Form(ulat)ing Mistrust in the State in the 1990s’ Slovak Live-action Films
Form(ulat)ing Mistrust in the State in the 1990s’ Slovak Live-action Films

Summary/Abstract: The text deals with the ways in which Slovak live-action films made in the 1990s introduced the topic of mistrust in the State and in its institutions. Using specific examples, the text demonstrates that such mistrust was not primarily a critical attitude, but rather consisted of two basic forms of rejection. On the one hand, live-action films made for cinema often promoted the post-modern principle of a “relative” truth, presenting a lifestyle with minimal ties to the State, sometimes also formulating a mistrust in specific state institutions (the police, state-run artistic institutions, education system) by means of irony. On the other hand, films made for state television frequently drew attention to corruption in state organisations and the fact it was usually being generally accepted as a status that did not need to be analysed. In both cases, the message of the 1990s was carried onto the next millennium, and can eventually be interpreted as a way of solidifying the discourse of mistrust that we perceive in contemporary Slovak film for cinemas and television.

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