Noviembre the 9th

Ilan Avisar, "The National and the Popular in Israeli Cinema"

1. How and why has the concept of nationalism changed since the end of the Cold War? Why does Avisar emphasize the notion of an “imagined community” when discussing nationalism? What are the negative and positive connotations of nationalism?
After the Cold War, the re-awakened national aspirations of many induced new national sentiments, which countered the negative assessments of previous thoughts of nationalism and casued it to re-emerge. He uses Anderson's concept of imagined communties to define nationalism as such, as a, as Anderson sees it, quest for people to gain their independence and as a source of identity defined by the national culture. The negatives of Nationalism are a lack of appreciation (or even recognition) of other cultures and nations, whereas the positives are a strong sense of national identity and pride in your country.

2. What are the three principal historical forces guiding the movement of Zionism as it emerged in the 19th century? How do these three forces correspond to Benedict Anderson’s definition of the nation?
The continuous consciousness of living in Exile and the everlasting quest to return to Zion, the need to escape antisemitism, and the ideological model of modern nationalism as developed in nineteenth-century Europe. These three forces correspond to the elements of Anderson's definition of a nation, they are all reasons the Jews use to demonstrate the need to create a unified homeland.

3. If there was no “indigenous Jewish national culture” because there was no Jewish state, how was Jewish identity and culture defined and expressed before the establishment of Israel?
Essentailly, Jewish identity was defined through diaspora experiences and religious practices. "Men of Letters" were the ones who actually defined and enunciated the Jewish national identity by expressing desires for a homeland, reviving the Hebrew language, and constructing symbolic texts of national culture.

4. What other ideologies of Jewish existence competed with Zionism in the 19th and 20th centuries? What characterized Zionism in contrast to these competing ideologies (what ideals were the “backbone” of Zionism)?
There were the assimilationists who waited in passive expectation of the Messiah and believed in European emancipation, the Bundists, who thought that a Marxist revolution was the solution for the Jews and there were those who believed that America was the promise land. Zionism became very popular after the holocaust, the rise of collectivism, and the rise of the "new Jewish identity"

5. What irony does Avisar observe about the rise of overtly critical political films in the 1980s? How have these critical political films affected the relationship between the Israeli cinema and its own local audience? What replaced this cycle of critical political films in the 1990s and 2000s?
The irony is that they were government funded, but contained content that criticized government affairs, especially the war with Lebanon. During this political phase, Israeli filmmakers lost their local audience but gained worldwide recognition. More personal projects replaced the politcal ones, mainly due to a disconnect with the local audience and the broad trend of the people feeling more comfortable with criticizing the Israeli government/society.

6. How does Avisar describe the split between high culture (artists, academics, cultural elite) and low (popular) culture in Israel in regards to nationalism and Zionism?
Essentially the low culture is associated with Zionism and nationalism whereas the high culture is associated with extreme opposition to Jewish nationalism.