Page 123 - Darko Štrajn, From Walter Benjamin to the End of Cinema: Identities, Illusion and Signification. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2017. Digital Library, Dissertationes, 29.
P. 123
Robar-Dorin‘s Mirror:
Rams and Mammoths in the Context
of Yugoslav History1
Issues connected to cinematic reflection of manifestations of ethnic iden-
tities can be observed in many films, but they cannot always be defined
as symptomatic. Due to a specific historical context, the controversial ap-
proach to the phenomena of nationalism and ethnic intolerance in one par-
ticular film makes it possible to revisit a perspective on cultural and politi-
cal events and trends in Slovenia in mid-1980s, which was a crucial time of
accumulating potential for social changes and, in the case of the entire Bal-
kans, for social disaster. This chapter re-examines the historical framework
and aims at a deconstruction of the meanings of “culture” in Slovenia in its
communist period from after the Second World War to the mid-1980s. It
should be noted that the terms nation, nationalism, ethnic identity, ethnic-
ity, homeland, and so on, in spite of their seemingly universal clarity, often
become blurred and confusing when they are taken out of a specific politi-
cal context. This is especially so in the time-space of Yugoslavia and in dis-
cussions of any part of its period of existence.
1 This chapter is derived from an article published in New Review of Film and Tele-
vision Studies on 26 Oct 2011, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/fu
ll/10.1080/17400309.2011.606533. (Štrajn, Darko. Robar-Dorin‘s mirror: Rams and
Mammoths in the context of Yugoslav history. New review of film and television
studies, ISSN 1740-0309, 2011, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 454-471.)
121
Rams and Mammoths in the Context
of Yugoslav History1
Issues connected to cinematic reflection of manifestations of ethnic iden-
tities can be observed in many films, but they cannot always be defined
as symptomatic. Due to a specific historical context, the controversial ap-
proach to the phenomena of nationalism and ethnic intolerance in one par-
ticular film makes it possible to revisit a perspective on cultural and politi-
cal events and trends in Slovenia in mid-1980s, which was a crucial time of
accumulating potential for social changes and, in the case of the entire Bal-
kans, for social disaster. This chapter re-examines the historical framework
and aims at a deconstruction of the meanings of “culture” in Slovenia in its
communist period from after the Second World War to the mid-1980s. It
should be noted that the terms nation, nationalism, ethnic identity, ethnic-
ity, homeland, and so on, in spite of their seemingly universal clarity, often
become blurred and confusing when they are taken out of a specific politi-
cal context. This is especially so in the time-space of Yugoslavia and in dis-
cussions of any part of its period of existence.
1 This chapter is derived from an article published in New Review of Film and Tele-
vision Studies on 26 Oct 2011, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/fu
ll/10.1080/17400309.2011.606533. (Štrajn, Darko. Robar-Dorin‘s mirror: Rams and
Mammoths in the context of Yugoslav history. New review of film and television
studies, ISSN 1740-0309, 2011, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 454-471.)
121
