In the early 1980s, the HIV/AIDS virus emerged and spread with quick and deadly force. Throughout the decade and into the 1990s, those infected (often part of socially-ostracized groups) fought for their lives in the face a seemingly indifferent government, a willfully-blind public, and slow-moving pharmaceutical companies. However, in the midst of the chaos caused […]
I first discovered the stilyagi of the fifties when I saw a movie on Kanopy called Hipsters (2008). Set in 1955 Moscow, the film follows a Komsomol member who falls in love with one these stilyagi. A term for nonconformist, Western-oriented youths, the word stilyagi carried a highly negative connotation in Soviet society. Bonus: Listen to a song about hipsters (written by hipsters) while…
Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1962 debut film, Ivan’s Childhood (available on Kanopy), follows a 12 year old boy serving as a scout in the Soviet military during World War II. Although it was made a couple decades after the war, this film not only portrays the mental and physical destruction wrought by the war, but also raises fascinating…
The period from 1924 to 1930 is often called “The Golden Age of Soviet Cinema.” During this time, Soviet filmmakers made breakthroughs in visual effects and editing styles. At the same time, they rejected the bourgeoisie trend in Western films of psychologizing characters and focusing on individuals. Instead, Soviet directors often focused on people…
Notes Kalic, Sean N., and Brown, Gates M.. Russian Revolution of 1917: the Essential Reference Guide. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2017. Accessed February 11, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central.
First post for 20th Century Russia
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