Professor Jane Knox-Voina, chair of the Russian Department, and Gulnara Abikeeva, a leading film critic in Kazakhstan, hosted a presentation about visual media portrayals of the iconic Soviet and post-Soviet woman on Wednesday night. The presentation covered photography, painting, and film of the 20th century that worked both as manipulated propaganda and as enlightening documentary in shaping the heroic Soviet woman.
Knox-Voina kicked things off with segments of a film by Russian Sergei Eisenstein in which he traveled to Mexico to show the post-Aztec Mexican "soldaderas," the wives of soldiers who, according to Eisenstein, "were to be to [the Soviets] a symbol of Mexico itself." Eisenstein was one of the first to transfer the idea of heroic women who were supportive, motherly, and strong?often stronger than the men themselves?back from Mexico to the Soviet Union.
"While the old cultures [Aztec and Soviet] celebrated death, the new Soviet society as well as the new Mexican society would be aimed at life, the future," said Knox-Voina.
Knox-Voina also flashed images such as a reinterpreted Soviet version of the Madonna?more androgynous, happy, and full of color than earlier Madonnas which were portrayed as sad, delicate, and feminine. These modern works were often saturated with the three primary colors: blue to symbolize hope, red for energy, and yellow for vitality of life.
"The new culture stressed happiness rather than suffering," Knox-Voina said. "The Soviets took the [Madonna] and twisted it to make a new kind of society."
She summed up the newly acquired power of Soviet women by recounting a game played by Soviet men and women of the time in which "the man tried to catch the woman, but if he failed, the woman, armed with a whip, had a chance to come back around and whip him."
Abikeeva took the stage next and began by showing part of a 1975 Uzbek film entitled "The Veil," which, through the juxtaposition of veiled and unveiled women, illustrated the profound effect that the garment had on the mentality and image of Soviet women.
Abikeeva stressed the significant role that early films depicting strong Soviet women played, on the national level and beyond.
"Images of women and the family became like the stones, building the nation," she said.
Earlier films, however, were limited to propaganda material. Although the films improved women's media image, they presented too idealized of an image; Soviet women soon realized that being heroic in the areas of work, home, and motherhood was not as easy and glamorous as popular films depicted.
The presentation was the first of a four-part series, "Visual Reconstruction of Citizens and Nations Through Art: Mexico, Kazakhstan, and Siberia," which lasts from November 5-9.
Tonight, the Oscar-nominated film "Mongol" will show at 7 p.m. at Smith Auditorium in Sills Hall. On Sunday, the Khatylaev duo from the Republic of Sakha will perform "The Art of Magnificent Siberian Music" at 1:30 p.m. in the Studzinski Recital Hall at Kanbar Auditorium.