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The hermeneutic analysis of Soviet films of the "stagnation" period (1969-1984) on the school topic *
Dr. Irina Chelysheva,
Rostov State Economic University, 344002, Rostov-on-Don, B. Sadovaya, 69, ivchelysheva@yandex. ru
Dr. Galina Mikhaleva,
Rostov State Economic University, 344002, Rostov-on-Don, B. Sadovaya, 69, gmikhaleva@list. ru
Abstract. This article focuses on the study of the main characteristics of Soviet feature films and is devoted to school problems, the chronological framework of which covers the period from 1969 to 1984. The author made an attempt to perform a hermeneutic analysis of audiovisual media texts of different genres including stereotype analysis, ideological analysis, identification analysis, iconographic analysis, plot analysis, and character analysis.
The methodological basis for using this type of analysis of feature films on the school topic is the research papers by C. Bazalgette, A. Silverblatt, and U. Eco showing the relationship between hermeneutic analysis and key media education concepts: media agencies, media / media text categories, media technologies, media languages, media representations and media audiences. The author presents an overview of the scientific approaches to the study of cinematography in the period under consideration, in particular, the works by E. Artemieva, I. Waisfeld, E. Eliseeva, M. Kosinova, O. Grigorieva, D. Davidenko, I. Levshina and others.
In the course of the analysis, the complexity and inconsistency of feature cinema on the school subject, closely related to social processes taking place in the society, were revealed. For example, a changing representation of teachers' and schoolchildren'images, coverage of the most acute problems in the school community (interpersonal relationships, personal development, moral choice, etc.) in feature films, including such problematic issues in the adult society as development crisis of family relations, substitution of spiritual values with material ones, formalism, indifference, moral fatigue, etc.
Key words: hermeneutics, analysis, media text, media criticism, film, schoolchildren, characters, USSR, media literacy, media education.
* Acknowledgements
This article is written within the framework of a study financially supported by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF). Project 17-18-01001 "School and university in the mirror of the Soviet, Russian and Western audiovisual media texts", performed at Rostov State University of Economics.
Introduction
Feature films have always been popular with viewers of all ages. However, this kind of technogenic art aroused most interest in this country in the 1970s-1980s. The release of each new film was an important event for the vast majority ofyoung audiencesof the time who were naturally unaware of modern video technology and internet technologies.In addition to fulfilling the aesthetic function, the cinema production was also meant to develop moral, value and the world outlook of the younger generation. This goal was mainly achieved by making films about school problems (then called "pedagogical films") telling about teachers, pupils, parents: their
Media Culture
relationships, speculations and dreams, hopes and thoughts. The state education policy entrusted film makers with the following mission: "to create films teaching children and teenagers kindness, justice; convincing them of the rightness of our course; raising love of the native country, diligence, honesty and modesty, a sense of beauty and good taste; stirring curiosity and imagination, desire for creative endeavor, assimilating the values of the national and world cultures. The roles of family and school, Pioneer and Komsomol organizations should be presented more fully; films must show the power of collectivism and comradeship, teach children to respect elders and parents, a high standard of conduct, irreconcilability with somebody's contempt of socialist morality norms, consumer sentiments and social indifference"[Resolution ..., 1982].
Film pedagogy was also actively developing during this period: films were studied in film clubs and societies, additional classes, etc. Teaches of that time were advocates of either educational or pedagogical potential of media education and emphasized the aesthetic development of personality [Chelysheva, 2014, p. 55].
Materials and Methods
Our research material is Soviet feature films about school released from 1969 to 1984. The research methods are theoretical analysis and synthesis; comparison and classification; reconstructive, typological, comparative and historical, descriptive and analytical methods based on the hermeneutic analysis of audiovisual media texts. The methodology of the hermeneutic analysis of films about schools of the mentioned period is supported by the scientific approaches [Bazalgette, 1995; Silverblatt, 2001, Eco, 2005] that allow applying the hermeneutic analysis of films based on the key media education aspects: media agencies, media / media text categories, media technologies, media languages, media representations and media audiences.
Discussion
The scope of school problems shown in cinematography of the period under consideration is analyzed in works by E. Artemieva, I. Weisfeld, E. Yeliseyeva, M. Kosinova, O. Grigoryeva, D. Davidenko, I. Lyovshina and others.
The changes in the cinematography of the 1970s-1980s caused a number of contradictions that ambiguously affected films about school life: "cinema as an art continued to intensively develop but cinema as an industry started to experience increasing stagnation. This fundamental contradiction grew and deepened during the 1970s, thus leading to a number of drastic consequences" [Kosinova, 2016]. O. Grigoryeva also writes about the contradictory and complex nature of feature films of the period under study: "On the one hand, the material resources of the culture sector grew owing to state financing. On the other hand, the government ideological control of writers, poets, artists and composers became stronger. In order to regulate the themes of works of art a system of state procurement was introduced from the mid-1970s, it mainly concerned the cinematography. The influence of the censorship also grew increasingly" [Grigoryeva, 2007, p. 234].
The Russian cinematography of the mentioned period was intensively developing indeed, however, in the 1970s, the censorship increased and more attention was paid to ideological issues in films. All these factors explained the complicated audiovisual nature of films, thus provoking "a tendency to fill films with metaphoric details and symbols" [Yeliseyeva, 2011] and make them hard for censors to understand.
The generation of "enthusiasts" gradually turned into a generation believing in nothing in the 1970s: "the motive of free "flight", "living for others" that used to be popular in the cinematography of the 1960s and partially preserved the euphoria of the "thaw" years in the early 1970s, shows its reverse side and gets its catastrophic completion in films by G. Daneliya, R. Balayan, V. Abdrashitov. The energy of flight had got exhausted by the late 1970s - early
1980s and turned into grave weariness, inertness of aimless from-person-to-person search lacking togetherness, and finally, a moral breakdown, a catastrophe. ... The reverse side of the problem is the character's lack of self-realization due to spiritual apostasy, moral treachery" [Davidenko, 2004]. Such moods found their implicitreflection in films on the school theme. As S. Soloveychik rightlynoted, school is "a living organism, and its health as well as its illnesses are constantly changing" [Soloveychik, 1975]. If in the late 1960s the "thaw" attitudes were still strong in schools (and therefore in the cinematography on the respective theme), then "the 1970s became a period of temporary shutdown of school development, pervasive intervention of the state in school life, a prevailing tendency for stability.The late 1970s - early 1980s were characterized by recessionary trends and unsolved problems" [Molokov, 2004]. It is understandable that these contradictions could not but affect the films on the school theme.
Schoolchildren - heroes of the films shot in the period under study do not only study but also travel, have a rest, play in the yards, do their important "children's" things such as the characters of the films: Attention, Turtle! (1970), Oh, That Nastya! (1971), A Fire in a Wing, or Exploit in the Ice (1973), Dot, Dot, Comma...(1972), The Adventures of Petrov and Vasechkin(1983) and others.
When charactering the cinema of the "stagnation" period intended for schoolchildren, I. Zaytseva notes that the mythologema of happy childhood gradually moves away from the adult world. Cinema creates a "model of autonomous childhood" for young viewers and that stands for the existence of a separate children's paradise. The characters of these films are anthropomorphous fairy-tale creatures that have no serious aims in life, do not study and simply play: Buratino, Red Riding Hood, etc." [Zaytseva, 2016]. It must be admitted that there were a great number of such characters in feature films too - not only in screen versions of fairy-tales but also in films on the school theme. Stereotyped prototypes of fairy-tale heroes can also be met in comedies, dramas and melodramas of this period. For instance, let us take a light-minded and careless character (a classical princess) Klava in I Ask to Accuse Klava K. of My Death (1979), a Soviet melodrama;or indifferent teachers of an elite lyceum pretending to respect their students who seem to have left the fairy-tale kingdom of crooked mirrors in the drama Schedule for the Day After Tomorrow (1978) and others. Thus, in the 1970-s-1980s, the school theme "gradually "retires from the scene": the problematisation of pupil's and teacher's images ... is replaced with pure melodrama" [Artemieva, 2015]. The genre analysis of films on the school theme has proved that the number of melodramas shot during this period significantly surpasses the number of films about school shot during the previous stages of film making.
As well as the whole cinematography, films on the school theme followed the principle that "any exposure of contradictions and hardships was thought to benefit ideological enemies; it was a time when positive and negative characters were counted and the truth of life depended on the amount of positive characters in the film. Moreover, the positiveness was seen at as a certain verbal figure -the main thing was for the character to say correct words!" [Lyovshina, 1989, p. 49]. And it is commonly known that the social situations in which formalism often verges on indifference and cynicism sooner or later get reflected in the mirror of media culture in the form of very acute and challenging films. And the 1970s-1980s were not an exception from the rule and the films revealing the conflicts and problems in the society and school life did not only agitate the school community but also the whole society and led to a general social debate: The Key That Should Not Be Handed On (1976), The Orphans (1976), Practical Joke (1976), The Boys (1983), Scarecrow (1983), etc. The release of these and other topical films during the "stagnation" period reiterates the correct view that "the regime failed to extinguish this glowing flame. All the best, healthy and true that began to appear in the "thaw"" films continued to grow and develop further in the 1970s. But the process proceeded in a different - mostly unfavorable climate for growth and development. It occurred not due to it but rather in spite of it, in defiance. Hence, the overall scenery of our cinema became different" [Annals, 2015].
Results
The hermeneutic analysis of media texts shot in 1969-1984 on the school theme Historical context. The historical period when the media texts were created; market conditions that contributed to the design and creation of the media texts; how the events of that time affected the
media texts
As already mentioned, the late 1960s marked the period of growing interest in culture and art on the part of Soviet party and state leaders who issued a number of resolutions and directives that declared greater demands on ideological plots of feature films intended for the younger generation. Let us mention some of them. For example, the Resolution of the CPSU Central Committee about the 50-year anniversary of All-Union Leninist Young Communist League and objectives of the communist education of youth dated 1968 ran: "the CPSU Central Committee appeals to film makers and theatre workers to create new bright works of art that would convince the youth to firmly believe in communist ideals..., teach them to hate class enemies, their ideology and moral" [Communist Party., 1986, p. 371].
The situation did not change in the early 1980s either. For example, the Resolution of the RSFSR Council of Ministers № 60 of January 20, 1982 "On the improvement of production and distribution of films for children and teenagers in the RSFSR" obliged the "RSFSR State Cinematography Committee, the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR, the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR, the RSFSR State Committee for Professional-Technical Education, the Councils of Ministers of the Autonomous Republics, regional executive committees, Moscow City Executive Committee, Leningrad City Executive Committee to take additional measures to improve film exhibition for the rising generation, to redouble attention and strictness to children's films, to better utilize ideological and educational opportunitiesoffered by the film art" [Resolution ... , 1982].
The funding for cinematography substantially grew concurrently with the state control and the state orders for the production of films. Regarding the films for schoolchildren, appropriate conditions were also created: special children's cinemas were opened, traditional cinemas demonstrated films about school during the so-called "children's hour", in the mornings, as a rule.
The cinema program for children and teenagers at that time was strictly regulated, the movie schedule for each age-group corresponded to the age peculiarities of schoolchildren. Moreover, on holidays and weekends school students could watch children's films via season tickets provided by the Pioneer and Komsomol Organizations (in many cases school students were rewarded with such tickets for academic achievements, social activity or athletic feats).Due to all these conditions school audiences had a rising interest in children's cinematography focused on school issues.
How the knowledge of real historical events of a specific period helps understand these media texts; examples of historical allusions in these media texts
As well as in many films of the "thaw" period we see certain signs of that timein feature films on the school theme such asa new housing development, thriving industry, schools with light and comfortable classrooms (as a rule, - designed in accordance with the latest household norms - with large windows, glass doors, etc.). During the time of developed socialism there were portraits of A.S. Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, N. Nekrasov and others rather than those of the "leaders" hanging in school classrooms. In the office of the school master one could often see a portrait of A.S. Makarenko - a prominent classic of the Soviet pedagogy.
Although there were much fewer direct political allusions in the analyzed films about school as compared with films of the Stalinist period, the state ideology could be distinctly traced. Such historical allusions were Pioneer and Komsomol attributes, school subbotniks and others. These symbols were invariably present in films of that time, the same referred both to
film plots (for example, Pioneer and Komsomol meetings, meetings of Pioneer leaders with Little Octobrists, etc.) and visual symbols (Octobrist stars, Pioneer scarves, Komsomol badges and the like).
Sociocultural, ideological, religious contexts and world outlook. Media text authors' ideology, world outlook in the sociocultural context; ideology, culture of the world
presented in the media texts
The films released in the late 1960s - early 1980s focused with renewed vigor on adolescent problems. Thus, when characterizing the film production including films on the school theme by outstanding film makers of that time,E. Artemieva writes: "S. Solovyov (One Hundred Days after Childhood, The Rescuer) is attracted by the inner world of a teenager who comprehends the surrounding world through the exploitation of art facts - literature, paintings, music, and due to this, the film writer's piece fills up with a lot of artistic citations. Yu. Klepikov explores the inner world of the teenager using a psychological tool; hence, the leitmotif of "children-teenagers" film texts is the theme of loneliness" [Artemieva, 2015].
The authors of most films continue to choose ordinary and undistinguished schoolchildren as major characters of their films, in particular, - their difficult moral development and personality growth. Incidentally, a similar tendency is characteristic of films intended for adult audiences: film makers most commonly did not emphasize "the uniqueness of the character: he is an ordinary contemporary, potential viewer, a Soviet citizen, but he throws discredit on the established conventional norms and regulations through his ambiguous and irrational actions" [Pluzhnik, 2014].
Doubts, commotion of the spirits and feelings of young characters in films about school were very often shown through the topic of loneliness. At the same time, the film makers touched upon this topic not only with reference to schoolchildren (as in the films Woodpeckers Don't Get Headaches (1974); One Hundred Days after Childhood (1975); When I Become a Giant (1976), etc.) but also when creating the teacher's image, many of whom actually were lonely and miserable people. Such as class teacher - Tatyana Nikolaevna from the melodrama You Wouldn't Even Dream It. The paradox of this character's life is that, on the one hand, she is a talented teacher who genuinely likes her pupils; but on the other hand, - she is a doubting person who lacks decision and kind-heartedness towards her beloved (?) man:
"- Whatare you doing tonight?
- Here I am standing and thinking. Well, come...
-Zero enthusiasm. Well, come, well, don't come. Miss, you are a stock!"
Finally, she has failed to build her own happiness. Tanechka (as her pupils call her) is aware of her unhappiness. The major character of the film - Roma says about his teacher: "Tanechka says that life is bigger than love. But her eyes are so sad like those of a sick dog".
By the end of the 1970s the romantic theme accompanied with inner conflicts and hardships of teenagers' and school leavers' personal life became stronger in melodramas: What is Happening to You? (1975), Practical Joke (1976), The School Waltz (1977), I Ask to Accuse Klava K. of My Death (1979), You Wouldn't Even Dream It (1980), It is the Opposite (1981), Passions Will Come (1981) and others.
The world outlook of people depicted in the media texts (pessimism/optimism, success/failure, ability to control their destiny, opportunity to be happy, etc.); hierarchy of values according to this worldview; values dominating at the end of these media texts; how these media texts reflect, promote, suggest or establish relationships, values; conduct, myths The school/university world reflected in Soviet/Russian media texts
The characters' dreams of controlling their destiny and happiness in the majority of films about school were in tune with the state policy. The school students' world during developed socialism made them feel relatively confident about the future, including their right to education, and later - professional employment, etc. In general, external school students' worldviews
reflected optimistic views, collective aspirations, readiness to work and an early start of independent life.
Pessimistic moods of young characters were most frequently associated with unrequited love: The School Waltz (1977), I Ask to Accuse Klava K. of My Death (1979) and others. The romanticism of young love which seems to be eternal turns this trial into a tragedy for school students, as in the film You Wouldn't Even Dream It (1980):
"- If you sufferedfrom unhappy love, how would look at the world?
-I wouldn't simply live!"
There was another reason that could distress the characters' inner world and external equilibrium in the films on the school theme. It was connected with complicated and sometimes cruel circumstances of interpersonal relationships either with peers, as in the film Scarecrow (1984), or with parents, as in the filmPlead Guilty(1984).
The hierarchy of values
According to the growing requirements of the Soviet government, "the film production must have deep meaning, emotional saturation, interesting form, teaching young viewers ideological conviction, readiness to take an active part in the building of the new society and defend their Motherland" [Resolution ..., 1972].
The analysis of films on the school theme showed that moral values played the key role. It was these highlights that contributed to the creation of such good, touching and light films which remained forever etched in the memory of school students in the 1970s-1980s.
However, the analysis of the above-mentioned media texts proves that the hierarchy of values is treated by the characters in the films about school of this period very differently.Some character appreciates his personal well-being and goal attainment by all means, the other values independence, favourite occupation, helping other people. Indifference, pragmatism and callousness, aloofness and meanness collided on the screen with trust,generosity, kindness and honesty. The conflict of different life values very often became sharp as, for example, between Igor Grushko and Oleg Komarovsky in Practical Joke (1977); between Petya Kopeikin and Kolya Kristallov from When I become a Giant (1979); between Iron Pin and Lena Bessoltseva in drama Scarecrow (1983), and others.
Gradually, in the early 1980s, the films on the school theme began to show the so-called "consumerism" - moral and material. The domination of either moral or material values, their role in personality development found reflection in many films on the school theme. Frequently, it was also manifest in the appearance of film characters.Thus, alongside with the obligatory school uniform of pupils of the previous time one could often see such externalsymbols of success on the screen as jeans - thesecherished clothes for all USSR school students. Despite the wide-spread struggle of the school with this "attribute of imperialism", schoolchildren are frequently shown both in real life and on the screen dressed in fashionable and "deficit" clothes of the time - denim trousers and jackets, smart dresses, etc. And to crown it all, many characters even listened to foreign (!) music. That evoked the disapproval of the older generation as in the episode on the dancing floor from the film I Ask to Accuse Klava K. of My Death (1979).
The eternal values of the teacher in films of the period under study were as they always used to be: professionalism, having a special way with kids, understanding of a child's inner world, readiness to assist students when they are in trouble, encouraging student to work hard on their personal development. We can see such teachers in the films: Teacher of Singing (1972), We'll Live Till Monday (1969), The Diary of High School Principal(1975), Kindness (1977), The Boys (1983) and others.
However, there was also a different kind of the teacher's image in the films of the period under analysis -indifferent, callous, for whom the value of the teaching mission was lost. This is the reason, in our opinion, for the mockingly ironical attitude to the teacher in the films: What is Happening To You?, Tuning Fork, Scarecrow and others. For example, the woman-teacher in the
film What is Happening To You? (1975), who gives a student a bad mark at the lesson for "demonstrating a negative trait of character", ridicules her students' poor essays publicly, and at the same time tells about supreme values - serving people,analyzing the students' works; Margarita Ivanovna, a woman-teacher of grade 6 from Scarecrow (1983), prefers to ignore that there is something wrong with her class, thus encouraging her students' callousness and cruelty; Klavdia Sergeevna, a young form-master from drama Tuning Fork(1978), pretends to have a perfect class with the help of intrigues and "box-ticking" events.
Basic stereotype of success in this world The characters' stereotype of success in feature films of the period under review is still associated with higher values pursuit such as friendship, generosity, an ability both to dream and to make independent decisions, to take responsibility for oneself and the people around. We meet such character, for example, in Earthly and Heavenly Adventures (1974): Galya, a Komsomol leader, strikes out an common objective to the whole class - to construct a glider,giving of her time in order to bring the classmates together; or Serge - the main character of Amazing Berendeev(1975), who used to shock people with his inventions, but owing to his wise teachers and own diligence anddetermination he turned finally into a real rationalizer and earned the respect of his peers and teachers. The same can be said about teachers who are genuinely devoted to their profession, such as Vyacheslav Kuzmin from drama Nearly the Same Age (1984) and others.
Structure and narration techniques used in these media texts The structure, plot, representativity, ethics, genre modification peculiarities, iconography, characters can be summarized as follows:
Time and place of action in the media texts. The overwhelming majority of feature films on the school theme refers to the present time and tells young viewer about their contemporaries of the 1970s-1980s. The action of the film takes place both in big cities and remote villages. The scene is not always laid in the classroom. Many film episodes take place outside school-at stadiums, in parks, clubs, summer camps, yards, etc. According to the plots of most films of this period, the action occurs in customary conditions for school students and reflects life of ordinary children and teenagers.
Household items andfurnishing in the media texts. The characters' furniture and objects of everyday life in films on the school theme are for the most part rather humble. At the same time, alongside with the standardized representation of school of that time (similar classrooms, long and light corridors, etc.) as well as students' dwelling conditions (typical "wall cabinets", carpets and standard kitchen furniture, etc.) one could often see some symbols telling about the financial inequality of characters by the late 1970s. An example of this is the poor furniture of Lena Bessoltseva's grandfather from Scarecrow (1983).
Genre modifications. The genres of the films about school shot during the period under analysis are the following:
- the number of comedies increased significantly in comparison with the previous periods (Tomorrow, on April 3rd, 1969; Magic Power, 1970; Oh, That Nastya!, 1971; Big Break, 1972; Dot, Dot, Comma..., 1972; The Eccentric from the Fifth 'B', 1972; Funny Stories, 1973; A Fire in a Wing, or Exploit in the Ice, 1973; Change a Dog for a Train, 1975;The Adventures of a Little Dad, 1979; Silent C Students 1980; 4:0 in Favor of Tanechka, 1982; According to Lopotukhin, 1983; The Magic of Black and White, 1983; and others);
- the number of melodramas also increased (The Flowers for Olya, 1976; The School Waltz, 1977; I Ask to Accuse Klava K. of My Death, 1979; Examination Preparation, 1980; It is the Opposite, 1981; We Lived Next Door, 1982; Deception, 1983; and others;
- the drama genre that showed school pressing problems also became popular:teacher-student interpersonal relationships of (Tuning Fork, 1978; The Key That
Should Not Be Handed On, 1976;The Traitress, 1977; etc.); peer relationships (Practical Joke, 1976; Scarecrow, 1983; The Overheard Conversation, 1984, etc.); parent-child relationships (You Wouldn't Even Dream It, 1980; Plead Guilty, 1983; etc.).
(Stereotyped) techniques of representing reality: using undertones, existential character of representation. This concerns the treatment of both positive and negative characters, the ambiguity of reality. The stereotyped techniques of representing family life patterns are also interesting in comparison with the previous periods, and they undergo significant changes in films on the school theme. The generation gap and problems of teacher-parent relationships are more often touched upon (these models take place in You Wouldn't Even Dream It, 1980, etc.), also the crisis of family relations/single-parent families (The Boys, 1983; Other's Letters, 1975; etc.)
Types of characters (theirtraits of character, clothes, constitution, speech, mime, gestures; stereotyped or non-stereotyped manner of characters representation in these media texts)
Character's age.The films on the school theme of the period under analysis are about pupils of different age-groups. However, special attention of film makers in this period as well as in the "thaw" epoch is given to sensitive problems of adolescence. The theme of moving into adulthood in films about school was closely interconnected with challenges of the transition age, miseries of the first love, moral development of pupil's personality, etc.
Level of education. As a rule, most adult characters got vocational or higher education. Since educated people used to be respected during that period, under-educated characters were very often shown ironically.
Social status, profession. When it comes to the social environment of the main characters, we come across a variety of professions in feature films on the school theme of the period under study.First of all, - they are pupils' parents. If a healthy family is shown, the parents' professions during the scientific and technical revolution are often connected with intellectual work, technology and the culture sector.
Family status. The institution of the family was traditionally shown in films about school as a stronghold of society. We can see such healthy families in the film It is the Opposite (1981), where the parents of the major characters are their children's best friends, they are wiseand understanding people. Another variant of representing the character's family condition is in films where the character loses/ looks for/finds his family, for example, in such films as The Orphans (1976), Other's Letters, (1975), etc.
Moreover, the films of the period take up the theme of crisis in the family. The reasons for it are either the generation gap or the indifference hidden behind the mask of happiness in order to deceive the people around. The School Waltz (1977) shows such a family conflict in relationships of Zosya's parents who had become strangers to each other a long time ago but preferred to choose to pretend that there was nothing wrong with their family. Only an accident helped them resolve this painful situation and the parents soon parted.
Another variant of a family model in films on the school theme of this period is a single-parent family. For example, such is the family of the main character in the film I Ask to Accuse Klava K. of My Death (1979); her mother is anunemployed sculptor who tries to rebuild her personal life and brings up her only daughter alone.
Appearance, clothes, constitution, traits of character, speech. The films on the school theme of the period under consideration present characters of different types: kind day-dreamers and story-tellers such as Dyushka Tyagunov from Spring Flips (1974), Deniska and Mishka from A Fire in a Wing, or Exploit in the Ice (1973), and other films; rebels who recognize no authorities such as Sevka from Woodpeckers Don't Get Headaches (1974); kind-hearted and responsible teacher Ephrem Nikolayevich who loves animals from Teacher of Singing (1972),etc. The common feature of all the positive characters in films about school is their belief in the right, kind-heartedness,and willingness to help their friends.
The negative characters are not as flat as they used to be in the 1920-1930s. Generally, their life is full of contradictions and their actions (betrayal, meanness, deceit, slander) sooner or later turn against them, for example, as it occurs in such films as When I Become a Giant (1976) and Scarecrow(1983).
Devoted teachers have generous souls, genuine love for children and their work, willingness to help people in trouble. However, by the mid-1970s we also see teachers of a different type, whose life seem to be quite ordinary, but their everyday routine conceals indifference, moral poverty and worthlessness.
On the whole, it is possible to agree with the viewpoint that "the character of Soviet films shot in the 1970s-early 1980s exists in a complex reality full of conflicts. The major spheres of interpersonal communication in most films contain crisis. Family relationships, relations with friends and colleagues have common characteristics reflecting the character's everyday life - a problem of reconciling personal and public interests, difficulties in reflecting one's social experience, egoism and formalized relationships creating a surface gloss of social welfare and harmony" [Pluzhnik, 2014].
Significant changes in characters' life:
- plot scheme № 1:the pursuit of happiness (in personal life, profession, life,
etc.) due to moral (financial) dissatisfaction;
- plot scheme № 2: the pursuit of the serenity of mind in the new environment.
The problem the character faceshs everyday life is disrupted:
- themain character wants to succeed (in personal life, profession, family, among peers, in creative work, etc.) and looks for possible ways of realizing his dream. But it does not always happenbecause of some outside interference or inner causes - crisis, infirmity of purpose, etc. (One Hundred Days after Childhood, 1975;The Diary of High School Principal, 1975, etc.).
- the main character voluntarily or against his will, due to come circumstances, falls out of his usual life and seeks spiritual harmony; he has to change or return to the environment he is used to in order to reach it (The Boys, 1983;The School Waltz, 1977, etc.).
The characters seek solutions to the problem. The positive characters find solutions to their problems (interpersonal, moral, etc.) by making a tough choice, through reappraisal of values, life pursuits, etc. As far as the negative characters are concerned, they solve their problems by deceptive means, dirty tricks, and perfidy.
Conclusions
Thus, our hermeneutic analysis of Soviet feature films of the "stagnation" period (19691984) on the school theme allows us to draw the following conclusions.
Pressing ideological control and state censorship of film production during the "stagnation" period made significant adjustmentsto the representation of the school problem in film making. Increased funding encouraged film production for school audiences, but the existing problems in school life (a formal approach to children, teachers' indifference towards their children, etc.) caused graduallydeclining respect for the teaching profession.
The films of the "stagnation" time contained the characteristic features of reality representation which had initially appeared during the "Khrushchev thaw" such as halftones, existential character of contradictions, etc.This was noticeable in representing both positive and negative characters as well as in the ambiguous environment of characters.
The target audience of films about school consisted of pupils of different age-groups, parents, teachers and the public at large, depending on film makers' intentions and the film plot. The challenges concerning teenagers shown in these films were especially acute in the 1970s-1980s and closely connected with problems of interpersonal communication, family education, personal growth and others.
The techniques of representing family life patterns underwent significant changes in films on the school themein comparison with the previous periods. Very often the film makers showed the generation gap on the screen, problems of teacher-parent relationships (You Wouldn't Even Dream It, 1980, etc.), the crisis of family relations/single-parent families (The Boys, 1983; Other's Letters, 1975), cruelty and violence combined with indifference and spiritual poverty (Scarecrow, 1983;Plead Guilty, 1983; etc.)
In general, the films on the school theme were based on everlasting moral values such as generosity, kindheartedness, goodness, responsibility, desire to help people, etc. These values had a powerful educational impact during that period.
References
Annals of Russian cinema (2015).Vol. 4. 1966-1980. Moscow: Canon+. 688 p.
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