THE CONSTRUCTION OF WOMEN IMAGES IN SOVIET FICTION MOVIES OF THE STAGNATION PERIOD (1967-1982) 

Iana Kalinichenko

Social Studies of Gender with major in Media and Communication

THE FOCUS OF THE RESEARCH

In Soviet movies of Stagnation Period…

How the image of woman -as a worker -as a wife -as a motheris constructed?

(with a reference to “triple role on women”, Hashamova, Y., (2006). Castrated Patriarchy, Violence, and Gender Hierarchies in Post-Soviet Film. In: Goscilo, H., & Lanoux, A. (eds.), Gender and national identity in twentieth-century Russian culture. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press.)

THE OBJECTS OF THE RESEARCH

5 movies-for-tv:Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973, 93 min) [was one of the most attended movies in the Soviet Union in 1973 with more than 60 million tickets sold]The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975, 184 min) [traditionally broadcast in Russia and the former Soviet republics and satellite states every New Year's Day]Office Romance (1977, 159 min) [was the leader of Soviet film distribution in 1978 and still enjoys wide popularity in the former Soviet republics]Moscow Does not Believe in Tears (1980, 140 min) [won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980]Charodei (1982, 160 min) [became a classic of Soviet New Year's Eve romantic comedies]

METHODS OF THE RESEARCHConversation analysisDiscourse analysis: Laclau and

Mouffe’s discourse theory

How language constructs phenomena?How texts take meaning through

interconnections with other texts and discourses?

Language as a constitutive part of social reality.

Movie reality as a source of information about society.

TERMS AND CONCEPTS USED IN THE RESEARCH

Backlash in feminism Class Dichotomy / binary oppositions Domestic division of labour Gender Representation Signifier and signified

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS, PART 1

The movies replicate certain patterns that first appeared in motion pictures of pre-Soviet times (1905-1921):woman’s social status is defined through marriage;opposition of the emancipated woman struggling for an independent social life versus the old-fashioned men for whom women remain the objects of ‘beauty and decorum’;men become weak when encountered with active females whose social behavior deviates from the one assigned by traditional gender roles;women who have power and courage to take important decisions often pay a price for it.Reference: Beumers, B., (2009). A history of Russian cinema. New York, NY: Berg.

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS, PART 2The movies display a conflict between woman’s work and family roles which started to develop during the Stagnation period, but was publicly discussed in media only in 1985 (discussion club on women’s two roles in Rabotnitsa journal):“The image of the Soviet woman which was consistently portrayed in the past, who excels in her chosen career as well as being a devoted wife and mother, is now said to be seldom found in reality. The attempt to combine these roles has actually had negative consequences. It has given women an excessive work-load, has contributed to their loss of femininity, and has led to neglect of their families. […] The solution which, as we saw earlier, is increasingly popular amongst sociologists and demographers, also finds expression in Rabotnitsa’s discussion club. This is that women have to make a choice between putting work or family first. Yet once again, the family is presented as the only really morally valid choice”.Reference: Attwood, L., (1990). The New Soviet Man and Woman: Sex-Role Socialization in the USSR. London: Macmillan.

CONNECTIONS TO OTHER RESEARCHES

The problem of feminism(s) in post-Soviet countries:“The sad fact is that no serious feminist movement exists in post-socialist countries”.“In post-socialist societies, even some top women academics or managers will not call themselves feminists because they fear being perceived as man-like women. The roots of this equating of feminism with a lack of femininity lie in the image of the communist woman. […] This is the image that women in post-socialism reject when they hesitate to call themselves feminists”.Reference: Salecl, R., (1994). The spoils of freedom: psychoanalysis and feminism after the fall of socialism. London: Routledge.

CONNECTIONS TO OTHER RESEARCHES

Problems with woman equality at labor market in modern Russia:

“The respondents' negative attitude to the idea of women's equality is evidently explained by women's traditional self-identification. The overwhelming majority of women in the group under survey (70 percent) primarily identify themselves with the family (i.e., one of the most significant self-identification criteria for them is that of sex and marital status)”

Citation from “GENDER PROFILE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION” (based on domestic publications, 1993-2003). The World Bank document. http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer /WDSP/IB/2007/04/04/000020953_20070404142115/Rendered/PDF/393330RU0Gender0profile01PUBLIC1.pdf

THE RESEARCH IS BASED ON THE FOLLOWING LITERATURE: Ashwin, S. , (ed.). (2000). Gender, State and Society in Soviet and

Post-Soviet Russia. London: Routledge. Baehr, H., and Gray, A., (eds.). (1996). Turning It On: A Reader in

Women and Media. London: Arnold. Beumers, B., (2009). A history of Russian Cinema. Oxford: Berg. Goscilo, H., and Lanoux, A., (eds.). (2006). Gender and National

Identity in Twentieth-Century Russian Culture. Northen Illinois University Press.

Gunter, B., (1995). Television and Gender Representation. London: John Libbey & Company Ltd.

Jørgensen, M., and Phillips, L., (2002). Discourse analysis as theory and method. London : Sage.

Lacey, N., (1998). Image and Representaion: Key Concepts in Media Studies. London: MACMILLAN PRESS LTD.

Lacey, N., (2000). Narrative and Genre: Key Concepts in Media Studies. London: MACMILLAN PRESS LTD.

Macdonald, M., (1995). Representing women: Myths of Femeninity in the Popular Media. London: Edward Arnold.

Tuchman, G., Daniels, A. K. & Benet, J. (eds.). Hearth and home: Images of women in the mass media. New York: Oxford U.P.