The thesis deals with a musical aspect in Czech films directed by Miloš Forman. The topic is investigated within a wider context of musical culture of the 1960s as it is focused on analysis of cultural phenomena associated with musical expression which left their impression on Forman's films and participated, to great extent, in specificity of their soundtracks. So the films are not analyzed as separate artifacts, but they are considered as documents affected by the social climate at that time. Common social phenomena which were an integral part of Forman's films are studied such as dancing parties, twist and radio broadcasting. The Forman's cooperation with the Semafor theatre is analyzed as well as how Semafor poetics influenced his films. Jiří Suchý's lyrics and the period hits classified as the medium pop music stream are carefully analyzed as they are an important part of Forman's films. A short outline of the cinematographic context of the 1960s and comparison with films thematically similar help to specify Forman's approach to the music aspect. The collage-like structure of the work highlights a few contradictory trends in pop music of the 1960s whose variety can be seen in Forman's films.

This study examines resistance against totalitarian propaganda in select movies produced in regions subjected to Soviet-imposed totalitarian system. From 1939 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Central-Eastern Europe has experienced two of the most devastating and genocidal political systems in the history of the humankind. Nazism was destroyed with the end of WWII, and met widespread condemnation. Sovietism, commonly known as Communism, survived WWII and the Soviet totalitarian empire rose to the position of the world's second superpower. Effective and organized Soviet propaganda generated a new convincing image of Sovietism as a harmless, friendly and progressive system. In this situation, the extremely important role of maintaining moral consciousness has fallen to the artistic world, specifically film. The scope of my thesis is to explore and analyze the responses to the Soviet totalitarianism in movies produced in European states of the Soviet bloc, between 1956 and 1989. My thesis aims to offer a critical reading of the chosen movies as well as their historical and political conditions. I point out how filmmakers articulated their resistance and analyze it in the context of national culture. The movies I chose to discuss express the reality of everyday life during the Soviet era. Their dissection reflects the mutual influence of history and art in general and in the Soviet bloc in particular. Hence, I offer a reading of the past expressed in the subjective vision of the cinematographic art. Movies not only reflect certain fragments of the reality, they also play an important role in constructing a collective memory. Discussing them from this angle leads to an understanding of the current perception of the past in those countries.