Typology of the Representation of Moscow in Soviet Cinema

Abstract

The article tackles the image of Moscow in Soviet cinema. The author examines the image of the city through the concepts of old and new. In his opinion, the Moscow “urban text” is akin to a palimpsest, where a new “architectural message” overwrites the earlier “scraped off” ones.
Starting from the late 1920s, Moscow gradually evolved from a patriarchal into an industrial city. The features of old Moscow are forcibly erased and the eradicated portions yield their place to symbols of a new life. This way a new architectural text overwrites the previous one, which has been partially erased. A huge number of people strive to get to Moscow – after all, it is here that the most secret desires can come true, that real life is in full swing. On the screens of the 30s and early 50s Moscow is a Utopia, a dream-like best city on earth. Some people are still searching for a new even better life, while others are demonstrating their labor achievements.
Prominent countrymen, best workers, having accomplished their labor feat, hurry to connect with the sacred and display their achievements at the VDNKh exhibition or to stride across Red Square (or, as a mark of the highest social status, to visit the Kremlin halls, or the Party Congress sessions). This motive is further reinforced by the obligatory link between the center and the periphery. Cinema elaborates its own system of representing the image of the capital, which is built primarily on two components: the sacred, ceremonial image of the city is positioned vertically, and the human, lyrical one is horizontal.
In the Moscow mythology of the Belle Epoque period the image of transport is invariably positive. On-screen Moscow transport often plays a role that goes far beyond the scope of their professional duties. Transport symbolizes freedom and unity, the invigorating blood flow of the capital, which has its own poetry and mythology.
The romantic image of Moscow will almost completely disappear at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, when filmmakers will begin to actively reevaluate their approach to society in general and the image of Moscow in particular.