Russian Intelligentsia in Soviet Cinema

This course is designed as a study of the concept of the Russian Intelligentsia in Soviet cinema. Films will be examined in the cultural context from a historical, ideological, and an aesthetic perspective to present the main images regarding this subject in the Soviet cinema. The films will show the ways and the transformations of the Russian intelligentsia from the Decembrists, nihilists, and Chekhov’s nobles in the 19th century to the Soviet intelligentsia after the Revolution up to the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras. Students will investigate the role of cinema as a mechanism of the construction of the national collective consciousness.

By the end of the course, students will be able to use methods of textual and contextual film analysis. The course incorporates readings of the literary works and detailed analyses of the cinematic works—students will read excerpts from literary works by Turgenev, Goncharov, Chekhov, Bulgakov, Aksenov and critical essays by Gasparov, Firsov, and others. The course includes two film screenings weekly, five essays and a final paper.