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The changing face of the Other in Romanian films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Florentina Andreescu
Florentina Andreescu*
Affiliation:
University of Miami, Florida, USA
*
*Email: f.andreescu@umiami.edu
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Abstract

This article focuses on how the Other is represented and understood in films produced in Romania during periods of radical political, social and economic change. Specifically it addresses films produced during the years of communism and the planned economy, during the transition to democracy and to capitalism, as well as films produced during the period of democracy, capitalism and membership in the European Union. The research acknowledges two main aspects: the changing face of the Other over time (the socialist state, the foreign investors, the West, etc.) and the consistency of the fantasy structure. More specifically, the relationship between self and the Other generally follows a strict masochist fantasy script in which the Other has the power to constrain freedom, to inflict pain, and to function as an essential element through which pleasure is understood and experienced. The research proposes an understanding of this structure of fantasy, reflected in film through the existence of a national psyche written by the main myths and stories embraced by the society in discussion. This structure of fantasy hails and constructs a certain subject that has a basic masochistic psychic structure.

Keywords

Romaniatransitionmythfilmthe Other
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 77 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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