Cut-ups: Jacobs, Chytilova and the politics of slapstick modernism

This essay formulates the concept of a slapstick modernism in order to designate a cultural mutation that occurred in the US and elsewhere in the world from the 1950s through the 1970s. It was during this period that Beat Generation artists committed to formal innovation (in literature and film) looked back to the heritage of silent screen comedy for aesthetic inspiration. After briefly describing the parameters of a slapstick modernism, the essay applies the category in question to two radicalised cinematic ventures: Ken Jacobs’ sevenhour epic of dissent, Star Spangled to Death and Vera Chytilova’s Daises, the latter a product of the Czech New Wave. From the perspective of cultural history, the essay contests the notion of a postmodern break in favour of an understanding of the genealogical continuities extending across the twentieth century.