„Укротяването на опърничавата” или за женските образи в съвременното българско кино
The Taming of the Shrew or the Representation of Female Characters in Contemporary Bulgarian Cinema

Summary/Abstract: The article displays an overview to the perception of woman in the Bulgarian cinema. Taking as example the famous Shakespearean comedy “The Taming of the Shrew”, the author analyzes the multidimensional representation of woman in art, its meaning and its reflection in the changing perceptions of the contemporary society. Comparing the different interpretations of the Shrew for stage and screen, and several of the best examples of the Bulgarian Totalitarian cinema from the 60s, the author aims to trace how a true female character reveals itself – through visual representation, way of acting, dialogue, subtext and other – evolves and becomes a cult with a strong social influence. In the history of Bulgarian cinema, the 60s are the period where the Bulgarian woman can finally express her own personality against the popular opinion and the power of men in a more or less patriarchal society. The “true dissident” of the communist system is the Bulgarian heroine from the movies of the 60s and 70s which movies payed sometimes the high price of being forbidden to the public. On the contrary, their Post-totalitarian counterparts are mere examples of the marginal stereotypes with flat characterizations, deprived of inner contradictions and arcs of development. The fearless outsiders have been replaced with heroines-marginal. The rebellious women showed in Bulgarian totalitarian cinema, fighting for their right to raise their voices and stand for their feelings, are now opposed to the silent pseudo-rebel heroine of the democracy. To be easier, the recent Bulgarian cinema from 2018 takes even their ability to speak – the Bulgarian heroine is now mute and expressionless

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