John Haynes
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Brothers in arms
The changing face of the Soviet soldier in Stalinist cinema
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As the rave reviews and enthusiastic critical plaudits poured in for the Vasil'ev Brothers' 1934 classic Chapaev, it seemed that the new 'single method' of socialist realism in art had got off to a flying start. On the surface, the humour may help to make the political message more palatable, but cracks are already appearing in the subjective armour of the Soviet soldier hero, and Chapaev is ranked very firmly within a series of films that implicitly detail the crisis of Soviet masculinity of the 1930s. Internal montage allows the focus to remain sharply on the inner workings of the character's mind, as Eisenstein struggles to come to terms with his destiny as a man. Eisenstein's avowed intent was to make a film about a 'difficult personality', and for the first time in Stalinist cinema, we are presented with a genuinely self-reflexive male hero.

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New Soviet Man

Gender and masculinity in Stalinist Soviet cinema

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