Dosmanlian blues

There are two groups of people who are "politically" extremely dissatisfied with the Saber series and what they read - reasonably or not - as its interpretation of recent history and its impact on the present. There are those who are bothered by the "idealization" of Zoran Đinđić and who think, although they will not say so - unless they are Vojislav Šešelj - that "the traitor should have been killed anyway". In the series itself, such people are depicted through the character of a taxi driver who rejoices noisily at the news of the prime minister's death, which is a completely realistic picture, although it is much worse than the fact that such joy was indulged in by much more dangerous and toxic characters than some taxi driver, even and one gulanfer who, many years later, will become the prime minister and president of the country, and it is not yet ruled out that he will also become a patriarch, a conductor of the Philharmonic or a selector of the national football team (sorry, the latter has already happened, volunteer only). Another type of chronic, predictable, predicted and realized dissatisfiers are - there are far fewer of them and they are not socially dangerous, they are just boring as diarrhea - those fanatical fans of the story about the "political background" of the assassination (as if it were even possible that such a murder does not have a thick - De-Be-lu? – political background) that not even a single realistic version of the story somehow it is not political enough. The only one that would perhaps satisfy them is the one in which it would be explicitly stated, and so that it would be clear that this is the position and message of the author of the series: "Vojislav Koštunica killed Zoran Đinđić", and it would be even better if it were shown that Kostunica personally shot from a sniper, while the so-called Zveki was framed as the Serbian Lee Harvey Oswald, say-No.-more. Since no normal person will ever satisfy their phantasm, their dissatisfaction will remain permanent.

But let's ignore that, and we won't deal with the so-called artistic achievements of the series because this is a political-cultural column, not a TV review (though that won't stop me from heartily recommending it to you because, despite its inevitable flaws, it's worth every minute invested in it). What interests me at this point is one aspect of the story that, as far as I noticed, was not discussed at all in the remains of the slaughtered Serbian public (and which is much more important than whether, for example, Beba Popović got too much minutes and the like).

Namely, the role of the media, their importance and influence, profile, internal organization, their self-understanding, as well as the understanding of their role in society, including that part of society that has real political power, formal and informal. Danica, a young and feisty journalist, works at an undefined TV station, where she sticks out a bit with her solo approach and some kind of waywardness, but it's not like someone is systematically censoring and punishing her for that. She is the embodiment of a typical "supporter of democratic changes" which is already - the years are 2001, 2002, 2003...! - disappointed into the post-Milošević reality (and as if it is the forerunner of the mentality of the future "white papers"), and treats Đinđić himself as a more or less futile rating-effendi, who ("instead of dealing with the fundamental reformation of society", is that right) would rather for the sake of raising faltering popularity even invent (sorry, to spin) attempted suicide on the highway. Later, when everything happens, Danica experiences a kind of catharsis and becomes the most persistent and courageous researcher of the circumstances and background of the assassination... In this, she sometimes rushes with unverified assumptions, enters into conflicts with her editor (who rather acts as a sometimes overcautious guardian of craft standards than as censor on behalf of the owner or any policy) and other colleagues, finally the owner of the television shows up in the newsroom, frustrated that some of his journalists are doing everything to him more serious problems, but he comes without a stick, as if he would rather beg for understanding than force submission. Elem, the matter is somewhat sloppy, Danica, even with the slurs, manages to place in the public, on the national frequency, everything that is important to her, and neither do others, which on her television, and in other media, are not very dumb. Politicians occasionally give a shit about the media, but they don't seem to be able to trip them up and shut them up, and they don't seem to mind, because, um, it would be "too much like what we were fighting against", wouldn't it? no? The state of emergency (i.e. Saber) uncomfortably tightens the rules of the game, but... when a viewer from 2024 watches all this, Serbia from "Saber" looks like a country of malt, not anarchic media freedom.

Was it really her? It would not be difficult to find examples that would prove that it is somewhat more accurate to say that she was not than that she was. And yet, that strange and actually unpleasant impression of the viewer from 2024 does not devalue at all, because if we put it in the right context, it is sufficiently accurate.

If there is an aspect of the "Sablja" series that is almost radically subversive towards the ruling political narrative of today, then it is precisely the depiction of the media landscape of Serbia from the very beginning of the century, from the time of the "Dosmanli dictatorship". Nostalgic or traumatic? Both, don't separate it for me.