Women as portrayed in slovenian feature films

Abstract

When comparing Slovenian movies with Hollywood productions and film production in other European countries, we find Slovenian filmmaking has a tradition of its own. The many factors which had a bearing on the genre and type of films made in Slovenia were of a social and historical nature (socialism, the emancipation of women), political (those financing the film decided what would be filmed and how), the genre popular at the time (melodrama, comedy, horror, tragedy), cultural determinants (the importance of literature in Slovenian culture and the role of the theatre in the early years of the seventh art) and Slovene mythology. These factors are mainly to blame for the fact that women are portrayed rather stereotypically in Slovene films, to the extent that it is possible to group them into the following categories: charming temptress, angelic woman, the melodramatic type, partisan mother, woman as an independent being, neutral housewife and mother, and woman as fighter/rebel.