ავტორის სტილი დაცულია TBILISI STATE UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES, INTERNATIONAL PHD PROGRAM IN GENDER STUDIES Modifications of Women’s Representations in 1920s Georgian Soviet Silent Orientalisation,SalomeFilms Tsopurashvili Agency, Class Academic Supervisor Professor Denise J. Youngblood, PhD. Department of History University of Vermont Tbilisi 2016 ავტორის სტილი დაცულია Contents Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................................1 Abstract.........................................................................................................................................................2 Chapter I-Introduction ..................................................................................................................................3 Statement of the problem and the limitations.........................................................................................3 Historical Context......................................................................................................................................4 Literature Review......................................................................................................................................9 The Aim of the Project ............................................................................................................................20 Methodological Framework....................................................................................................................22 Outline of Chapters/Thesis Plan .............................................................................................................26 Chapter II-Class and Female Bodies’ Symbolic Meaning: The Murder Case of Tariel Mklavadze (1925), Bela (1927), Khanuma (1926) ....................................................................................................................27 Overview of the context .........................................................................................................................27 Murder Case of Tariel Mklavadze ...........................................................................................................29 Bela .........................................................................................................................................................49 Khanuma.................................................................................................................................................56 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................................65 Chapter III-Representing “East”: Orientalism, Story’s Sadism and Agents of Narration The Suram Fortress (1922), NaTela (1926), Giuli (1927), Eliso (1928).......................................................................................67 Overview of the context .........................................................................................................................67 The Suram Fortress .................................................................................................................................71 Natela......................................................................................................................................................84 Giuli .........................................................................................................................................................97 Eliso .......................................................................................................................................................113 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................127 Chapter IV-Modification of Mother Figure and the Revolutionary Set: Arsena Jorjiashvili, (1921) Mother (1926) and Prison Cell 79 (1929) ..............................................................................................................128 Overview of the context .......................................................................................................................130 Arsena Jorjiashvili..................................................................................................................................130 ავტორის სტილი დაცულია Mother ..................................................................................................................................................137 Prison Cell 79.........................................................................................................................................140 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................150 Chapter V-Meet the New Soviet Woman: Incompatibility of Femininity and Agency in Mikheil Chiaureli’s Saba (1929) ...............................................................................................................................................152 Overview of the context .......................................................................................................................153 Saba ......................................................................................................................................................157 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................171 Chapter VI-Invisible Queerness of Georgian Silent Cinema: Monstrous Femininity in Kote Mikaberidze’s My Grandmother (1929)...........................................................................................................................174 Overview of the context .......................................................................................................................175 My Grandmother ..................................................................................................................................178 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................196 Chapter VII-Conclusion .............................................................................................................................197 Relevance of selected data: ..................................................................................................................198 Analysis .................................................................................................................................................199 Main findings ........................................................................................................................................201 Areas for Further Research...................................................................................................................204 Bibiliography .............................................................................................................................................205 ავტორის სტილი დაცულია Acknowledgements I wish to thank to my academic supervisor, Professor Denise J. Youngblood for the interest she took into my work and her invaluable support and encouragement during the thesis completion journey. I would also like to thank Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation for providing an opportunity to work on my research at the University of Vermont, which had crucial importance for its progression. I am grateful to my sister and friends for sharing my research passion and for their comfort, and to my cat, for always sitting by me while writing and bringing joy in the most stressful moments by his mere existence. 1 ავტორის სტილი დაცულია Abstract In my PhD thesis I investigate women’s representation in Georgian Soviet silent feature films of the 1920s decade. More concretely I analyze the passive, subordinate women’s representations in the beginning and assess shifts in the image of women by the end of the decade, following Soviet women’s emancipator politics. In Soviet context film industry was supposed to carry out official ideological tasks, which Georgian Cinema Section did not always fulfill successfully as in the first part of the decade it employed mostly directors with pre revolutionary cinematic experience. But the situation changed with the appearance of Georgian Lef members in the industry. Using semio-psychoanalysis and discourse analysis as a theoretical framework, I intend to provide an answer what was symbolic meaning of women’s images modification throughout the decade in the given ideological set. Studying women’s cinematic representations considering the tensed historical and artistic context throws a light on how a woman, as a sign functioned in Georgia’s cinema production’s narrative in terms of class struggle, in terms of representing “exotic” motherland, and the last but not the least what was a desired-”correct” female type for ideology in the 1920s. Analyzing this aspect provides a crucial link for understanding how traditional female role was modified and a new kind of “femininity” was shaped through political and social changes, and how the very same femininity was carried out throughout Soviet discourse in following decades (which is a question of further researches). 2 ავტორის სტილი დაცულია