Russian Culture Through Film

This subject offers an introduction to Russian culture through film from the 1920s and the films of Eisenstein up to the present. The subject will cover representations of social change and the interpretation of cultural identities in Russian film through the main historical periods including: the Russian Revolution of 1917, the years of Stalin and the ‘thaw’ in the 1960s, the Second World War, the years of stagnation (1970s in the USSR), the era of glasnost, perestroika and the breakdown of the USSR, and the post-Soviet era. On completion of the subject students should be able to analyse the social and cultural processes represented in selected films from the periods studied, demonstrate an awareness of critical approaches to Russian film, and communicate the results of their research and analysis in both oral and written forms.