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Arts, the media and Soviet Culture - Coggle Diagram
Arts, the media and Soviet Culture
Literature
1932- Stalin declared to a gathering of Soviet writers that they were "engineers of the human soul"
Had to reshape the thinking and behavior of the Soviet People
task was a social one, not an artistic one
Goal was social realism
1934- Soviet Union of writers formed
First objective was to convince its members the need for socialist realism in their works, making them conform to a set of rules
written in a style understandable to the workers who read it
contained characters whom readers could recognize as socialist role models or examples of class enemies
acceptable to the party in theme and presentation
Rules applied to all forms of writing, novels, plays, poems, film scripts
Genuine writers couldn't continue within these restricitions
confronting to the rules, was the price of survival
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Theatre and film
Union of writers set the tone for other organizations in the arts
fim, opera and ballet all had to respond to Stalinist demand for socialist realism
Abstract forms were frowned upon, broke the rule that work should be accessible to the public
Repression
1936-37, 10/19 plays ordered to be withdrawn
1937-38, 60 plays banned from performance, 20 theatres closed in Moscow and Leningrad
1936-37, 68 films withdrawn mid-production, 30 taken out of circulation
Vsevolod Meyerhold
wished to bring theatre closer to the people using total theatre and appealed for artistic liberty
Campaign mounted against him by Stalin's supporters
arrested in 1938, 2 year imprisonment then shot
Name was on a list of 346 death sentences signed on 16 January 1940
Sergei Eisenstein
Internationally acclaimed director, film October celebrated the revolutionary proletariat
Heavily censured
due to film Ivan the terrible being seen as an unflattering portrayal of a leader, by implication, disrespectful of Stalin
Painting and Sculpture
Painters and sculptors left in no doubt as to what was required of them.
duty to portray socialist realism as well as honor Stalin
Art magazine called Iskusstvo in 1948 wrote "The image of comrade Stalin the symbol of the Soviet People's glory calling for a new heroic exploits for the benefit of the motherland"
Posters and painting were a effective way for Stalinist authorities to portray propaganda
Poster art in 1930s wrote "Under the leadership of the Great Stalin, forward to communism"
Music
Stalin regarded himself as an expert in Music
music is an abstract form, hard to make composers reform to socialist realism
claimed to be able to recognize socialist music and know what type of song was able to recognize songs that were able to motiate workers
Imposed judgement on Soviet Unions leading composer, Dmitri Shostakovich
His works were banned for being Bourgeois and formalistic
WW2 gave him the chance to express patriotism,
Orchestral works depicted courageous struggle and final victory of Soviet People
End of the war, he was reinstated and promised to bring his music closer the "folk art of the people"