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Presentation of Russia and the West in Mikhalkov's Barber of Siberia and Sokurov's Russian Ark

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Presentation of Russia and the West in Mikhalkov's Barber of Siberia and Sokurov's Russian Ark PRESENTATION OF RUSSIA AND THE WEST IN MIKHALKOV'S BARBER OF SIBERIA AND SOKUROV'S RUSSIAN ARK A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Olha Vitaliivna Rudich, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2005 Master's Examination Committee: Approved by Dr. Yana Hashamova, Adviser Dr. Irene Delic Dr. Alexander Burry Adviser Graduate Program in Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures ABSTRACT For centuries Russia and the West were engaged in relations that varied from positive to negative depending on economic, social, and political conditions. The process of Westernization strongly affects Russia at the present time, and the interaction of the two cultures leads to an altering of Russian cultural values. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that the matter of preserving Russian national identity became urgent at the beginning of the 21st Century. This thesis analyzes two contemporary films and examines how Russia and the West are presented. Both films glorify the time of Imperial Russia and the idea of Russia’s unique culture. While one director depicts the mingling of Russia and the West in a positive way, another director views Russians as superior to other nationalities. Both films open a discussion about the influence of the West on Russia’s national identity by emphasizing the importance of preserving Russian culture and its values. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my adviser, Dr. Yana Hashamova, for her support and encouragement while writing this thesis, and for correcting my stylistic errors. I am grateful to Dr. Delic and Dr. Burry for providing their comments and suggestions on how to improve this thesis. I also wish to thank Richard Lanum, Larry Lanum and Carol Ann Duckson for editing this thesis. iii VITA May 12, 1977 .......................... Born - Chemihiv, Ukraine 2000 .................................... B. A. in History and ESL, Chemihiv State University 2001 .................................... M.A. in Methodology of Teaching Foreign Languages and Literature, Chemihiv State University 2003 .................................... Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................... ii Acknowledgement ................................................................................. .iii Vita .................................................................................................... .iv Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 Chapters: 1. The Russia - West relations from the reign of Peter the Great till the present time 1.1. The Russia - West relations during the reign of Peter the Great ................ .4 1.1.1. The Western perspective on Peter the Great's reforms in Russia ........ .4 1.1.2. The Russian perspective on the reforms conducted by Peter the Great .. 5 1.2. Relations between Russia and the West in the 19th century ...................... 6 1.3. Russia and the West in the 20th century, pre-Cold War period .................. 9 1.4. The Cold War period ................................................................. 12 1.5. Post 1991 period ..................................................................... .14 2. Presentation of Russian history and culture in the two films ........................ 16 3. Presentation of the West in the two films ...............................................28 Conclusions .......................................................................................... 35 Bibliography ......................................................................................... 37 Filmography ..........................................................................................38 v INTRODUCTION Over the centuries Russia's relationship with the West has undergone many changes. Russian intellectuals have responded to these changes in two distinctly different ways. One group, the Slavophiles, formed in the 1830s under the leadership of Aleksei Khomyakov and Ivan Kireyevsky. The second group, the Westemizers, formed in the 1840s and had very different views about Russia's social, economic, and political direction. Chaadev, in his Philosophical Letters (1828 - 1830), correctly portrayed Russia as caught between the East and the West, a portrayal that not only showed the enormous divide between the Slavophiles and the Westernizers of the 19th Century but remains as valid today as it was then. Chaadev denounced the Russian people for "creating nothing great in the world history and fulfilling no great mission" (Berdyaev 26). Nevertheless, he believed that Russia had potential for a great future, primarily due to the "burden" of its past. The Slavophiles strongly objected to Chaadaev's theory about Russia's past but supported the idea of Russia fulfilling "the great mission" in the future. The Slavophiles believed that Russia's greatness depended on three principles: religious orthodoxy, autocracy, and nationalism, with religious orthodoxy taking precedence, since, according to the Slavophiles, the originality of Russian history lies in its adherence to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Considering the State and government evil, the Slavophils justified monarchy as a way of having only one person (a Tsar) commit the sin "of possessing authority" (Berdyaev 30). If the Slavophils renounced the West and capitalist civilization, the Westemizers were inclined to support the idea of Russia following the West in its development. United in their anticlerical beliefs, in politics the Westemizers split into two groups: the "narodnik" socialists and the liberals. The "narodnik" socialists and their leader, Hertzen, believed that Russia would find progressive ways to develop, avoiding "the horrors of capitalism" (Berdyaev 35). The liberals, on the contrary, were convinced that Russia had to follow the West and adopt more capitalist, market-oriented policies. The process of Westernization significantly affects Russia at the present time. Along with the progressive contributions to the development of Russia, such as innovations in technology, the West also exports questionable cultural products, inexpensive and usually low quality TV, soap operas and Hollywood blockbusters. Consequently, preserving cultural values for future generations and keeping Russia's national identity becomes a more complicated matter. Therefore, this paper's objective is to demonstrate that preserving Russia's national identity became urgent at the beginning of the 21st Century, using two examples of contemporary Russian films, Nikita Mikhalkov's The Barber ofSiberia (1999) and Aleksandr Sokurov's Russian Ark (2002). Both films attempt to reinvigorate Russian 2 national identity by emphasizing the importance of preserving Russian culture and its values. To understand the importance of these films we must first review the historical context in which they were created. 3 CHAPTER 1 THE RUSSIA - WEST RELATIONS DURING THE REIGN OF PETER THE GREAT TILL THE PRESENT TIME 1.1. THE RUSSIA - WEST RELATIONS DURING THE REIGN OF PETER THEGREAT 1.1.1. The Western perspective on Peter the Great' s reforms in Russia. The first serious attempt to bring the Western way of life to Russia was made by the legendary Peter the Great. In world history Peter is best known for his attempt to modernize Russia, but because of his severe methods Peter was also viewed as a tyrant. Hence, there is a dual perspective on Peter's character as a reformer. For example, Saint­ Simon admired Peter the Great, "this monarch, who wished to raise himself and his country from barbarism" (quoted in Wolff 203). On the other hand, Voltaire faulted the Russian tsar for lacking in humanity. "Brutality in his pleasure, ferocity in his manners, and barbarism in his vengeances mixed with so many virtues" (quoted in Wolff 204). In Montesquieu's opinion, such measures as the trimming of beards and changing of fashion 4 in clothing were unnecessary for Russia and were imposed by tyrannical methods, "The violent measures, which he employed, were needless, he would have attained his end as well by milder methods" (quoted in Wolff204). The success of Peter's reforms was questioned even before his attempt to impose them on Russia, which lacked adequate institutions and a population ready for such drastic change. According to Rousseau, instead of improving the lives of the Russian people, Peter wanted to convert them into Germans and Frenchmen. Rousseau gave his appraisal of Peter's reforms by writing, "Russia will never be civilized, because it was civilized too soon. Most of what Peter did was out of place" (quoted in Neumann 83). 1.1.2. The Russian perspective on the reforms conducted by Peter the Great. Xenia Gasiorowska studied the image of Peter the Great, which, according to her, has been created mostly by writers of historical fiction. During the reign of Nicholas I (1825-55), Peter was glorified for his reforms and attempts to westernize Russia. Nevertheless, over time the image of Peter the Great "inspires mystical fear, which, while seldom openly expressed, had always been felt by Peter's contemporaries and fictional characters" (Gasiorowska 34). Such a dualistic perspective on Peter and his reforms had already been presented earlier in Pushkin's The Bronze Horseman (1833).
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