In my master’s thesis I am researching the relationship between melancholy and humour in a
selected sample of movies produced in the countries of Post-Yugoslavian sphere. I will analyse the relationship between melancholy and humour from a theoretical point of view on a phenomenological level. The main basis for this treatment is the ideas of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. The key concept of this research is the notion of interspace, which I understand as a point of the unfolding of the aforementioned relationship. Furthermore, interspace also contains social context and collective memory. I am, therefore, interested in the role of interspace in transferring ideologies in societies. In the selected examples, the focus is mostly on presenting the relationship between an individual and their mental state, and the newly formed society, which is presented through tradition and social roles. The goal of the thesis is to theoretically explain the concept of interspace and to then apply it to the following movies: Quit Staring at My Plate; Sorry for kung fu; Metastases; Sex, Drink and Bloodshed; The Load; Working Class Goes to Hell; Excursion; Halima’s Path; Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams; Oroslan. This will enable me to do a synthesis of the phenomenological method and analysis. The relationship between melancholy and humour was typical for Yugoslavian cinematography already. This affects Post-Yugoslavian
cinematography as well, and points to a specific trend and aesthetics. The research is based
on the analysis of the selected sample of movies, where I will identify key theoretical
concepts and derive a broader social context out of them. The findings of my thesis point to a
direct link between and the use of interspace for transferring messages, analysing the internal
states of the protagonists in depth, and the critique of the newly formed post-socialist society.
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