HIST 16E:175
THE HISTORY AND POLITICS OF RUSSIAN AND SOVIET FILM
(poster from Chapaev, 1934)
FALL 2002
Contrary to popular images of the USSR as a uniformly gray and lifeless region under rigid, authoritarian social and ideological control, the cultural life was, at least at times, vibrant and diverse. At its best, cultural life in Russia and the USSR has been distinguished by its rich and lively, albeit sometimes elliptical and coded, social and political commentary.
In this course students will explore film as a major medium of cultural and political expression from 1917 to the present. Film from the former USSR will be a springboard for exploring several themes, including the mechanisms of control and resistance, the role of intellectuals, nationalism and national identity, and the relationship between state and society. In an effort to explore these themes, I have organized the course chronologically. Together we will explore the impact of the New Economic Policy during the 1920s, and the rise of Stalinism and Socialist Realism’s monopoly on cultural expression during the 1930s and 1940s. Following Stalin’s death in 1953, the voices of cultural expression multiplied and we will examine the major individuals and movements that shaped the periods of destalinization in the 1950s and early 1960s. We will see how the issues that sprang up in the immediate wake of Stalin’s death continued to haunt Soviet filmmakers down to the USSR’s demise and beyond. Offering a window into both the collective consciousness of the society that produced these artifacts and into the vision of individual artists, film will help us to understand this complex, diverse region.
Students will engage in “reading” beyond purely aesthetic considerations of film. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding the historical and political circumstances that gave rise to these films, how those conditions affected the form expression took, and what the films say about the reality of the culture from which they sprang. While the entertainment values of these films may not always be readily apparent, each film has something to tell us about the social, economic, and political framework Russia and the USSR.
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