No. 11 - 11 / 2013:
Pop Culture in Romania and Bulgaria since the 1960’s
edited by Carmen Scheide
Cinematography and film culture in Romania were used as instruments for cultural manipulation and political propaganda since the beginning of the communist era, either by imposing certain themes on national productions, or by censoring almost all foreign film productions entering the cinema network. Thus, the movies produced outside Romanian borders often suffered content alteration in order to fit communist ideology, if shown at all. We argue that the evolution of cinematography and film culture matched the controversial existence of Romanian censorship itself and the ever-changing official position towards the Western community. As will be discussed, Romanian people benefited from strictly controlled film entertainment, with only a few exceptions, such as the Cinematheque and Cinema Almanac, and had no direct and complete access to information on certain movies or directors, since press and cinema were drenched with pro-communist, anti-capitalist messages.
This paper is dedicated to an “angry minority” as determined by one of my respondents. This “minority” includes representatives from several subcultural styles (punk, skinhead, hardcore, metal, casual), who are interdependent through their personal informal relations and characterized by strong opposition to various dominant cultural norms. The age group is in the range of 15 to 30 years, and the most active at present is the generation born between 1986 and 1990. The subcultural unit under examination is united by yet another common name - “the underground”. This unit brings together young people from different styles, who are aware of their different-mindedness and also of the fact that their chosen style is not just fashion, but a way of life.
