Journal Entry – Week 8

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Instructions

Journal Entry - Week 8

Respond to at least 1 prompt on this page (you are welcome to respond to more). For instructions on how to submit a journal entry, please follow these instructions. FORMATTING FOR THIS WEEK: Use the title format “[FirstName] [LastName] W8” and select the Category “Journal Entry – Week 8”

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?

Prompt 2

The Czech government refused to distribute Jiří Trnka’ s short film “The Hand” (1965). Why do you think the film was seen as subversive by the communist government at the time?

Prompt 1&2

Journal Entry - Week 8
  • After WWII, Western animations emphasized individualism, freedom, and consumerism, while Eastern animations promoted collective values, and social harmony, and Eastern animations often used simpler styles and symbolic imager due to limited resources. Western studios had larger budgets and commercial success, while Eastern studios relied on state funding and faced censorship.
  • The Czech film, “The Hand,” was considered subversive by the government because it criticized totalitarianism, deviated from socialist realist aesthetics, and challenged the regime’s authority over artistic expression. The film’s symbolism of repression and defiance threatened the regimes’ control over cultural narratives, resulting in censorship and suppression of the film.

Prompt 2

Journal Entry - Week 8

during my rewatch of “The Hand” the reason why the Czech government refused to distribute the short film because it has something to do with the government. The hand represents the government because the hand was bribing the protagonist to make a hand for them and the main character refuses his request. And in the middle of the film the hand (the government) forced him to make it by using puppet strings. once after the main character finishes sculpting the hand. the hand hands him two medals and puts a crown on his head symbolizing the service to the government.