Aleksandra G. Kolesnikova

PhD in History, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian History of modern times

Russian State University for the Humanities

(Moscow, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2021-4-57-69

Abstract. The purpose of the article is to identify the main features that make up the image of a woman on the «big screens» of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. In recent years, the interest of researchers (historians, art historians and cultural studies scholars) to the gender issue, female images in military cinema has grown enormously. The article provides an analysis of feature films made by Soviet directors during the Great Patriotic War and mainly included in the so-called "Military Film Collections" (a series of military novels characterized by rapid actualization and interpretation of the current tragic events of the war). Based on the methods of military anthropology, visual anthropology and ideological basis, the author determines the image of a Soviet woman as well as the mechanisms of its representation that meet the historical conditions of wartime in the USSR. The image of a woman in Soviet military cinema correlates with the poster culture of the period. It is a central, supporting symbol for the disclosure and interpretation of both other characters in the film and general motivating society to fight the enemy plot meanings. The image of a woman in military cinema is key to the study of a parallel image – an enemy, an opponent, a traitor, a figure opposing Woman in war. Films with an operatic female image are shot throughout the war period, most often they are devoted to the theme of occupation and the beginning period of the Great Patriotic War, as the most difficult and tragic time.
Keywords: The Great Patriotic War, image of a woman, Soviet feature film cinematography, woman and war.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Kolesnikova, AG 2021, ‘The womanly face of war. The image of a woman in Soviet feature films during the Great Patriotic War (1941 – 1945)’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 4(8), pp. 57–69, https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2021-4-57-69 (in Russ.)

Filmography

1. Pyryev, I (dir) 1944, Six P.M. (V shest chasov vechera posle voyny), motion picture, Mosfilm, Moscow.
2. Stolper, A, Ivanov B (dirs) 1943, Wait for Me (Zhdi menya), motion picture, Central United Film Studio (TsOKS), Alma-Ata.
3. Arnshtam, L (dir) 1944, Zoya, motion picture, Soyuzdetfilm, Moscow.
4. Room A, Zhakov O (dirs) 1945, Nashestvie, motion picture, Central United Film Studio (TsOKS), Alma-Ata.
5. Timoshenko, S (dir) 1945, Heavenly Slug (Nebesny Tikhokhod), motion picture, Lenfilm, Leningrad.
6. Barnet, B (dir), 1944, Dark Is the Night (Odnazhdy nochyu), motion picture, Yerevan Film Studio, Yerevan.
7. Ermler, F (dir) 1943, Ona zashchishchayet Rodinu (She Defends the Motherland=No Greater Love), motion picture, Central United Film Studio (TsOKS), Alma-Ata.
8. Donskoi, M (dir) 1943, Raduga (The Rainbow), motion picture, Kievskaya Kinostudiya (Kiev Film Studio), Ashgabat.
9. Pyryev, I (dir) 1942, Sekretar' raykoma (The District Secretary=We Will Come Back), motion picture, Central United Film Studio (TsOKS), Alma-Ata.
10. Romm, M (dir) 1944, Chelovek No. 217 (Girl No. 217), motion picture, Tashkent Studios, Tashkent; Mosfilm, Moscow.

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