HIST 239: Twentieth Century Russia in Film
Course description:
As any artifact produced by humans, a film can be a historical source. Our class will use films produced in the early twentieth century Russia and the Soviet Union and largely targeting popular audiences to explore social and cultural history of the Russian/Soviet most turbulent century which included two revolutions, two world wars and a civil war, the collapse of the old empire and the building of the Soviet Union, important artistic experimentations, the rise of national cultures and the great and controversial experiment of building socialism first in one country, and then – in the larger “Second world”.
At the same time, this class is not a survey of late imperial Russian/Soviet films or a survey of late imperial Russian/Soviet history. Obviously, a great number of remarkable films will remain beyond our attention, as will a lot of important themes pertaining to the Russian/Soviet twentieth century. Our task in this class is to explore film as one of the venues through which human experience (in the broadest sense) reveals itself. In other words, we will approach film as a historical source capable of providing a window onto the past experiences. In the process, we will discuss how to treat cinematographic representations, place them in their historical contexts of production and reception, and explore them critically. We will consider only contemporary films that represent contemporary moments in history – the concerns, aspirations, hopes, political and aesthetic ideals and material realities of the contemporaries of these films.
Most films will be shown in class and you should attend these showings. Some films/clips will be available via youtube.
Requirements:
Students will be evaluated on the basis of two short thematic papers (2-3 pg.), each worth 15% of the grade; one short film review (1 page) worth 5% of the grade; a midterm and a final exam papers (7-8 pp.) worth 25% each; participation in class discussions is worth 10% and attendance of regular classes—the remaining 5%.
Extensions on papers will be granted only by prior arrangement and only with a legitimate excuse.
You are required to be present in class during screenings. If you have to miss screening and can justify your absence, you can always lend my copy of the film and watch it on your own. You will need to take notes while watching films. Kindly use small directed booklights or glowing pencils to take notes.
Textbook: Textbook is not required for this course. Most of the required reading will be available via Blackboard, electronic reserve and the library reserve.
Important Course Policies:
1. Plagiarism and cheating are completely unacceptable. Plagiarism is defined as the act of taking someone else’s written work without proper citation. You must not use someone else’s words without putting them in quotation marks and providing a proper reference. If you borrow an idea from another author, please reference it as well. I am more interested in your original thoughts and in your ability to engage with other people’s ideas than in “correct” and “sophisticated” papers that are stolen and thus tell me nothing about your progress in the course (Keep in mind that I do not define knowledge as regurgitated information.) Plagiarism may result in an “F” for this class. I will treat it as a very serious offense.
2. Safe Assign. All papers must be submitted electronically through Safe Assign on Blackboard before the beginning of the class on the due date AND turned in as hard copy in class.
3. Late papers. Late papers will be given a lower grade.
4. Electronic equipment in class. Please avoid using mobile phones, texting, or looking at text messages during class – I want you to participate in the discussions, to be able to ask questions, and get as much as possible from our meetings. You may use computers to take notes, but only if you are a highly self-disciplined person who cannot be distracted by the Internet.
5. Attendance. I expect students to be present in class and ready to contribute to our common work. Many of the visual materials will be presented only in class. Your final grade depends partially on attendance at lectures. We will take attendance via a sign-in sheet at the front of the classroom. Please do not sign in for your friends, this can be easily established. If you have a valid reason to miss the class, please contact me and provide an explanation and proof.
Schedule of Topics and Assignments:
This course outline is subject to change during the semester. Students are responsible for all adjustments announced in class.
Further readings and useful resources:
1. Early Russian Cinema Online (Parts 1-3) Brill collection, in Russian. http://www.brill.com/publications/online-resources/early-russian-cinema-online
(Russian Cinematographic Press (1907- 1918) is a unique collection of Russian film periodicals published during the last decade of the Tsarist regime. The collection includes sophisticated, bimonthly periodicals as well as more popular weeklies released by the major Russian film studios. Containing, amongst other things, interviews with movie stars and screenplays that are now irretrievably lost, these journals will prove an invaluable source of information for anyone interested in the silent movie era and Russia’s entertainment industry at the eve of the Revolution.)
2. Vertov. Articles, Journaux, Projets , edited and translated by Sylviane and Andrée Robel, Paris, 1972.
3. Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov , edited by Annette Michelson, Berkeley, 1984.
4. Mira Liehm and Antonin Liehm, The Most Important Art: Soviet and East European Film After 1945 (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1977)
5. Nancy Condee, “Uncles, Deviance, and Ritual Combat: The Cultural Codes of Khrushchev's Thaw,” The Khrushchev Era: A Reappraisal. Ed. William Taubman, Sergei Khrushchev, and Abbott Gleason (2000): 160-76.
6. Vlad Petric, Constructivism in Film: The Man with the Movie Camera: A Cinematic Analysis (Cambridge, 1987).
7. Dmitry Shlapentokh and V. Shlapentokh. Soviet Cinematography 1918-1991: Ideological Conflict and Social Reality (New York, 1993)
8. Mark Lipovetsky, Charms of the Cynical Reason: The Transformations of the Trickster Trope in Soviet and Post-Soviet Culture (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2011)
9. Benjamin Nathans and Kevin Platt, “Socialist in Form, Indeterminate in Content: The Ins and Outs of Late Soviet Culture,” Ab Imperio 2 (2011): 301-324
10. Lynne Attwood, Red Women on the Silver Screen: Soviet Women and Cinema from the Beginning to the End of the Communist Era (London, 1993)
11. The Red Screen: Politics, Society, Art in Soviet Cinema, ed. Anne Lawton (London, 1992)
12. www.kinokultura.com, an online scholarly journal dedicated to Soviet, East European and Eurasian cinema.
13. http://www.rusfilm.pitt.edu/booklets/Thaw.pdf a study of Soviet films of the 1960s
Movie libraries:
http://cinema.mosfilm.ru/
http://www.silentera.com/video/info/russianFilms.html
http://listverse.com/2009/12/30/top-10-greatest-soviet-films/