Trnka was a Czech, and this short film was (and continues to be) a ruthless repudiation of the communism that enslaved his homeland. In this way, the film still serves as a warning to those who dabble in philosophies that have repeatedly been demonstrated to be wrong and fruitless. Trnka is managing the harlequin as an oppressed entity through art, and the entire creative process is a relationship of a higher authority wishing things to be a very definite manner, which is a lovely meta twist to the whole experience . The government regarded the picture as subversive since it posed a threat to their communist ideology. The Hand was released in 1965, during the height of the Czechoslovak New Wave, when many critical and political films were produced in Prague’s Barrandov Studios. As a result, we can claim that it has a free spirit as well as some social and political critique, which is unusual for cartoon films. It’s something you wouldn’t see in a lot of cartoon films at the time, anywhere in the world.
Daily Archives: April 4, 2022
5 posts
The short film “The Hand” (1965) was seen as subversive by the communist government due to the film going against communism. Its message was to express independence to the viewers and that as a society, learn to become open minded about the way their government is controlling them. The Czech government did not approve of what the film was illustrating as it had the potential to break the hold communism had on its people.
Sound was a great way to emphasize every action in the film of Steamboat Willie. Each movement in the film had musical instrunment behind it to give the characters and their action more base. It was also to give the audience more of a sense whats going on in the film as well to entertain. There so that steamboat willie was the first animated film to synchronize music.
Over the years comics were the most popular way to entertain people. Often times they would read comic strips in newspaper and magazines. Comics made a great subject for film due to the readers wanting to know more about the story and what will it lead to in the end. It also gave the artist a chance to push the narrative of the story into film and give the character and other people more roles.
World War II brought both Western and Eastern productions into a new, broader perspective. If not for the number of casualties due to the fall of totalitarian regimes, the rise of Communist governments and repression in the aftermath of the Holocaust, as well as the political boundary known as the “Iron Curtain” emerging from the chaos, which saw the Soviet Union establish a political-ideological restriction to isolate itself and its completely reliant eastern and central European allies from accessible communication with the West and other non-communist areas, maybe Eastern production could have been portrayed in a more different manner. Instead, Eastern culture’s economic and political standing was reflected in their subject products, particularly animation, as well as their productions and creative process. Because animation’s artistic and financial success was never as widespread in Europe as it was in Western culture, Eastern animators attempted to replicate Walt Disney’s and other famous animators proven model in animation and began producing propaganda and instructive films about war, earning the majority of their profit through this advertising scheme. Western culture was no different when it came to depicting political propaganda imagery in their animated film; however, aside from the economic boom, I believe their society fared much better than Eastern culture, in that they had a great deal more flexibility with what they could show the public and express their creative output, as opposed to Eastern culture, which was forced to cater to a particular audience that shared communist views. However, Western society does attempt to accommodate a capitalist perspective, thus both sides have their discrepancies
