Representations of the lifeway in Soviet cinematography of the 1930s – early 1950s

The article analyzes representations of the lifeway in Soviet films made in the period from the 1930s to the early 1950s (the Stalinist period of Soviet cinema). The idea of the certainty of the lifeway of Soviet people and the predetermined nature of their future is described. This trend is based on the sustainability and reproducibility of behavior patterns that can be transmitted through the arts. Soviet cinema can be considered as a source of behavioral models. The article analyzes what examples of living life were created in Soviet films of the Stalinist period and how this relates to the values of modern people. The research question is posed: What meanings and significance describe the representations of the “lifeway” presented in Stalinist cinema? Based on the review of literature, two tendencies stand out: biography glorification and biography typification. This, in the context of the tasks of the art of socialist realism, was necessary to create Soviet people’s behavioral models. For an empirical analysis, a technique is used that is based on the ideas of the structural-semiotic approach. Based on psychological approaches to understanding of the lifeway, the main units of film analysis are identified: life events and time perspective (attitude to the past, present, future). The films were selected according to the criterion of correspondence of the central theme to the description of the Soviet people’s life events presented within the framework of the film over a certain period. Initially, a general analysis of films about Soviet people’s “lifeway” was carried out, and then, with the help of a case study, the film The Village Teacher (year 1947) was considered in more details. The representations of the lifeway are analyzed on the basis of the events’ content and distribution by life spheres. The following life themes are highlighted: (1) the character’s labor formation is shown as the focus of the most significant meanings of his life; (2) the theme of love is closely related to work activities; love is the “reward” of characters who are successful at work; (3) the collective is shown as a significant context of human life. The character’s internal qualities include willpower, persistence, and unity of purpose. Choosing a difficult path is also associated with heroism. Orientation towards the future, idealistic plots, and lack of information about the character’s past characterize the time perspective of Soviet films. Based on the case study, the cyclical dynamics of the “lifeway” is described as a way of “controlling the collective future” and as an optimistic confidence in it. The results are discussed in the context of the stability and reproducibility of certain values presented in Soviet films in modern people’s behavioral patterns. It is concluded that the attractiveness of perceiving life as stable is determined by a sense of comprehensibility of the structure of the world, certainty of the future, and confidence in the tomorrow.

semiotics of cinema, hero, life event, time perspective