Western Cinema on the Pages of the Soviet Screen Magazine (1969-1985): Ideologized Articles Emphasizing Criticism of Bourgeois Cinema and Its Harmful Influence on the Audience (original) (raw)
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The Ideological Topic in the Magazine Soviet Screen: 1957–1968 (Western Cinema Aspect)
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Based on a content analysis (in the context of historical, sociocultural and political situation, etc.) of texts published during the Thaw in the Soviet Screen magazine (1957-1968), the authors concluded that an important role in this publication was played by ideologized articles that emphasized criticism of bourgeois cinema and its detrimental influence on the audience, Not all of the magazine's authors directly sought to publish ideologically oriented articles, but it is possible to identify a small but consistently engaged group of film scholars and critics who consistently opposed the negative effects of bourgeois (and in particular Western) cinema on their audiences and defended Marxist-Leninist approaches to the analysis of the film process. After the Prague Spring events, however, the authorities decided that the journal's ideological position was not sufficiently counter-propagandistic, and a harsh campaign was unleashed against Soviet Screen in Ogonyok, which always maintained a political mainstream position at the time. In the end, the editorial board of Soviet Screen managed to persuade the "higher authorities" that the ideological course of the journal would be changed in the direction desired by the power, and (unlike the editorial board of Cinema Art, which was similarly criticized in 1968), editor-inchief D. Pisarevsky managed to keep his position. Thus, the level of ideologization of Soviet Screen materials was elevated and in a number of articles was no different from Soviet Communist Party publications.
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The subject of Western cinematography was presented in a rather limited volume on the pages of the Soviet Screen magazine in 1957–1960. However, with the appointment of film critic Dmitry Pisarevsky (1912–1990) to the post of editor-in-chief the "thaw" tendencies in the Soviet screen led to a gradual increase in the number of materials about foreign cinema on the pages of the magazine (sometimes they took up to a third of the total volume of the issue). Increasingly, photographs of Western movie stars were published (in rare cases, even on color covers), neutrally or positively presented biographies of Hollywood and European actors and directors, articles about Western film weeks and international film festivals, reviews of Western films, etc. Although, no doubt, there were also ideologically biased materials in this magazine. Based on the content analysis (in the context of the historical, socio-cultural and political situation, etc.) of the texts published during the "thaw" period of the magazine Soviet Screen (1957–1968), the authors came to the conclusion that materials on the subject of Western cinema on this stage can be divided into the following genres: - ideologized articles emphasizing criticism of bourgeois cinema and its harmful influence on the audience; - articles on the history of Western cinema (as a rule, about the period of the Great Silent, with a minimum degree of ideologization); - biographies and creative portraits of Western actors and directors (often neutrally or positively evaluating these filmmakers); - interviews with Western filmmakers (here, as a rule, interlocutors were selected from among "progressive artists"); - reviews of Western films (positive in relation to most of the Soviet film distribution repertoire and often negative in relation to those movies that were considered ideologically harmful); - articles about international film festivals and weeks of foreign cinema in the USSR (with a clear division into "progressive" and "bourgeois" cinematography); - reviews of the current repertoire of Western national cinematographies (here, as a rule, criticism of bourgeois cinematography was also combined with a positive assessment of works and trends ideologically acceptable to the USSR); - short informational materials about events in Western cinema (from neutral reports to caustic feuilletons and "yellow" gossip).
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Based on content analysis (in the context of the historical, socio-cultural and political situation, etc.) of texts published during the "stagnant" period of the Soviet Screen magazine (1969-1985), the authors came to the following conclusions. Of the wide range of Hollywood and British films, Soviet film distribution in the period we analyzed included mainly films with an acute social message, critically showing Western realities. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that these films received maximum support in the Soviet Screen; articles by Soviet film critics emphasized the "progressive anti-bourgeois significance" of these films. It is very significant that, even when reviewing American films, which seemed to be completely far from politics, the reviewers of Soviet Screen demonstrated ideological approaches. Of course, among the reviews of American and British films in Soviet Screen, there also appeared texts that were devoid of a direct appeal to politics. "Apoliticalism" was especially evident in reviews devoted to film adaptations of classical works, which often took place in the 19th century and earlier. Frankly entertaining Hollywood and British films were released into Soviet distribution in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s quite rarely. And here, Soviet Screen reviewers often sought to distance themselves from edifying political and ideological assessments, concentrating on a professional analysis of the artistic quality of this or that entertaining film. In Italian and French cinema, the Soviet Screen consistently gave preference to political films that "expose capitalist reality." Of course, Soviet Screen, as before, could not ignore the works of Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, Francois Truffaut and other outstanding masters of cinema. But here, too, the magazine's reviewers assessed their work mainly within the framework of Marxist ideological principles, on the basis of which even the films of such recognized masters as Federico Fellini were criticized. The sharp rejection of Soviet Screen reviewers was often caused by entertainment films with the participation of Jean-Paul Belmondo, which were reproached for promoting "supermanhood" and violence. The Soviet Screen's reviews of famous French and Italian comedies were more benevolent, but overall rather skeptical. Of course, the range of Western films, for one reason or another, did not reach the Soviet mass audience, was much wider than film distribution. And year after year, the editors of the magazine selected examples for criticism of bourgeois society and imperialism: films of an anti
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