Film
Cinematic Rebellion: Exploring the Use of Taboo Content in Politically Critical Films
Presenter(s): Stacey Bates
Advisor(s): Dr. Kelli Fuery
The films Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini) and A Serbian Film (2010, Srdjan Spasojevic) are potent examples of critical retorts toward the censorship and propaganda which has, during various periods of time, plagued individual national film industries due to oppressive regimes. Sigmund Freud’s analysis of the origins and significance of taboos, as discussed in his text Totem and Taboo, affirms the identities of dozens of applications of taboo within the films mentioned above, the presence of which has caused these films to be regarded as extremely controversial, even leading to their banishment from several countries to this day. Additionally, the application of Michel Foucault’s claims about the nature and importance of discourse outlines the structure of the respective conversation that the films mentioned above are engaging in with the glossy, perceptibly untruthful representations of each nation’s society that national propaganda and strict censorship seeks to pedal as objective reality. If the purpose of propaganda and censorship -- specifically in the nations of Italy and Serbia -- was to restrict freedom of expression and thought in order to maintain unchallenged authority over their respective populations, it would appear, then, that the filmmakers responsible for the disturbing and offensive subject matter within these responsive films were motivated by their previous oppression to lash out at their governments with harsh social criticism, simultaneously confirming that political monopolization of their national cinemas resulted in the exact opposite effect than was intended.