«Komsomol – Chief of Electrification»: Image of Young People at the Beginning of 1930s in the Soviet Documentary Cinema – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Aleksei Y. VIAZINKIN
Tambov State Technical University
106 Soviet Str., Tambov, 392000, Russian Federation
Associate Professor of Department «History and Philosophy
Ph.D. in Philosophy
e-mail: vyazinkin@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0003-3821-6168

Kuzma A. YAKIMOV
Tambov State Technical University
106 Soviet Str., Tambov, 392000, Russian Federation
Associate Professor of Department «History and Philosophy
Ph.D. in History
e-mail: gnom-gnom123@mail.ru
ORCID: 0000-0003-1756-3515

«Komsomol – Chief of Electrification»: Image of Young People at the Beginning of 1930s in the Soviet Documentary Cinema

Abstract: The article analyzes the cultural and anthropological aspects of the formation of the image of the Komsomol of the 1930s in Soviet documentary cinema on the example of the film «Komsomol – Chief of Electrification». Historical and cultural and anthropological approaches, using the resources of the methodology of visual anthropology, allows to focus on poorly understood aspects of the formation of the propaganda image of the Komsomol in Soviet society during the industrialization period. The comparative historical method allows, on the basis of archival materials, to compare the image of Soviet youth and the realities of everyday working life of the Komsomol. The cultural and anthropological image of the Komsomol, as an avant-garde of socialist construction, in Soviet documentary cinema constituted a new Soviet sensuality, thereby constructing a new Soviet subject. The methodology of visual anthropology allows to reconstruct not only the artistic and aesthetic techniques of the realistic art of emerging sound cinema and Soviet propaganda, but also the cultural dimensions of the image being created: from anthropology of factory labor to the «heroic» psychology of the young proletarian. The article focuses on the theoretical aspects of the artistic and visual possibilities of sound cinema to form the emotional culture of society. The content of the aesthetic approach to the creation of documentary films, combining elements of avant-garde and only emerging socialist realism, was essentially a cultural expression of a combination of experimental and planned in the creation of a new Soviet subject. The goals of the Soviet state to create a new person were expressed in the peculiar aestheticization of the daily working life of young people and in the cultivation of the psychology of labor self-sacrifice imbued with the spirit of asceticism. The heroic image of labor exploits formed by official propaganda structures, due to the psychological and age characteristics of the younger generation, was enthusiastically perceived by the mass youth consciousness. Most of the difficulties and hardships faced by young people were perceived as temporary and forced. At the same time, there were those who participated in the socialist competition under pressure from party and Komsomol organizations. The desire to avoid various social sanctions stimulated the formation of the performing nature of youth labor activity.

Key words: Komsomol, electrification, Soviet cinema, Soviet subject, psychology of the proletariat, visual anthropology, anthropology of labor, documentary, heroic realism.

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For Citation:

Viazinkin, A., Yakimov, K. (2022) «Komsomol – Chief of Electrification»: Image of Young People at the Beginning of 1930s in the Soviet Documentary Cinema. International Journal of Cultural Research, 2 (47). 18–30. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2022_2_18

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2022_2_18