The article concentrates on spatial representations in cinemas of Eastern and Western countries around the Baltic Sea from the perspective of the so-called 'tourist gaze', as theorised principally by John Urry. Drawing on his writings, several authors have recognised essential similarities between the representational regimes of socialist realism in the Eastern bloc and tourism marketing as practiced on both sides of the Iron Curtain. This aim article is to compare if and how the ‘tourist gaze’ manifested in different ideological settings, looking at urban representations in films from Estonia (the cycle of so-called ‘Old Town films’ from the 1960s and 1970s), Poland (Do widzenia, do jutra / Goodbye, See You Tomorrow, dir. Janusz Morgenstern, 1960) and Sweden (Mannen från andra sidan / The Man from the Other Side, dir. Yuri Yegorov, 1972).
The discourse of a rigid confrontation between the East and West of Europe during the existence of the Soviet Union has gradually been replaced with one of interaction and intricate exchanges. This chapter looks at cinema as a site of such cultural conversations. In particular, the authors' aim is to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the inherent kinship of cinematic expression on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The chapter draws on John Urry's notion of the tourist gaze, applying this conceptual framework to case studies that in one way or another function as intersections of Eastern and Western cinespheres. It explains that some cities in the Soviet bloc were singled out to play a special, tourist function. The chapter examines how the gaze changes if the cinematic product is made in co-production between East and West. It focuses on films made in the countries around the Baltic Sea.
10.4324/9781315596860-4