improve its image, West constructed these regions as uncivilized i.e. as it’s opposite. The stereotypical image of the Balkans, which was created by the West, was used in various spheres, from the everyday talk to art forms such as painting and literature. The text follows the development of usage of the Balkans as a metaphor, from politicians and intellectuals, across the mentioned forms of art and mass media, to the embodiment of this term in the popular Hollywood film. The focus is placed on the analysis of Balkanism in the film, and it is based on the thesis and definitions of the Balkanism provided by Maria Todorova in her work Imagining the Balkans. The ways in which the film constructs Otherness is also important for the text, so in this context Edward Said’s thesis are of primary importance. It should be pointed out that the film is perceived as a means for production of knowledge on the Other through the system of representational stereotypes, so ideas of Michel Foucault and Homi K. Bhabha are also extremely important. In studying the ways in which the stereotypical image of the Balkans is being embodied in the media of popular film, and the ways in which film creates the knowledge on the Other and places it in an inferior position, films like Behind Enemy Lines, Savior, The Hunting Party and Harrison’s Flowers are being analyzed. The reason for choosing these films is the fact that they offer the most plastic depiction of this part of Europe and they serve the ideological function of establishing the West i.e. America as the world’s superpower. The depiction of the Balkans by using representational stereotypes has led to the creation of the special group of films which is based on the characteristic conventions, so the question which is imposed is whether we can talk about the new genre or subgenre of Balkanism in the film.

Balkanism; violence; stereotype; war; savagery; ideology

nije evidentirano