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Electrical Signalling (3): Film

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Media and Communication in the Soviet Union (1917–1953)

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Abstract

This chapter deals with the medial and communicative functions of Soviet cinema during the interwar period. More specifically, it explores how the concept of Soviet viewership articulated within the framework of public discourse influenced cinematic communication between the audience and the Soviet regime during the 1920s and 1930s. Giving a brief overview of the discussions on Soviet viewership during the 1920s, this chapter addresses the transformations of the film industry in general and the cinematic message in particular, brought about by the arrival of sound. The special emphasis is paid to the history of sound-recording technology and the ways new tools of expression expanded the ideological and political power of the audiovisual media. Finally, this chapter shows how the cinema of socialist realism appropriated the legacies of the avant-garde.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HSE University, Moscow, Russia

    Kristina Tanis

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  1. Kristina Tanis
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Correspondence to Kristina Tanis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. SFB 1288 ‘Practices of Comparison’, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Kirill Postoutenko

  2. Department of History, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Alexey Tikhomirov

  3. Department of History, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Dmitri Zakharine

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Tanis, K. (2022). Electrical Signalling (3): Film. In: Postoutenko, K., Tikhomirov, A., Zakharine, D. (eds) Media and Communication in the Soviet Union (1917–1953). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88367-6_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88367-6_19

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-88366-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-88367-6

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