Page 138 - Darko Štrajn, From Walter Benjamin to the End of Cinema: Identities, Illusion and Signification. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2017. Digital Library, Dissertationes, 29.
P. 138
from walter benjamin to the end of cinema
can be said that a widespread self-exoticizing view resulting in the con-
struction of Slovenian identity linked to the signifier of “wine country” also
manifests itself in the statistics of alcoholism in Slovenia. The documentary
images (as a disjointed insertion into the movie) of a mass party are “com-
mented” upon by an off-screen narrator’s voice, saying:
If there were no Bosnians, we would have to invent them. Once all
the Slovenians quarrelled with each other, but now they are fond of
each other because we have a common enemy, the Bosnians. We are
proud once more of being Slovenians. The Bosnians are our most
urgent historic necessity. We forced out or exterminated the Jews a
long time ago, yet the few remaining gypsies could not be made re-
sponsible for everything ... Oh, God give us our daily Bosnians and
our hearts will be lighter.
The documentary and the voiceover narration thus use a metonymic
gesture to comment on what is presented in Mežnarić‘s book on a different
level (Mežnarić, 1986). The Slovenian perception of Bosnian migrant work-
ers as primitive, uncivilized, and such developed gradually as the numbers
of immigrants grew during the economic growth of the 1960s and 1970s. A
rise in hostile attitudes from the majority position – considering itself more
“civilized” – was a very typical occurrence in most European countries,
which were targeted by immigrants during this period. The documenta-
ry scenes of the “primitive” Slovenian mass drinking party, therefore, very
straightforwardly counter the stereotypes of Slovenian “superiority” over
Bosnians.
Undoubtedly, this film‘s cinematic narration owes some of its delib-
erately bizarre moments to serious research. The construction of two of
the three central characters, who are shown in parallel movements towards
psychological or physical breakdown, was made possible by projections of
the subjective onto the real, which is allegedly founded in the Lacanian cat-
egory of imaginary at the lowest levels of apolitical ideology, strongly based
on nationalism. The cinematographic means used by the author were not
so sophisticated because, after all, the author lacked a decent budget. After
he completed the film, he gave an interview for the journal Ekran (1985, no.
7/8), in which he very angrily spoke about the circumstances in Slovenian
cinematography that compelled him into a kind of political dissent:
All around you suppression, aloofness, fear, hypocrisy, haughtiness,
primitivism, egotism, suspicions, and defensiveness in the televi-
136
can be said that a widespread self-exoticizing view resulting in the con-
struction of Slovenian identity linked to the signifier of “wine country” also
manifests itself in the statistics of alcoholism in Slovenia. The documentary
images (as a disjointed insertion into the movie) of a mass party are “com-
mented” upon by an off-screen narrator’s voice, saying:
If there were no Bosnians, we would have to invent them. Once all
the Slovenians quarrelled with each other, but now they are fond of
each other because we have a common enemy, the Bosnians. We are
proud once more of being Slovenians. The Bosnians are our most
urgent historic necessity. We forced out or exterminated the Jews a
long time ago, yet the few remaining gypsies could not be made re-
sponsible for everything ... Oh, God give us our daily Bosnians and
our hearts will be lighter.
The documentary and the voiceover narration thus use a metonymic
gesture to comment on what is presented in Mežnarić‘s book on a different
level (Mežnarić, 1986). The Slovenian perception of Bosnian migrant work-
ers as primitive, uncivilized, and such developed gradually as the numbers
of immigrants grew during the economic growth of the 1960s and 1970s. A
rise in hostile attitudes from the majority position – considering itself more
“civilized” – was a very typical occurrence in most European countries,
which were targeted by immigrants during this period. The documenta-
ry scenes of the “primitive” Slovenian mass drinking party, therefore, very
straightforwardly counter the stereotypes of Slovenian “superiority” over
Bosnians.
Undoubtedly, this film‘s cinematic narration owes some of its delib-
erately bizarre moments to serious research. The construction of two of
the three central characters, who are shown in parallel movements towards
psychological or physical breakdown, was made possible by projections of
the subjective onto the real, which is allegedly founded in the Lacanian cat-
egory of imaginary at the lowest levels of apolitical ideology, strongly based
on nationalism. The cinematographic means used by the author were not
so sophisticated because, after all, the author lacked a decent budget. After
he completed the film, he gave an interview for the journal Ekran (1985, no.
7/8), in which he very angrily spoke about the circumstances in Slovenian
cinematography that compelled him into a kind of political dissent:
All around you suppression, aloofness, fear, hypocrisy, haughtiness,
primitivism, egotism, suspicions, and defensiveness in the televi-
136
