A ciritical history of health films

This book revisits the history of health films, one of the most popular and enduring methods for disseminating health-related propaganda. This practice aimed at persuading people to abide by rules and recommendations regarding their own health and the health of their families, communities, and even nations. By placing health propaganda at the center of the inquiry, we examine the interrelationship between (1) medicalization, the process of institutionalizing public health and its transformation into one of the most powerful systems dominating our lives, and (2) medical culture, collective practices of perception and interpretation of health and sickness. Among other methods of health propaganda, such as popular books, broadcasts, and exhibitions, health films represent the most consistent example of the ambiguity of the task of transforming medical culture to align with medical progress. In our book, we examine they ways in which health films rely heavily on translating healthy habits as embedded in identities, linking desirable patterns of behavior concerning health and illness to attractiveness, success, and even happiness. This connection inevitably opens up space for the translation of stereotypes and resulting prejudices. One of the main aims in writing this book is to reflect critically on the impact of health propaganda on politics among various groups often considered vulnerable to public pressure, such as women, children, and peripheral populations. Health films have long been (and will remain) a "weapon" of biopolitics that can "injure" independence and justice. We trace how health films translate eugenic ideals that stem from the intersectionality of race, disability, and gender. Accordingly, we analyze the publicity surrounding the films, as well as the correspondence among the public health experts involved in their production and dissemination. While health films have already received much attention in the United States, Germany, and France, their historical role in Central and Eastern Europe remains underappreciated. We thus explore the driving forces behind the production of these films in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. The goal is to reconstruct the multilevel and entangled history of health films in this region, not only as an adaptation of Western approaches but also as a distinct contribution of CEE filmmakers to the circulation of approaches to health propaganda; these filmmakers had even produced films for ethnic minorities in the United States. Through elaborating the interrelations between films produced in CEE and those produced in Western contexts for the propagation of health enlightenment, we revise the role of international organizations such as League of Nations and the Red Cross in shaping the global order of health security. With this critical analysis, we uncover innovative ways to address the legacy of health films, through collecting films that have been preserved, lost, or planned but not produced.