Elements of the figurative structure of a science fiction film: a commentary on the script Morning Star by Aleksei Tolstoi and Samuil Bolotin

Abstract

This text introduces the first English-language publication of the script Morning Star (Utrenniaia zvezda, 1939), written by Aleksei Tolstoi and Samuil Bolotin for a film that was to be directed by Aleksandr Ptushko. The introduction presents the history of the script and explores its key images, notably the influence of special effects on the film’s figurativeness. It investigates the nature of the mythologems and visual codes that are typical for the defence theme in Soviet cinema before the USSR entered World War II. The text analyses the construction of a conflict between man and puppet or man and nature as representative of a conflict between different worlds; and it explores key motifs and images of films involving a journey to the planet Venus before and after the war, considering this theme from a historical and theoretical perspective.