Paratextual Analysis as a Complementary Method of Research of Historical Reception. Language and National Identity in Paratexts of Czech and Foreign Sound Films Screened in 1930 in Czechoslovakia
2016
Abstract
The article explores the questions of language and national identity in paratexts of sound films screened in Czechoslovakia around year 1930. The empirical part of the article presents a paratextual analysis of promotional materials of 18 selected movies from the three-year period between 1929 and 1931 and builds on the archival collections of the Czech National Film Archive.
The aim of the analysis is the national and language identity present in the discourses of the preserved multimodal material. The findings show that majority of paratexts of foreign films do not inform about the language of a given movie, despite the complex and potentially confusing language versions and forms of 1930s.