Visualizing the Past: Perestroika Documentary Memory Of
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VISUALIZING THE PAST: PERESTROIKA DOCUMENTARY MEMORY OF STALIN-ERA TRAUMA by Erin Rebecca Alpert B.A. in Global Studies, College of William and Mary, 2007 M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh, 2009 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Erin Alpert It was defended on May 12, 2014 and approved by Nancy Condee, Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures David Birnbaum, Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures Jeremy Hicks, Reader, Queen Mary University of London, Department of Russian Dissertation Advisor: Vladimir Padunov, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures ii Copyright © by Erin Alpert 2014 iii VISUALIZING THE PAST: PERESTROIKA DOCUMENTARY MEMORY OF STALIN-ERA TRAUMA Erin Alpert, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 The main goal of this dissertation is to look at how, during perestroika, documentary breaks away from the traditional notions of the genre in order to reexamine and redefine traumatic events from the Stalinist period. The first chapter examines the nuances of three critical terms: “documentary,” “collective memory,” and “cultural trauma.” I then turn to a historical approach, exploring how political culture and technology affected the content, production, and screening of documentaries, first discussing the time leading up to perestroika and then the massive changes during the glasnost era. In the final chapters, I argue that there are three primary approaches the films examined in this project take to understanding the past. First, films that present the Soviet Union as a system that can be saved by a return to Leninist ideals, such as in Marina Babak’s More Light (Bol'she sveta, 1988), and Marina Goldovskaia’s Solovki Power (Vlast' Solovetskaia, 1988). Second, films that delve into the lasting effects of Stalinism on contemporary Soviet society, as in Tofik Shakhverdiev’s Stalin is With Us? (Stalin s nami?, 1989), and Igor' Beliaev’s Trial II (Protsess II, 1988). Third, films that demystify the cult of Stalin and his inner circle through a more intimate study of their personal lives, like Semen Aranovich’s I was Stalin’s Bodyguard (Ia sluzhil v okhrane Stalina, 1989) and I Worked for Stalin, or Songs of the Oligarchs (Ia sluzhil v apparate Stalina, ili Pesni oligarkhov, 1990). The readings of these films draw on Maurice Halbwachs’ notion of collective memory, which asserts that there is memory outside of iv individual consciousness and that this memory is both shared and constructed by a society, and on the idea of cultural trauma. As Jeffrey Alexander, Ron Eyerman, Bernhard Giesen, Neil J. Smelser, and Piotr Sztompka argue in Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity, a society recovers from cultural trauma by collectively and publicly grappling with a set of questions that include what is the nature of the pain, what is the nature of the victim, what is the relation of the trauma victim to the wider audience, and who is responsible for the trauma? v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... XI 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 SECTION 1: THE WHAT AND WHY OF SOVIET DOCUMENTARY ..... 6 1.1.1 Chapter 1: Theoretical Questions .................................................................. 6 1.1.2 Chapter 2: The Role of the Documentary in the Soviet Union .................... 7 1.2 SECTION 2: DOCUMENTARY CINEMA DURING PERESTROIKA....... 8 1.2.1 Chapter 3: The Context of Perestroika Documentary Cinema ................... 8 1.2.2 Chapter 4: The System Can be Saved ......................................................... 10 1.2.3 Chapter 5: Stalin’s Continued Role in the 1980s ........................................ 11 1.2.4 Chapter 6: Demystifying Stalin and His Circle .......................................... 12 1.3 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 12 2.0 THEORETICAL QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 14 2.1 DOCUMENTARY ............................................................................................. 14 2.2 COLLECTIVE MEMORY............................................................................... 29 2.3 CULTURAL TRAUMA .................................................................................... 40 2.4 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 45 3.0 THE ROLE OF THE DOCUMENTARY IN THE SOVIET UNION .................. 46 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 46 vi 3.2 PRE-REVOLUTIONARY DOCUMENTARY CINEMA ............................. 47 3.3 FEBRUARY TO OCTOBER 1917 .................................................................. 49 3.4 THE EARLIEST DAYS OF THE POST-OCTOBER REVOLUTION FILM INDUSTRY ......................................................................................................................... 50 3.5 1920S: EXPERIMENTATION AND THE SEARCH FOR CINEMATIC LANGUAGE ....................................................................................................................... 53 3.6 THE 1930S THROUGH THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR: CENTRALIZATION AND SIMPLIFICATION ............................................................ 60 3.7 WORLD WAR II: MOBILIZING DOCUMENTARY .................................. 65 3.8 THE 1950S: GLIMMERS OF CHANGE........................................................ 67 3.9 THE 1960S: THE FLOURISHING OF DOCUMENTARY ......................... 70 3.10 THE 1970S: A DIFFICULT ERA .................................................................... 79 3.11 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 83 4.0 THE CONTEXT OF PERESTROIKA DOCUMENTARY CINEMA ................. 85 4.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 85 4.2 THE FILM INDUSTRY.................................................................................... 86 4.2.1 Political Context ............................................................................................. 86 4.2.2 Perestroika and Glasnost in the Cultural Sphere ....................................... 88 4.2.3 Perestroika and Glasnost in the Film Industry........................................... 90 4.2.4 The Role of the Filmmakers Union .............................................................. 91 4.2.5 The Conflict Commission .............................................................................. 93 4.2.6 Goskino and Censorship ............................................................................... 95 4.2.7 Introducing the New Model of Cinema ....................................................... 97 vii 4.2.8 Working Together--Domestic and International Cooperation ............... 101 4.2.9 Problems with Distribution and Spectatorship......................................... 102 4.2.10 Documentary Film and Changing Technology ........................................ 108 4.3 DOCUMENTARY DURING PERESTROIKA ............................................ 109 4.3.1 Why Documentary? ..................................................................................... 109 4.3.2 Documentary Cinema as the Unknown Cinema ....................................... 118 4.3.3 Perestroika Documentary Abroad ............................................................. 121 4.3.4 Is It Easy to Be Young? ................................................................................ 122 4.3.5 Characteristics of Perestroika-era Documentary Films .......................... 124 4.3.6 Documentary in Crisis................................................................................. 135 5.0 THE SYSTEM CAN BE SAVED ........................................................................... 137 5.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 137 5.2 …MORE LIGHT! IN THE CONTEXT OF PERESTROIKA DOCUMENTARY ............................................................................................................ 140 5.3 RE-PRESENTING THE PAST: CONTENT AND AESTHETICS OF …MORE LIGHT! ............................................................................................................. 142 5.4 THE HISTORY OF SOLOVKI POWER ....................................................... 150 5.5 SOLOVKI POWER: A DIFFERENT FORM OF DOCUMENTARY NARRATIVE .................................................................................................................... 157 5.6 …MORE LIGHT!, SOLOVKI POWER, AND CULTURAL TRAUMA .... 167 5.7 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 168 6.0 STALIN’S CONTINUED ROLE IN THE 1980S ................................................. 173 6.1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................