Russian film Discussion

Introduction

Major changes have affected Russian cinema since the fall of the Soviet Union, in suchareas as production, distribution and popular taste. This course looks at the history of theRussian film industry since 1991. It considers films about the new post-Soviet society,touching upon such subjects as the lives of the new rich and of young people, the changedrole of men in the new social conditions, the changed conditions of the Russian countrysideand the legacy of post-Soviet conflicts.

It also examines new treatments of Soviet history,in particular the representation of the perennial subject of the Second World War. It furtherexamines the evolution of Soviet authorial cinema in recent decades. It looks at such issuesas the emergence of new Russian stars and the search to find a formula for successfulpopular cinema.

Among the directors whose work will be considered on this course are Vadim Abdrashitov,Dmitrii Astrakhan, Aleksei Balabanov, Vladimir Khotinenko, Kira Muratova, AleksandrRogozhkin, Aleksandr Sokurov and Valerii Todorovskii. Of the many genres in twentieth-century composition? music for cinema has proven to be one of the least amenable to theoretical modeling. To those familiar with the literature on the subject? this statement may seem paradoxical? since few notions in film theory are so widely accepted as the two principal constructs placing film music into a framework for interpretation: music serves a film's narrative system? and? therefore? the primary axis along which film music moves is determined by the implied physical space of the narrative world.

Thus? music's "spatial anchoring" (Metz [1975]? 154) is either secure (source music) or undefined (background music or underscoring). Furthermore? since it is assumed in both film and film-music literatures that the primary repertoire of cinema is the narrative feature film (not documentaries? cartoons? or "abstract" films)? the goal of film-music criticism or interpretation is to understand/ read/analyze narrative functions? or music's role in shaping and furthering narrative processes. This is equally true whether one's orientation is that of a formalist or an ideological critic.

Discussion

Despite such general agreement? film theory and film-music theory have not advanced at a comparable rate. First among reasons for this discrepancy must be the necessity for interdisciplinary work -- that is? one needs to command film theory as well as historical and analytical music scholarship? an uncommon combination of skills. Among other reasons are the nature of cinema as a complex? multi-layered aesthetic object (and cultural artifact)? the relative dearth of historical work linking music in cinema to stage practices? and the complexity of musical styles employed. The latter determined the "crossover" character of even early film music in a century when critics and scholars have tended to establish firm boundaries around what is "art music" and what is not? decisions regulated not only by social class and ethnic differences but also by the cultural politics of the absolute/program-music dichotomy? which originated in the mid-nineteenth century and whose arguments have? astonishingly? persisted nearly to the present day.

Difficulties notwithstanding? the politics of canonization for film music have been slowly proceeding in the trade-book literature and? ...