Russian Literary Classics (“The Power of the Earth” by G. I. Uspensky and “Bezhin Meadow” by I. S. Turgenev) in the Context of the Social Themes of Soviet Cinema of the 1930s

The article discusses the influence of the poetics of Russian literary classics of the 19th century on Soviet cinema of the 1930s, the collectivization of which was an acute social theme. It is emphasized that the visualization of the “dilapidated” village, against which the conflict unfolded in the films of A. P. Dovzhenko, “Earth” (1930) and “Bezhin Meadow” by S. M. Eisenstein (1935-1937), required aesthetically convincing artistic images that Soviet filmmakers found in the works of Uspensky and Turgenev. It is proved that the universal meanings of the classic literary work provided a high degree of artistic generalization, without which it would be impossible to create a socialist myth of a bright future. It is alleged that allusions to the “power of the earth” formulated by the Assumption mythology have expanded the image in the film “Earth”, where the struggle with the fists appeared as one of the episodes in the universal plot about the principle of being. The function of quotes from Turgenev’s Bezhina Meadows is commented on: they translated the collision of the collective farm drama in the film of Rzheshevsky-Eisenstein into the category of mysteries about the resurrection. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that contact with cinema revealed a common feature of Russian classics - the presence of a mystery plot plan that ensures the integrity of Russian culture with a sharp ideological opposition of its creators.

«власть земли», «Бежин луг»», G. I. Uspensky, “Power of the earth”, I. S. Turgenev, “Bezhin meadow”, A. P. Dovzhenko, A. G. Rzheshevsky, S. M. Eisenstein