Fragile balance: Imaginary Europes, transcultural aesthetics and discourses of European identity in Pawel Pawlikowski’s Last Resort and Steven Spielberg’s War Horse

Abstract

In light of recent accounts of ongoing Europeanization processes, this article scrutinizes images of Europe and Europeanization in Pawel Pawlikowski’s Last Resort and Steven Spielberg’s War Horse in order to explore how British low-budget independent film and Hollywood mainstream cinema realize imaginary Europes on screen. The emerging imaginary Europes and cinematic perspectives on Europeanization, it is argued, illuminate disenchanted visions of a Europe in the making, emphasizing Britain’s insular sensibility, in which Europe remains alien and distant.

Keywords:

• World War I
• refugees
• filmic memory
• insular sensibility
• Britain
• Stephen Spielberg
• Pawel Pawlikowski

Notes

1. The term “imaginary Europes” was first coined in the context of a research project and a literary studies symposium convened by Maggie Bowers, Elisabeth Bekers and myself in order to emphasize that in the course of the 20th and 21st centuries the idea of Europe has lodged in the imagination of writers and other artists across the globe. Whether inspired or challenged, they have produced new topographies of Europe that move beyond given imaginaries. In previously colonized countries we can find local imaginations of Europe alongside the residue of imperially promoted images of Europe.

2. The study of memory in the global age was mainly triggered by Levy and Sznaider (2006). See Erll (2011, 62).

3. In addition to the movie, there has also been, since 2007, a popular theatrical production of the book. The National Theatre of Great Britain utilized full-sized horse puppets made by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company to bring breathing, galloping, full-scale horses to life on the stage. The performance has been staged in many countries, including the UK, Ireland, Australia, the US and Germany, and was broadcast live from London’s West End to cinemas around the world on 27 February 2014.

4. For the presentation of this project see the website of the European parliament: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/visiting/en/visits/historyhouse.html (accessed November 11, 2014).