ABSTRACT
This chapter maps the first generations of family health films, produced mostly in the United States, as historically connected with the eugenic movement and its critiques. Three cohorts of films are explored as a complex context for producing the first health films in Eastern Europe aimed at addressing entire nations with regard to “rescuing” children: (1) films promoting eugenic ideas concerning the ideal family, parenthood and children; (2) anti-eugenic family comedies with strong conservative and patriarchal messages against the false progressivism of eugenics; and (3) a few films that attack eugenics as a manifestation of racism and nativism. We explain the historical role of films by Charlie Chaplin, especially The kid (1921), as deconstructed in the health films produced in Prague and Zagreb targeted at legitimizing new states as operating in the best interests of future generations through promoting residential care.
