Abstract
This article off ers a pioneering ecofeminist study of Viktor Ivchenko’s Lisova pisnia (1961) and Yurii Illienko’s Lisova pisnia. Mavka (1980), two Soviet Ukrainian film adaptations of Lesia Ukrainka’s eponymous fairy-drama (1911; Forest Song). It focuses on the interrelated depiction of gender and nature along with the drama’s ideological and material aspects: androcentrism and deforestation. The production of both fi lms coincides with, and arguably refl ects, what Marko Pavlyshyn describes as “the emergence of a conservationist consciousness” in the USSR in the 1960s. The article’s goal is therefore twofold – to bring new ecofeminist insights into Ukrainian fi lm studies and to raise eco-awareness about the Volyn Polissia, which provides the setting for Ukrainka’s drama and its adaptations, and currently faces environmental devastation from illegal amber mining.
Highlights
When read as an eco-parable, Lesia Ukrainka’s Lisova pisnia (1911; Forest Song) offers valuable environmental lessons about anthropogenic deforestation
The role of “politicized ecocriticism” is, in the words of Inna Sukhenko, “to overcome typical social indifference on the part of Ukrainian citizens and cultivate a more active sense of civic responsibility and engagement among the public.”[10]. This article aims, to make a contribution to Ukrainian film studies, and to raise ecological awareness about the Volyn Polissia, which provides the setting for Forest Song along with its adaptations, and currently faces environmental devastation from illegal amber mining
Ecofeminist literary criticism makes “visible” “previously unnoticed elements” of literary texts.[32]. This reading of two Soviet film adaptations of Lesia Ukrainka’s Forest Song brings new light to a widely anthologized text, inviting readers and viewers to think about the deforestation of Polissia during Ukrainka’s lifetime; the degradation of air, water, and soil during the Soviet regime; and the amber mining currently marring the region, with its illegal extraction estimated at 300 tons annually.[33]
Summary
When read as an eco-parable, Lesia Ukrainka’s Lisova pisnia (1911; Forest Song) offers valuable environmental lessons about anthropogenic deforestation. Ivchenko’s conventional approach contrasts with Illienko’s avant-garde “poetic cinema.”[8] But its abundant nature footage notwithstanding, Ivchenko’s film appears less concerned with the environment than Illienko’s, which foregrounds the worship and felling of the oak in one of several arboreal scenes; Illienko’s film, hypersexualizes Mavka, thereby losing to androcentrism much of what it gains in environmentalism. The production of both films coincides with, and arguably reflects, what Marko Pavlyshyn describes as “the emergence of a conservationist consciousness” in the USSR in the. This article aims, to make a contribution to Ukrainian film studies, and to raise ecological awareness about the Volyn Polissia, which provides the setting for Forest Song along with its adaptations, and currently faces environmental devastation from illegal amber mining
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