Filmidest inspireeritud laste ja noorte mängud 1950. aastate Eestis
Film-inspired games of children and youth remembered to have been played in Estonia in the 1950s

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the media-inspired games played by Estonian children in the 1950s. The source material comes from the relevant essays sent to the competition of collecting children’s games, which was organized by the Estonian Folklore Archives at the Estonian Literary Museum. Besides describing their childhood activities the contributors had managed to explain, discuss and contextualize the games. Also, some essays on the topic “Cinema in my life” by the participants of the biography writing group were used. The authors of the essays, having chosen a child’s point of view, refrained from explaining the historical and political conditions of the time. So the social and cultural context is provided by the article. In post-war Estonia, like in the whole Soviet Union, cinema was one of the few options for entertainment. In the late Stalinist period it was an important visual medium, also serving as a “window to the West”. After World War II Stalin’s (foreign) trophy films became real blockbusters. The world appearing on the screen differed from the surrounding inferior reality to the extent of producing a cultural shock. It also differed from the experience of Soviet war films. The cinema inspired various games and activities. Most topics (jungle adventures, love) as well as the male and female ideals offered by the films differed by far from the everyday. Even half a century later the impressions are still vivid. Our analysis of the film-inspired activities demonstrates how creatively children can use and adapt elements of adult culture, thus creating their own unique culture.The children’s games and activities inspired by the trophy films can be seen as children’s way of creating their own playworld differing from real life and taking them to the realm of dreams and fantasy. Those bright positive emotions experienced at an early age must have helped a whole post-war generation to nurture a dream of a more free and beautiful world than the Soviet everyday.

• Details
• Contents