“Center” and “Periphery”: Shaping the Cinematic New Soviet Woman

Year 2025, Issue: Special Issue - Gender in the Caucasus and in the Diaspora, 23 - 50

Salome Tsopurashvili

Abstract

Women’s emancipation was a pivotal component of the Bolshevik agenda. However, constructing a New Soviet Woman was a laborious task, because traditional feminine traits and beauty standards were at odds with the Party’s requirement towards the citizens to build the socialist state. As the Bolsheviks used cinema to enlighten the illiterate masses, cinema, ideology and politics were closely intertwined. Films of this period hold a key to the following questions: what were the defining traits of a New Soviet woman? How was she required to act in critical situations? How she was supposed to do dress and look? This article will address the aforementioned questions through an analysis of three Russian films and one Georgian depicting an urban working class. The imbalance originates from the fact that, while Moscow generated films portraying contemporary life during the 1920s, the Georgian studio started production of films from the modern era only near the end of that decade. The films were chosen based on their exploration of women’s challenging issues concerning sexual freedom, marriage, motherhood, and abortion. These films are Katka the Apple-seller, directed by Fridrich Ermler’s Katka the Reinette Apple Seller (1926), Bed and Sofa directed by Abram Room (1926), House on Trubnaya street by Boris Barnet (1928) and Saba directed by Mikheil Chiaureli (1929). Analysis also incorporates the center-periphery dichotomy, framing the center as more modernized and the periphery as less developed. Situating the findings in a wider framework, the paper challenges the division into “center” and “periphery” in the context of women’s emancipation.

Keywords

emancipation , femininity , sexuality , motherhood , androgyny

Supporting Institution

This article was written as a part of the research project (OUGSP-2019-052) carried out at the School of Global and Area Studies, University of Oxford, supported by Rustaveli National Science Foundation (SRNSF).

“Center” and “Periphery”: Shaping the Cinematic New Soviet Woman ["Merkez" ve "Çeper": Sinematik Yeni Sovyet Kadınını Şekillendirmek

Abstract

Kadınların özgürleşmesi Bolşevik gündeminin önemli bir bileşeniydi. Ancak, Yeni Sovyet Kadını'nı inşa etmek zahmetli bir işti çünkü geleneksel kadınsı özellikler ve güzellik standartları, Parti'nin sosyalist devleti inşa etmek için vatandaşlara yönelik gereklilikleriyle çelişiyordu. Bolşevikler okuma yazma bilmeyen kitleleri aydınlatmak için sinemayı kullandıkça, sinema, ideoloji ve siyaset iç içe geçmiştir. Bu döneme ait filmler şu sorular için bir anahtar niteliğindedir: Yeni Sovyet kadınının belirleyici özellikleri nelerdi? Kritik durumlarda nasıl davranması gerekiyordu? Nasıl giyinmesi ve görünmesi gerekiyordu? Bu makale, kentli bir işçi sınıfını tasvir eden üç Rus ve bir Gürcü filminin analizi yoluyla yukarıda bahsedilen soruları ele alacaktır. Dengesizlik, Moskova'nın 1920'lerde çağdaş yaşamı tasvir eden filmler üretirken, Gürcü stüdyosunun modern döneme ait filmlerin üretimine ancak o on yılın sonlarına doğru başlamasından kaynaklanmaktadır. Filmler, kadınların cinsel özgürlük, evlilik, annelik ve kürtaj gibi zorlu meselelerini irdelemelerine göre seçilmiştir. Bu filmler Fridrich Ermler'in yönettiği Elma Satıcısı Katka (1926), Abram Room'un yönettiği Yatak ve Kanepe (1926), Boris Barnet'in yönettiği Trubnaya Sokağındaki Ev (1928) ve Mikheil Chiaureli'nin yönettiği Saba'dır (1929). Analiz aynı zamanda merkez-çevre ikilemini de içermekte, merkezi daha modernleşmiş, çevreyi ise daha az gelişmiş olarak çerçevelemektedir. Bulguları daha geniş bir çerçeveye yerleştiren makale, kadınların özgürleşmesi bağlamında “merkez” ve “çevre” ayrımına meydan okumaktadır.

Keywords

özgürleşme , kadınlık , cinsellik , annelik , androjenlik.

“Center” and “Periphery”: Shaping the Cinematic New Soviet Woman [«Центр» и „периферия“: Формирование кинематографической новой советской женщины]

Abstract

Эмансипация женщин была важнейшим компонентом большевистской программы. Однако создание новой советской женщины было трудоемкой задачей, поскольку традиционные женские черты и стандарты красоты противоречили требованиям партии к гражданам для построения социалистического государства. Поскольку большевики использовали кино для просвещения неграмотных масс, кино, идеология и политика были тесно переплетены. Фильмы этого периода дают ключ к следующим вопросам: каковы были определяющие черты новой советской женщины? Как она должна была вести себя в критических ситуациях? Как она должна была одеваться и выглядеть? В этой статье мы рассмотрим вышеупомянутые вопросы, проанализировав три российских фильма и один грузинский, изображающий городской рабочий класс. Дисбаланс обусловлен тем, что если в Москве фильмы о современной жизни создавались в течение 1920-х годов, то грузинская студия начала производство фильмов о современной эпохе только к концу этого десятилетия. Фильмы были выбраны на основе их исследования сложных женских проблем, касающихся сексуальной свободы, брака, материнства и абортов. Это фильмы «Катька бумажный ранет» Фридриха Эрмлера (1926), «Третья Мещанская» Абрама Роома (1926), «Дом на Трубной» Бориса Барнета (1928) и «Саба» Михаила Чиаурели (1929). Анализ также включает дихотомию «центр-периферия», в соответствии с которой центр считается более модернизированным, а периферия - менее развитой. Помещая полученные результаты в более широкую структуру, статья ставит под сомнение разделение на «центр» и «периферию» в контексте женской эмансипации.

Ключевые слова:

Keywords

эмансипация , женственность , сексуальность , материнство , андрогинность.

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