Anti-Left video causes stir ahead of election

A month before the national election, filmmaker Petr Zelenka together with the popular actors Martha Issová and Jiří Mádl, have caused an unprecedented stir with the release of a viral video called Přemluv bábu - Persuade Granny. The clip takes its cue from Sarah Silverman’s The Great Schlep in 2008, which humorously urged Jewish voters to get their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama. But some viewers here have taken offence to the Czech version, criticising it, if not for its message, for how the elderly are portrayed.

'Přemluv bábu', photo: www.youtube.com

Petr Zelenka says he does not usually venture into politics in his work, but Přemluv bábu (Persuade Granny) is an obvious exception: a viral internet video he made with actors Martha Issová and Jiří Mádl to get people, namely younger voters involved in this year’s election. In the clip the actors go through a list of reasons why not to vote for the political Left, namely due, the filmmaker says, to the Social Democrats’ willingness to cooperate with the largely unreformed Communist Party. The actors remind viewers of the negative aspects of the former regime, from how it sent its brightest into exile, to how it destroyed political opponents. Parodied are the elderly, who are portrayed as all too willing to vote for the Left, forgetting lessons of the past.

But director Petr Zelenka, the creator of such films as The Year of the Devil, is unapologetic:

'Přemluv bábu', photo: www.youtube.com

“I am usually a non-political person but I got together with two actors and we said ‘let’s do something about this now’ because we felt that the Leftist parties were going too far. It was supposed to be anti-Communist above all, but because the Social Democrats are willing to work with them, they have to also be included in the campaign. The style is meant to be funny, but it’s the content we really stand for.”

That hasn’t stopped many from taking offence to the video’s message or humour, some finding it vulgar: in one joke the actors quip that the political Left will wipe its behind with voters after the election, and some, like well-known sociologist Jiřina Šiklová or actor/director Jan Kačer have voiced discontent over the material. Responses on Youtube have also varied, with at least as many views critical among young voters as those who are in support. Petr Zelenka is the first to admit the approach taken was “tough”:

“We are operating in the area of political propaganda and political propaganda in this country, as such, is very tough. So you kind of have to top it with something even tougher. So, we are playing a dirty game, so you get dirty, that’s a fact. On the other hand, this is an internet video, that’s why they call them viral, they spread out like viruses. If it had been made for TV, we would have used a different approach.”

Petr Zelenka

It is not the first time the internet, or for that matter social networks, have figured on the Czech political scene: last year a movement on facebook caught on in which Social Democrats including leader Jiří Paroubek were routinely pelted with eggs at political meetings, while facebook also has 5,000 users this time rallying behind the slogan hide granny’s ID – another reference to the upcoming election; in other words, hide her ID, so she won’t be able to cast her vote. Increasingly, it appears such movements and viral messages, for better or for worse, will be part of the political process.