ČUDOVIŠNI SSSR I MITSKA ZEMLJA JUGOSLAVIJA

Abstract

The period after the Second World War is a time when a new identity of Croatian Yugoslav literature was formed under the watchful eye of the Soviets. However, it was precisely this first post-war decade which was extremely heterogeneous – both at the institutional and at the poetic levels – because it was then that contradictory tendencies appeared. At that time literature may have depended on extratextual climate more than ever before, that is to say on the specific socio-political regulations and directives which defined its further development, setting both its content and form, trying to deprive it of autonomy in that way. In the first post-war decade, literature, like all other branches of the arts at that time, adopted and reflected two totally opposite political directives – the initial sovietization (1945-1948) and a fierce desovietization (late 1940s and early 1950s). Two important films more than any literary work of the time show the paradigm shift, namely the westernization of the culture discussed in this paper. The first film is Tajna dvorca I. B. (The Secret of the I.B. Castle, 1951) directed by Milan Katić. This is a ballet pantomime, a satire about the Cominform resolution that was not shown publicly before 2000 (for half a century it was considered lost!). In the film, the resolution of the Cominform is anthropomorphized as a girl who is brought back to life at a spiritist séance so she can start a revolution of the people against their government. She tries to seduce the working people of Yugoslavia unsuccessfully as they reject her with disdain, so she dies spurned. The other film was produced by a young group of authors gathered around Kerempuh and the Neugebauer brothers (Walter and Norbert), led by Fadil Hadžić. This is the first Croatian animated film Veliki miting (The Big Meeting), reminiscent in form of American animation in the style of Walt Disney, while the content is that of anti-Soviet political satire. In it, Judin, an anti-Yugoslav instigator executes the orders of the Soviet government and invents various hoaxes against the “monstrous country” of Yugoslavia (an ironic allusion to lies that the USSR spread about Yugoslavia in newspapers). The film was shown in 1951 at the main square in Zagreb and received a standing ovation.Razdoblje nakon Drugoga svjetskog rata vrijeme je formiranja novoga identiteta hrvatske (jugoslavenske) književnosti pod budnim sovjetskim okom. No upravo je to prvo poslijeratno desetljeće izrazito heterogeno – kako na institucionalnoj, tako i na poetskoj razini – jer se u njemu prelamaju proturječne tendencije. U to vrijeme književnost ovisi možda više no ikada prije o izvantekstnin okolnostima, tj. o konkretnim društveno-političkim regulama i naputcima koji su definirali njezin daljnji razvoj, odredili joj i sadržaj i formu, pokušavajući je na taj način lišiti autonomije. U prvome poslijeratnom desetljeću književnost je, kao i sve ostale grane umjetnosti poslijeratnoga vremena, zrcalila dvije posve oprečne političke direktive – početnu sovjetizaciju (1945.-1948.) i glasnu desovjetizaciju (od 1949. godine nadalje). Dva važna filmska ostvarenja su više nego bilo koje književno djelo toga vremena pokazala smjenu paradigmi, točnije vesternizaciju kulture o kojoj je bilo govora. Prvo ostvarenje jest Tajna dvorca I. B. iz 1951. godine (red. Milana Katića). Riječ je o baletnoj pantomimi, tj. satiri o rezoluciji Informbiroa koja sve do 2000. godine nije bila javno prikazana (pola stoljeće se smatrala zagubljenom!). Rezolucija Informbiroa je u filmu antropomorfno prikazana kao djevojka, koju na spiritističkoj seansi uskrsavaju s ciljem da pokuša pobuniti narod protiv njegove vlade. Ona bezuspješno pokušava zavesti radne ljude Jugoslavije koji ju superiorno odbacuju, pa tako odbačena umre. Drugo djelo je iznjedrila mlada grupa okupljena oko Kerempuha, na čelu s braćom Neugebauer (Walter i Norbert), pod vodstvom Fadila Hadžića. Riječ je o prvome hrvatskome crtanom filmu Veliki miting, koji po formi podsjeća na američku animaciju u maniri Walta Disneyja, dok je po sadržaju politička satira antisovjetskoga karaktera. U njoj antijugoslavenski huškač Judin izvršava naloge sovjetske vlasti te izmišlja razne novinske “patke” protiv “čudovišne zemlje” Jugoslavije (ironična aluzija na novinske laži koje je SSSR širio o Jugoslaviji). Film je uz ovacije publike prikazan 1951. godine na glavnome zagrebačkom trgu