UNIVERSITY OF NOVA GORICA GRADUATE SCHOOL ...
UNIVERSITY OF NOVA GORICA GRADUATE SCHOOL ...
UNIVERSITY OF NOVA GORICA GRADUATE SCHOOL ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
oppression. And the cover by Azra, i.e. and the re-write by the band‘s lead singer Branimir Štulić<br />
Johnny continues in this vein, particularly when the singer‘s personal stance of opposition to any<br />
regime is taken into consideration. Throughout the 1980s Azra was one of the new wave bands<br />
that expressed occasionally fierce discontent with the state-of-affairs in Yugoslavia, and remaining<br />
true to his views. Štulić refashioned his oppositional stance in response to the changing situation<br />
in Yugoslavia, particularly in Croatia. Hence it is clear why it was chosen by<br />
Xpartizani0zauvijekX: it fits nicely into the Yugoslav myth of partisan resistance movement<br />
which was essentially related to pan-European anti-fascist resistance during the WWII and it<br />
conveys neatly the general idea of the memorial. The fight for liberation was an honourable act<br />
marked by hardship and devotion to freedom. And, along the very personal grief, it is this, the<br />
essentially humane act that deserves respect in the ‗corrupted‘ present. Moreover, it fits even more<br />
snugly into the present when the old generation is inadvertently leaving and the new youth is to<br />
find their place in the debris of the shattered post-war dream.<br />
Taking a look first to the formal structure of this 4MO, it can be seen that since it first appeared in<br />
YouTube in February 2009 the video has had 37,735 views. Within the first month online it was<br />
embedded on Facebook; geographically, it is understandably most popular in the territory of the<br />
former Yugoslavia. Before going any further, it has to be said that this is not the only digital<br />
memorial that uses this song: as I go along I will bring into discussion another one, uploaded in<br />
June 2008 by stjepko357 295 ; additionally I will also discuss a video uploaded by majorsnag, 296<br />
which tells a story in a similar fashion, using a much more globally popular Leonard Cohen‘s<br />
version. The reason why these three digital memorials are investigated together is—due to the<br />
topic (global anti-fascism), music and narrative strategies—fairly obvious, yet it has to be said that<br />
xPartizani0zauvijekX‘s is the archetype of a digital memorial. Archetype in the way it uses<br />
audiovisual elements, in that it is dedicated to a specific person and at the same time to a country<br />
and a worldview, anti-fascism.<br />
295 stjepko357, ―Branimir Štulić – Partizan,‖ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ax1NkaBAWM, accessed 23<br />
August 2011.<br />
296 majorsnag, ―Leonard Cohen – The Partisan,‖ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG4ndbhOkpI, accessed 23<br />
August 2011..<br />
147