Representation of sports and physical education in Czechoslovak documentary film (1945–1959)

Abstract

In the early stages of the film (pre-cinematography), during the technological development of the kinescope (1865), or the moving photos, and later the flash photography (1873), the first attempts to record motion (biomechanics) appeared. The flash photography of the later period (protofilm) was replaced by the synthesis of motion (1878) when the social-cultural background also appeared on the moving photos, mainly focusing on selected themes reflecting the sports body and physicality in relation to the contemporary social atmosphere. The presented text selectively describes the development of body and body imaging in a limited period influenced by political-ideological mechanisms. However, it also functions as a factor that can influence society and bring about change. The documentary film cannot be unambiguously described as propaganda. The sport was not depicted solely from the perspective of the ideology of that time. But above all, mass exercises demonstrated the national community and state ideology.