Journal Entry – Week 8

I think that the film was seen as subversive by the communist government because Jiří Trnka’s short film “The Hand” (1965) was an accurate representation of the fear and situations that the people of Czechoslovakia felt during these times. They felt trapped and controlled and if they didn’t listen to what the government was telling them to do, they would end up like the puppet. The government felt as if this film was too much of a threat to raise awareness of what was happening.

During the time the communist government did not like anyone challenging them. So when they seen the film by Jiří Trnka they probably felt threaten or under minded by what the film was portraying at that time. So that’s why they didn’t want to distribute the film as well. In that time period communist were trying to censor a lot of speech even if it was film just by speaking bad on the government as well.

Prompt-1 : After WWII the world could be divided (broadly) into two worldviews: that of the Western (capitalist) and Eastern (communist) blocks. How were these differences expressed in animation? What were some of the thematic, aesthetic, and financial differences between Western and Eastern national productions?

We can see how the differences between communism and capitalism were expressed in animation films if we review some of the animation films created between 1940’s to late 1960’s. “Animal Farm” (1954) by John Halas & Joy Batchelor was based on George Orwell’s anti-communist parable. George Orwell’s novel ‘Animal Farm’ was a fable that worked as a bang-on critique of the Russian revolution and Stalinism. In it a group of mistreated farmyard animals rise up against their owner and overthrow him. Different animals represent different people. The wise old pig Old Major represents Karl Marx and the beginning of communist teachings; Farmer Jones is Czar Nicholas II and represents the old regime; Napoleon and Snowball the pigs are respectively the ruthless Joseph Stalin and idealistic Leon Trotsky; the pack of dogs are the secret police and violent state enforcement; Boxer represents the hard working peasants; Benjamin, the wise but powerless individual; the sheep the unthinking masses. “It’s Everybody’s Business” was produced by John Sutherland. This film does a great job of demonstrating the basic concepts of capitalism. It explains how business and competition works.

Some other animated films were made to glorify anti-capitalism. Including Interplanetary Revolution which depicts a Communist triumph over free-market forces on Mars; China in Flames warns against capitalist interference in the Chinese Revolution; The Shareholder proclaims the superiority of the Soviet economic system; and Proud Little Ship takes on capitalist aggression.

The animated film the hand was probably not allowed to be screened because the government was controlling at the time and the hand represented that which didnt allow the character in the film to be able to do anything on their own it had to be under the hand or by their strict rules to follow.

Trnka made his last animated short an indictment of totalitarism, which is what caused him trouble in his native Czechoslovakia. The elements are few and the symbolisms to be simple, and his trademark ornaments are almost absent here, allowing the viewer to concentrate on the fable. A man in his room dedicates to pottery and to take care of his only plant. But suddenly a huge hand enters the room and orders him to make a statue of itself. The man refuses and he’s persecuted by the ominous gloved hand. In these days, where the impression of reality factor seems to be erased from most animations that try to replace the real world. The Russian government were doing the same actions towards the people as the “hand” did. Going against the law would mean execution of those people.

I believe Jiří Trnka’s short film “The Hand” was viewed as subversive because of the moral of the story in this short film. To summarize, the puppet in this story is being constantly pressured by this hand to create more hand sculptures, whilst all the puppet wants to create is their own pottery. Eventually he becomes forced to create what the hand wants, and is eventually killed by the thing he loves. I think this story reflects how creatives at the time in Czechoslovakia were also being pressured to only create things that positively reflected their government and faced punishment for doing otherwise. So upon seeing this, I understand why the Czech government immediately tried to cover it up.

The Czech government refused to distribute Jiří Trnka’ s short film “The Hand” (1965) because of rebelling. From the beginning of the movie to the end, you can see the white glove hand trying to control or brainwash the man(main character) no matter how hard he fights back, even at his death the hand still did a funeral for him. It probably represents you live to be my slave and die to be my ghost, the hand is everywhere there is no escape for people. That’s why I think the Czech government refused to distribute Jiří Trnka’ s short film “The Hand”.

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.

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.

I feel  that the difference in animation  between the West and the East was different .In  the  sense that in the west animation was more modern when it came to animation and what I mean by that is the level of themes and idea that were used were more advanced.  Given the  economic situation was much better and artists were able to produce higher quality films given the opportunity that they could be more  open minded when it came time to create films. Opposed to the East that was not in the same position economically speaking and therefore had to be more closed minded in a way and what I mean by that is they created more  average films that had to relate to specific themes and ideas.

The reason the government saw the film as subversive is because they thought this film was a threat to their communist system. Despite the short film being simple just for children considering it was a puppet film, the message of the short film was worrying for the Czech government. The story of the film illustrated a sculptor was being bothered by a giant hand and that the giant hand wanted him to bend his will which the sculptor refused to submit in the end. The film was giving a message that nobody should force you to do something and to never bend your will over something. This kind of message could’ve sparked a revolution against the Czech government because the government was an oppressive communist party. That is the reason they refused to let this film get released due to its story and message.

I think the film was seen as subversive because it showcased the message of going against the communist governing of the Czech government. It showcased this artist who was just trying to live his life and perhaps didn’t agree with the communist ways of the Czech government and wanted to have some kind of control of his life. The hand was probably the representation of the Czech government and their actions. They didn’t want that giving them a bad name or exposing their true actions behind their communist ways. They wanted people to see their way of communism as good when in the video “The Hand”, it showed that it did things pretty forcibly and controlled people as if they were puppets with no mind of their own. The end resulting in the death showcased even more how horrible the Czech government was to their people and the serious oppression going on with the government rule.

Western animated works after the war were much more modern looking compared to Eastern works as Allied countries that weren’t obliterated were enjoying an economic boom. Artists’ imaginations weren’t constricted and they were free to create works driven by capitalism. Some of the Western works had overall themes of peace and rebuilding. Eastern works were censored and tended to include animated works based on traditional stories. The animation styles looked very old-fashioned as well.

Czechoslovakia during the cold war was ruled by the communist party and belonged to the During the Cold War, Czechoslovakia was dominated by the communist party and belonged to the Eastern Block, a collection of socialist republics in Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Southeast Asia influenced by the Soviet Union and its philosophy. The country has a strong tradition of puppet theater, with the figures expressing their emotions via movement. Jiří Trnka was a national hero because of the fame he brought to Czechoslovakia with his puppet animation. The communist government saw the film as subversive at the time because it showed how the hand (Czech government) kept going into the character’s (Czech citizen’s) house and doing things their way regardless of whether it was an invasion of privacy whether he approved it or not. Even when the character (Czech citizen) smacked the hand (Czech government), it did not stop until the character created the items the hand desired. Overall, indicating how residents felt about the country since the government did not appreciate their opinions.