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Abstract
In socialism, Yugoslav women became empowered by employment and income, but gender equality stayed rather nominal in the family domain. Such gender inequity is addressed in the works of the Yugoslav novi film/New Film (1961–72) auteurs. They occasionally turned to allegories in order to communicate political criticism. One of them was Želimir Žilnik. His most internationally lauded film, winner of the Golden Bear in 1969, is Rani radovi/Early Works (1969). It features a heroine Jugoslava (Milja Vujanović), whose name is eponymous of Yugoslav nation. Bearing in mind that in the majority of Yugoslav New Films a leading character is a man, Early Works is exceptional for having a woman as the main heroine. I will approach Jugoslava’s character: as an allegory of Yugoslavia and its revolutionary spirit, as well as a prototype of an emancipated woman, punished by rape and killing. My research studies the link in the film between Žilnik’s political critique via strong heroine as a proxy, and her objectification. By reading the film from a feminist perspective and building my arguments on close analysis, I contend that Jugoslava is concurrently empowered and disempowered, an active subject and sexually objectified object, a raped nation and a raped feminist.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my academic advisor Prof. Dr Philippe Meers for his advice and support with my research and this article. Furthermore, my heartfelt thank you goes to Dr Nevena Daković for her kind help. Moreover, to the organisers of the conference Picturing the Margins Naïma Berkane, Mathieu Lericq, and Dr Clara Royer, as well as to the participants Dr Dina Iordanova, and Dr Raphaël Szöllösy. In addition, I am truly thankful to Vera and Simo Vuković, Aleksandra Stošić, and Robert Olbricht. Besides, I sincerely acknowledge the friendly gesture by Slavenka Drakulić and Dr Marija Ott Franolić. The author appreciates the unknown reviewers’ valuable comments. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Alex Forbes for his constructive comments that enriched this article. Lastly, I am greatly indebted to the editor Dr Ewa Mazierska.
Notes
1 Men are mostly main characters.
2 Own translation.
3 Perhaps this is a creative contribution by Karpo Aćimović Godina, the director of photography (DOP) and editor of the film, because such staging is also prominent in Bahrudin ‘Bato’ Čengić’s Yugoslav New Films: Uloga moje porodice u svjetskoj revoluciji/The Role of My Family in the World Revolution (1971) and Slike iz života udarnika/Scenes from the Life of a Shock Worker (1972), in which he also worked as the DOP.
4 Own translation.
5 All quotations from the film are translated by the author.
6 Own translation.
7 Own translation.
8 Own translation.
9 Own translation.
10 Own translation.
11 Beautiful.
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Vesi Vuković
Vesi Vuković is currently a PhD candidate in Film Studies and Visual Culture at University of Antwerp, Belgium, under the guidance of professor Philippe Meers. She is a voluntary member of ViDi (Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center) and of A*: The Antwerp Gender and Sexuality Studies Network at University of Antwerp. She attained her Master of Arts at Kyoto University of Arts and Design, Japan and Bachelor of Arts at the Academy of Arts Banja Luka, BIH. Her current research focuses on ex-Yugoslavian cinema and its representation of women. She has published articles in journal Studies in Eastern European Cinema (2018), Apparatus: Film, Media and Digital Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe (2019), and Images: The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication (2020), as well as a chapter in an edited book Balkan Cinema and the Great Wars: Our Story (2020).