|
Commodification of the collective memory: Yugonostalgia as a marketing strategy
Vukčević, Jovana ; Pullmann, Michal (advisor) ; Vojtěchovský, Ondřej (referee) ; Maurel, Marie Claude (referee)
COMMODIFICATION OF THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY: YUGONOSTALGIAAS A MARKETING STRATEGY Jovana Vukcevic EHESS Paris, Charles University Prague Abstract: This paper focuses on a specific type of contemporary nostalgia for the Yugoslav past, emerging in recent years across the post-Yugoslav space - Yugonostalgia. This nostalgia creates a new Yugoslavia from the ashes of the old - a depoliticized Yugoslavia, not a state or an ideology, but a life story, a personal and social history that happened to take place within the former state. It is argued in the paper that Yugonostalgia can be understood as a longing for the solidarity, sociability and dignity of the socialist life-style, and even as a critique of the consumerist aesthetics of modern capitalism. However, in no way has it been a call to re-establish a Yugoslav state or to validate its ideological propaganda. Furthemore, in the intersection of capitalist profit-making and communist heritage, nostalgia has became more than a simple discursive construction, emerging from the idealized collective memory - it turned into a veritable marketing strategy exploiting Yugonostalgic symbols. Media campaigns that instigate warm feelings for Yugo-commodities and positive associations with the former state create new patterns of consumptions seeking to commercialize the...
|
|
The surfaces of the past: analysis of the everydayness in 1970s and 1980s in the serial Vyprávěj
Pernikářová, Kateřina ; Reifová, Irena (advisor) ; Dominik, Šimon (referee)
This diploma thesis deals with the way material artifacts participate in the creation of the retrospective depiction of the past in the second season and the third season of the series Vyprávěj, which takes place in the years 1873 - 1989. In the empirical part of the thesis a semiotic analysis was made. The goal of the thesis was to determine which material artifacts evoke the atmosphere of the past in the series and if these artifacts can be considered the carrier of visual information and semantic levels. We focused on stage properties which can be found in the settings of individual households, workplaces and other places which can be seen in the series and we made an analysis from the viewpoint of their occurrence. At the same time in connection with the chosen material artifacts we focused on their function in the narration and their meaning for depicting the past. The study also deals with the ways the viewers of the series remember the period of time which the series depicts. As a part of the analysis the viewers' opinions recorded on the official Facebook websites of the series Vyprávěj which were related to the stage properties and the memories of the period of normalization were gathered.
|
|
Interpretation of the Retromarketing Concept Illustrated on the Example of Contemporary Marketing Communication in the Czech Republic
Kozúbková, Klára ; Dolanský, Pavel (advisor) ; Klabíková Rábová, Tereza (referee)
Thesis Interpretation of the Retromarketing Concept Illustrated on the Example of Contemporary Marketing Communication in the Czech Republic focuses on the interpretation of retromarketing, its current use on an example of Czech companies'campaigns (Kofola, Misa, Botas and others), the reason for Czech companies' inclination to this form of marketing communication and the psychological and sociocultural aspects of contemporary Czech society. Retromarketing is used by companies rather intuitively and currently does not have a strong theoretical basis. Aim of the thesis is to 1) interpret and clarify the concept of retromarketing and 2) to determine why is the retromarketing as a form of marketing communication utilized more and more by Czech companies and analyze examples of specific campaigns to show how is this form of marketing applied. The work is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part is focused on clarifying the concept, its integration into the wider context of marketing communications and psychological and sociocultural aspects of retromarketing. One chapter of the theoretical interpretation is then given to the interpretation and understanding of nostalgia as one of the key elements of retromarketing. In the practical part are analyzed selected examples of the...
|
|
Identity, past and present in Mario Benedetti's stories of exile
Mizzau, Carla ; Poláková, Dora (advisor) ; Marešová, Jaroslava (referee)
The purpose of this paper is to identify and to highlight the main rhetoric and narrative elements connected to the topic of identity in exile in the work of Uruguayan author Mario Benedetti. We will first analyze the sociopolitical situation in Uruguay as well as South America during the decade of 1970, as well as the consequences and the impact the experience of exile produces in an individual's self-perception Five representative stories, created by this writer during his own exile, are used to deal with various aspects of identity. The focus will be first on the characters' perception and awareness regarding the changes, the everyday habits as well as the anomalous life situation in which they find themselves. We will also discuss how their physical reality reflects a spiritual and irreversible condition due to the extreme drama experienced. Then reference will be made to the habits and values that necessarily go into crisis when, in order to survive under conditions of pressure, a new social and cultural environment is chosen. Finally, we will focus on the individual's sense of belonging to his place of origin, and how it is affected after living for some time in the host country when nostalgia, feelings of guilt, and adaptation to a new socio-cultural environment play a crucial role.
|
|
Transmigrants from Spanish Speaking Latin America and the Instrumentalisation of Nostalgia: Symbolic Goods of Those Who Leave and Return
Hidalgo Solís, Priscilla ; Klusáková, Luďa (advisor) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee) ; Militello, Paolo (referee)
This MA thesis presents the results of an investigation about the Hispanic Americans in Prague. Relying on a transnationalist theoretical approach, this research presents an empirical description about the existing ties between the transmigrants and their city of residence, analyzing the migration networks and the transnational practices that arise during the migratory experience. We wish to demonstrate the measure in which the transnational migration is going to foment the exchange of symbolic goods between the country of origin and the country of reception of the transmigrant, and how this exchange is often triggered by the feeling of nostalgia that is frequently associated with the transmigrants experience. To approach these problems in the thesis we focus on the portrait of the migration networks, and on various strategies adopted by migrants from Latin America. Thus we are able to discover the transnational practices of migrants, their integration strategies, and the tools which facilitate to keep the contact with their homeland, and native civilization/culture. The exchange of symbolic goods is one of the very important instruments. We discover them through the testimonies of the transmigrants, which constitute the frame of this investigation, and function as a window on the nature of the...
|
|
Roots of Stalin's positive interpretation in Russia under Putin's presidency
Prokopová, Barbora ; Kolenovská, Daniela (advisor) ; Novák, Petr (referee)
This Bachelor thesis aims to reveal the roots of the positive interpretations of Stalin in Russia under Putin's presidency (2000-2008). At the beginning of the new millennium we witnessed an increase in popularity and uncritical perception of this Soviet leader in the eyes of the Russian public. The thesis examines on which grounds this nostalgia for the Stalin era is based. It explains how during the 1990s the country was facing a difficult post-communist transition to liberal democracy, which contributed to fostering this sentiment. The thesis also analyzes the results of public survey polls to determine which achievements and values of the Stalin era are appreciated by the citizens of the Russian Federation. Furthermore, it touches upon publications by the Russian academic community in order to explore their interpretation of Joseph Stalin's rule and how they might contribute to his positive assessement by the public. It also shows how the political elite succeeding to power in 2000 deliberately supported and fomented this sentiment of nostalgia; what its concrete steps are; and their motivations and implications. The thesis concludes that the period of chaos under President Boris Yeltsin, when the public felt a decline in the living standards and prestige of the country, had a large influence...
|
|
The picture of the GDR in German prose after 1989
Běličová, Alžběta ; Weinberg, Manfred (advisor) ; Tvrdík, Milan (referee)
The work deals with pictures of GDR in German prose written after 1989 by authors coming from GDR and born after 1960. Literary pictures of GDR could be perceived as reflections of memories of individuals or as fictional images of this country. These pictures can't be compared with analyses researched by historians. The main aim is to show how these pictures create the collective memory of this state and how can the collective memory influences picture of GDR, that plays dominant role in today's German society. The case study compares nine literary texts and shows different aspects of reality of life in GDR. Humour and nostalgia were used as an important part of this picture. The comparison includes parallels and differences, in picturing this country, used by two last generations of authors in GDR.
|
|
Have fun as "then" - What we should know about communism but are afraid to ask
Bzenecká, Lucie ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Pullmann, Michal (referee)
This thesis is based on my stay at a retro "ROH recreation - holidays in Tatras as 'then'" organized and provided by one Czech travel agency whose major customers are elderly people. The thesis focuses especially on the motivation of these people to buy such a product, and describes how they spend a holiday like that. This detailed description is an extremely important starting point for clarifying the phenomenon known as nostalgia, which is also in relation to post-communist countries referred to as 'ostalgia". Using the concepts of social memory I show that next to the officially accepted version of history there is a large number of alternative and often contradictory "memories" based on small personal histories of everyday life, which do not include Communism as a political system, but "ordinary" life in the communist times. The main goal of my thesis is to try to find the answers to the question, whether that what the older generation misses is really the communist regime itself, or the sentence "it was better under communism" hides something completely different from mere identification with a particular political establishment. Key words: ROH recreation; communism; retro; nostalgia; social memory; habitus
|
|
Ostalgie in Czech art
HULEOVÁ, Markéta
This thesis Ostalgie in Czech art summarizes recent history of art aimed to fifties and sixties of the twentieth century and also the fundamental notion of Czech cultural time - socialist realism. In opposition to the term 'socialist realism', there is a term 'ostalgie', which is focused on a nostalgic memories during normalization. In the theoretical part of this thesis author presents and explains the two main terms and focuses on the cultural aspects which were brought or denied to the nation by to the socialistic system in those times. In the practical part the author follows the theoretical part, especially in creating posters, which is influenced by nostalgic spirit.
|
|
Current Trends in Consumer Behavior
Mynařík, Jan ; Vávra, Oldřich (advisor) ; Černá, Jitka (referee)
This thesis deals with three selected current trends related to consumer behavior -- onslaught of retro products and retro marketing generally, changes in behavior related to electronic marketplace, and stricter demands for flawlessly designed products and services. Each trend is described and attention is given to driving forces of these trends, the ways they can affect consumers' lives and how they can be observed. The knowledge of the trends is then applied to determine how different groups of Czech consumers can be affected by those trends, thus giving businesses hints on how to incorporate the trends in the approach to their customers and monetize on them.
|