Abstract
The article examines the aesthetics of Soviet documentary films and German non-fiction and experimental films. It appeared in the wide artistic context of the avant-garde of the 1920s and was radically reworked in the 1930s. The subject of the article is the concept of the documentary in a totalitarian culture and its purpose is to show the transformation of reality in the film art of the 1930s. The article analyses the stylistic and theoretical features of Dziga Vertov’s and Leni Riefenstahl’s documentaries. The novelty of the article lies in the author’s appeal to understudied films that embody the totalitarian aesthetics of the era of Stalinism and German Nazism. The author poses a question about the existence of obvious similarities and differences between Russian and German films, which is highly relevant in the light of ongoing scientific discussions about the influence of totalitarian regimes on creative processes. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that, despite the figurative and semantic similarity of individual episodes of the films by Vertov and Riefenstahl, and their common political pathos and interest in capturing images of leaders and their meetings with people on the screen, the directors had different attitudes towards the representation of political and social reality. In Three Songs about Lenin, Lullaby and Three Heroines, Vertov turns to folklore and epic genres, and creates an intertextual cinematic world that includes a wide range of meanings and topics that do not fit into the official Soviet canons. In Triumph of the Will and Olympia, Riefenstahl aestheticizes politics and depicts on the screen the official myth about the state and its citizen, which was inspired by the heroics of antiquity and Wagner’s operas adopted by the official ideology of fascism. Riefenstahl shot a fact with the aim of aestheticizing it, while Vertov gave it a new figurative meaning on the editing table. It is natural that the soviet director’s aesthetics could not coincide with the era: Vertov’s works did not appear on the screen, and he himself was forgotten. Riefenstahl, on the contrary, became the main cinematographer of Hitler’s Germany.
Highlights
The article examines the aesthetics of Soviet documentary films and German non-fiction and experimental films
The subject of the article is the concept of the documentary in a totalitarian culture and its purpose is to show the transformation of reality in the film art of the 1930s
In Triumph of the Will and Olympia, Riefenstahl aestheticizes politics and depicts on the screen the official myth about the state and its citizen, which was inspired by the heroics of antiquity and Wagner’s operas adopted by the official ideology of fascism
Summary
Дзига Вертов и Лени Рифеншталь: репрезентация реальности в тоталитарную эпоху // Художественная культура. For cit.: Goryachok K.L. Dziga Vertov and Leni Riefenstahl: Representation of Reality in a Totalitarian Era. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2022, no. Dziga Vertov and Leni Riefenstahl: Representation of Reality in a Totalitarian Era. Аннотация. Цель статьи — показать преобразование реальности в экранном искусстве 1930‐х годов. Автор статьи задается вопросом о наличии явных сходств и различий у российских и немецких картин, что весьма актуально в свете продолжающихся научных дискуссий о влиянии тоталитарных режимов на творческие процессы. Автор статьи приходит к выводу, что, несмотря на образное и содержательное сходство отдельных эпизодов картин Вертова и Рифеншталь, на общий политический пафос и интерес к запечатлению на экране образов вождей и их встреч с народом, у Вертова и Рифеншталь различное отношение к репрезентации политической и социальной реальности.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.