The Image of Late Soviet Pioneer Camp in Russian Mass Culture Works of the 2010s

Abstract

During the first two decades of the 21st century, an increasing interest of Russian policymakers towards the Soviet past can be recorded, which is reflected in the modern Russian mass culture (movies, literature, music) providing more and more often a fruitful approach to reappraise the role of pioneer camps in the Soviet Union to its people. Based on an example of two significant mass culture products of the 2010s with different languages ‒ Aleksandr Karpilovskiy’s movie “Private Word of a Pioneer 2“ (2015) (rus. “Chastnoe pionerskoe. Ura kanikuly!!!”) and the novel “Food Block“ (2018) (rus. “Pishcheblok”) by Aleksey Ivanov, this article for the first time illustrates the image of two late Soviet pioneer camps “Youth” (1979) and “The Stormy Petrel” (1980) and gives analysis of their features with the help of descriptive-functional and comparative research methods. As a result, the semantics shows that one pioneer camp is a safe place for everyone and another one poses risks and it is more dangerous to be within the camp than outside. While in the “Youth” camp, the teaching staff devotes much attention to health promotion and cultural development of young pioneers, the main purpose of “The Stormy Petrel” is the ideological education. In both cases, we see educational formalism in the work of educators. Children and teenagers of the late Soviet era are seemingly burdened with playing young Leninists. The protagonist in the movie puts his personal goals far above the public interests in his personal hierarchy. By contrast, the protagonist of the novel is seeking for a true community in the pioneer camp and causes rejection and misunderstanding by others. In both late Soviet camps, the value of pioneer attributes (ties and badges) is noticeably decreased. In “Stormy Petrel”, their meaning is even audaciously perverted. Unreserved nostalgia for childhood, dominating in two works, does not prevent their creators to a greater (novel) or lesser (movie) extent to make a critical assessment of the late Soviet pioneer camps. Keywords: Soviet pioneer camp, A. Karpilovskiy “Private Word of a Pioneer 2”, A. Ivanov “Food Block”, late Soviet era, nostalgia, criticism