Presentation of Socialist Everyday Life in Transformation – Television Series “A Better Life”

Abstract

The paper analyzes the last Yugoslav television series A Better Life (Bolji život) the broadcast of which ended when the war had begun on the territory of the SFRY. More than thirty years after the end of the first broadcast of the series, it is still popular in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, which is noticeable through numerous reruns, but also popularity on social networks, as well as numerous quotes from the series that are used in colloquial speech. The paper presents the content of the series and the main characters, as well as the most important secondary characters, briefly explains the then political and media situation in the different republics of the SFRY, which was completely uneven, which led to numerous antagonisms between nations, so in this context the series A Better Life was singled out as a series that was equally followed by citizens in all the republics, which was a phenomenon.

In the context of today, the series is analyzed through the prism of Yugonostalgia, and the content of the series is analyzed through several themes that appear in the series: everyday life and rituals, dealing with the consequences of the economic crisis, the conflict between rural and urban among the residents of Belgrade, i.e. the so-called old Belgraders and so-called newcomers.Certain stereotypes appeared in the series, primarily gender stereotypes, that is, the roles of men and women in society were repeatedly pointed out through the dialogues. Although at the time of filming of Better Life, inter-ethnic relations in SFRY were in crisis, the screenwriter skilfully avoided national stereotypes, although they appeared in several scenes, which is also included in the analysis of the series. Although the series depicts a politically turbulent time, nowadays it is viewed almost romantically, as a chance for a lost better life and missed opportunities.