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Self/Other Representations in Aleksei Balabanov's 'Zeitgeist Movies'

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Self/Other Representations in Aleksei Balabanov's 'Zeitgeist Movies' SELF/OTHER REPRESENTATIONS IN ALEKSEI BALABANOV‟S „ZEITGEIST MOVIES‟: FILM GENRE, GENRE FILM AND INTERTEXTUALITY Florian Weinhold School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2011 2 Contents ABSTRACT……………….……………………………..….............…............... 6 DECLARATION………………………………………………….......................7 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT.....……………………………………................. 7 THE AUTHOR...………………………………………………….......................8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………..………....…................... .9 Chapter 1: Introduction..............................………………………......……........11 1.1 Background, Rationale, Aim and Structure of the Introduction…………. 11 1.2 Why Balabanov?…………………………………..…….…….................. 13 1.3 Why Balabanov‟s „Genre Films‟?………………………..………............ 16 1.4 Balabanov‟s Genre Films in Russian and Western Criticism..................... 19 1.5 Contributions of the Study......................………………………………… 28 1.6 Aim, Objectives and Research Questions of the Thesis..............…........... 29 1.7 Primary Sources………….......................................................................... 31 1.8 Structure of the Thesis................................................................................ 32 Chapter 2: Methodology.......................................................................................35 2.1 Introduction...........................………………….......................................... 35 2.2 Why Genre?……………………………………...................……............. 37 2.3 What is Film Genre?................................................................................... 41 2.4 Theoretical Genres...................................................................................... 45 2.5 Historical Genres........................................................................................ 47 2.5.1 Genre Evolution, Variety and Hybridism....................................... 47 2.5.2 Genre Movie versus Art-House Film and Auteur........................... 50 3 2.6 Reception, Expectation and Verisimilitude................................................ 52 2.7 Genre, Ideology and Representation........................................................... 54 2.7.1 Genre, Ideology, Ritual and Myth.................................................. 54 2.7.2 Genre and Representation: Stereotypes versus Social Types......... 58 2.8 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 60 Chapter 3: Brother (Brat, 1997) Gangster Neo-Noir Representations of Russia’s Self and Others.....................63 3.1 Introduction...........................…… ………………………......................... 63 3.2 Synopsis...................................................................................................... 65 3.3 Gangster Genre and Neo-Noir Style: An Overview................................... 67 3.4 Gangster Neo-Noir: Iconography, Characterisation and Themes............... 68 3.5 The Film‟s Two Beginnings....................................................................... 73 3.5.1 Establishing Shot and Opening Credits.......................................... 73 3.5.2 The Portrait Episodes: Introducing Russia and Raskolnikov......... 81 3.6 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 90 Chapter 4: Brother-2 (Brat-2, 2000) Western/gangster Carnival (‘‘Good Bye America’, Farewell Ukraine’)......... 93 4.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 93 4.2 Synopsis...................................................................................................... 96 4.3 Brother-2‟s Beginning and Ending............................................................. 98 4.4 Western/gangster Satire or Parody?: Genre Overview and Intertextuality.............................................................................................. 101 4.5 Brother-2‟s satiric and allegorical self/other Re/presentation............................................................................................106 4.6 Brother-2: A Western/Gangster Story.........................................................113 4.7 Chapaev and Cement: Brother-2, a Parody of Socialist Realism?..............116 4 4.8 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 119 Chapter 5: War (Voina, 2002) An Eastern-Docudrama Critique of Mainstream Media Representations......122 5.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 122 5.2 Synopsis...................................................................................................... 125 5.3 Docudrama and Documentary Modes: Metacinematic Complications of War‟s Surface Narrative......................................................................... 127 5.3.1 The Docu-Mode of Representation: War‟s Opening Sequences.... 127 5.3.2 Documentary, Docudrama and „Nightmare in Chechnya‟............. 129 5.3.3 Documentary Modes and Metacinematic Double-Coding: Who is Ivan?.. 131 5.4 The War Genre............................................................................................ 135 5.5 Istoriia and Historically Inspired Narrative: Genre and Intertextuality...... 139 5.6 The Ending.................................................................................................. 145 5.7 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 146 Chapter 6: Dead Man’s Bluff (Zhmurki, 2005) Neo-Noir Gangland Comic Strip Subversions of ‘The Gangster as Tragic Hero’.......................................................................................................................151 6.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 151 6.2 Synopsis...................................................................................................... 155 6.3 Neo-Noir/Black Gangster Comedy and Comic Strip................................. 157 6.4 Intracultural Dialogue with Antikiller, Brother, Assa and Tycoon............. 160 6.5 The Beginning and Ending: Theme and Mode of Representation.............. 168 6.6 A Neo-Noir Comic: Ex-Komsomol Criminals Turn Into Gangster Politicians.....................................................................................................170 6.7 Conclusion...................................................................................................176 Chapter 7: It Doesn’t Hurt (Mne Ne Bol’no, 2006) The Melodramatic End of The Post-Soviet Gangster and His Mistress...........180 7.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 180 7.2 Synopsis.......................................................................................................184 7.3 Gangster, Melodrama and Symbolic Narrative...........................................186 5 7.4 Repression, Doors and Redecoration.......................................................... 190 7.5 The Melos: „Pozovi Menia Nebo‟ and „Mammy Blue‟...............................192 7.6 Traditional Love Triangle + Oedipal Family Drama = Symbolic Gangster Melodrama....................................................................................195 7.7 Self/Other Representations of the New Russia........................................... 199 7.8 The Literary Intertext: Three Comrades and The Lady of the Camellias....204 7.9 Conclusion...................................................................................................207 Chapter 8: Conclusion.......................................................................................... 210 8.1 Revisiting the Thesis Objective...................................................................210 8.2 Revisiting the Research Questions..............................................................212 8.2.1 Research Question 1........................................................................212 8.2.2 Research Question 2........................................................................216 8.2.3 Research Question 3........................................................................220 8.2.4 Research Question 4........................................................................222 8.3 Contributions of the Study.......................................................................... 223 8.3.1 Balabanov Studies........................................................................... 223 8.3.2 Post-Soviet Cinema and Russian Genre Film and Film Genre Studies............................................................................................. 223 Bibliography............................................................................................................225 Filmography.............................................................................................................236 Final word count including footnotes: 79,993 6 ABSTRACT This thesis uses the prism of genre to explore the character of self/other representations in five „genre films‟ made by the Russian filmmaker Aleksei Balabanov and released between 1997 and 2006. It provides the first book-length study of Balabanov and aims to shed new light on the complexity of genre films and their representation
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