Mariana Liz - Euro-Visions: Europe in Contemporary Cinema

Euro-Visions

Mariana Liz

Bloomsbury Business

An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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It would not have been possible to write this book without the help of numerous people. First, I would like to thank Katie Gallof at Bloomsbury Publishing for believing in this project. Thank you also to Mary Al-Sayed and Michelle Chen for their help while completing it. I would like to express my gratitude to FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science and Higher Education) for their financial support towards the initial research that led to this book. Thank you also to everyone who spoke to me at the European Commission. A number of people read segments and earlier drafts of this book and provided useful feedback; these include Jan Palmowski, Sarah Street, Rob Stone, Paul Cooke and an anonymous reviewer. I am particularly grateful to Ginette Vincendeau for the guidance she provided, as well as for her endless patience and kindness. Olga Kourelou was an excellent colleague and friend throughout. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their constant support. I am especially thankful to Pete for his optimism and enthusiasm, without which I could not have finished this book, and to little Joaquim for smiling whenever I enter the room.

An earlier version of material included in

What is Europe and how does European cinema portray it? These are the questions this book aims to answer. Euro-Visions is thus situated at the crossroads of two distinct yet related fields: Europe as a concept, especially as defined by the European Union (EU), and contemporary European film. To answer the first question we might begin by focusing on the event that inspired the title of this book: the Eurovision Song Contest. First held in 1956, Eurovision is an annual competition, which started as a television show and is now also broadcast online. Much of the discourse surrounding the contest replicates conventional ideas about the geopolitics of Europe. Commentators have questioned, for instance, the presence of Israel in an event originally developed in Europe, or joked about traditional alliances and divisions between participating nations Spain and Portugal have, for years, awarded each others act the maximum possible score: the famous douze points. The 2014 edition of the contest proved a particularly fruitful example of how Eurovision contributes to the debate about the meaning of Europe. This was especially because of its winner: Austrias Conchita Wurst, the bearded lady, as introduced by performer Tom Neuwirth. The drag act confirmed the commonplace that daring and often sexually charged content is typically produced (and broadcast) in Europe, which suggests that the continents culture is more libertarian than cultures elsewhere. In her winning speech, a teary Conchita Wurst echoed this perception, as she dedicated her victory to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. Europe emerged here tied to emotion, as well as openness, tolerance and democracy key concepts in its political construction, and also central, as this book will show, to Europes cultural definition.

Europe and the EU: In the news, but for the right reasons?

Europe is a central topic in todays public sphere. It is key to understand the early twenty-first century, its first decade offering a vivid picture of the disparity of responses Europe provokes and the dramatic changes the perception of the latter has undergone. In the early 2000s, the widespread enthusiasm for a project aimed at the democratic and peaceful integration of different peoples, in economic, political and cultural terms, was epitomized by the adoption of the Single Currency, the expansion of the Schengen area (effectively creating a borderless continent extending to a number of Eastern European countries) and the launch of the EUs Culture Programme with a budget of over 230 million. But at the time of writing, fifteen years later, Europe is increasingly questioned as the financial crisis and immigration (in public discourse) and accounts of Euro-centrism in a postcolonial context (in academic writing) are foregrounded as its strongest critiques, in political and theoretical terms.

There is massive evidence of the importance of Europe, not least in the work of the EU. Never has the EU been so present in public discourse as in recent years. If the euro-zone debt crisis that began in 2009 launched European politics into the top five of the most debated topics across the continent and potentially the world, in the United Kingdom (a traditionally Euro-sceptic country) the issues prominence has been amplified by a governmental promise to hold an in/out referendum on the EU in 2016. Demonstrating the ongoing relevance of European politics beyond Europes borders, Barack Obama was in Brussels in March 2014 to attend a EU summit. This was his first official visit to Belgium since becoming US president in 2009. Regardless of its shortcomings, no political union in the world can be compared to the one developing in Europe. Its vitality can be observed both internally (as it proceeds with the negotiations for the accession of prospective members) and externally: represented by the president of the European Commission since 1981, the EU is the ninth member of the G8 (the survival of the euro being the main issue at the meeting that took place in Camp David, Maryland, in the United States in May 2012), as well as a leading actor in the development of international legislation on areas such as climate change and human rights.

Attention to pan-European events has also been growing within popular culture. In addition to much branded sports competitions, such as the UEFA Europa and Champions League, the Eurovision Song Contest, mentioned earlier, has had an average of 125 million viewers every year. A record audience of nearly 200 million people watched it in 2015 the year of its sixtieth anniversary an increase of 2 million compared to 2014. EU initiatives aimed at the promotion of European citizenship also have an effect on individuals perception of Europe. A good example is the Erasmus exchange programme, which was created in 1987 and allows students and staff in higher education to spend a fixed period of time in another European country, studying or receiving training. According to Umberto Eco, interviewed in January 2012 for the Europa series a joint project developed by six European newspapers based in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom this initiative clearly reinforces European culture. For Eco, Erasmus constitutes a sexual revolution: a young Catalan man meets a Flemish girl they fall in love, they get married and they become European, as do their children. Arguing the programme increases European citizens sense of belonging and identification with the continent, Eco goes on to suggest this should be compulsory [and] not just for students, as everyone should spend time in other countries within the European Union (cited in Riotta 2012). Regardless of whether or not the impact of the Erasmus programme has been felt in the terms suggested by Eco, with the abolition of internal borders, the development of transport and communication and the re-localization of businesses and public institutions, more and more people not only travel within Europe but also change their residency from one European nation to another. The idea of Europe, especially for those who live in countries that adhered to the Single Currency, and/or travel without a passport within Schengen, is today experienced in practical terms, becoming an integral part of many peoples daily lives.