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Red women on the silver screen: Soviet women and cinema from the beginning to the end of the communist era
Book Reviews
ences, are all actually products of these modernist frameworks of ideas and particularly of feminism. The second puzzle is related. It is apparent from these 178 powerfully written pages that their author is highly engaged with this discourse. By giving it so much time, attention, and intellectual energy she presents it as larger and more powerful than many other feminists would accept: The form of her text belies its message of dismissal. Herein there is far too little of Somer Brodribb’s own ideas. This particular reader thought that someone who writes so well and so powerfully should have expended less energy in critiquing ‘the ideas of the Masters’ and a lot more in constructing the Brodribbian alternative to this masculinist discourse. I very much look forward to her next book. This publication from the newly established Spinifex Press is smartly and indeed expensively turned out, on good quality paper and with a well-designed and beautifully printed cover. For those of us used to feminist books produced on a shoestring and which fall apart after one reading, this book is a treat. Spinifex, based in Australia, represent a new departure in feminist publishing and I look forward to seeing more of their books. LIZ STANLEY UNIVERSITYOF MANCHESTERUK
RED~OMENONTHE
SILVERSCREEN:SOVIETWOMEN ANDCINFMAFROMTHEBEGINNINGTOTHEEND OFTHE COMMUNISTERA, edited by Lynne Attwood, 272 pages. London, Pandora Press, 1993. Soft cover, BrE12.99. This is an extremely enlightened book for readers interested in both women in Soviet cinema (both sides of the camera) and the history of Soviet cinema in general. On both counts it makes for a fascinating read not just because it sets several myths straight-such as the heritage of montage usually/officially accredited to Eisenstein but actually revealed as being to the honour of the women filmmaker Esfir’ Shub (who came to collision editing through her compilation system first devised for the re-editing of Hollywood films) - but also because it examines the development of Soviet cinema in relation to the USSR’s political culture and too the (so-called) emancipation of women. The study is rich, full, and dense. The book is organised with intelligence and sensitivity. The first half is written by Lynne Attwood (who modestly refers to herself as editor rather than coauthor); then there are two other parts which make up the other half and which give space to the voices of Soviet women: film critics, film stars, and women behind the camera. Attwood explains how cinema after the Revolution was perceived as an agent for socialisation and how, throughout the history of Soviet cinema, the symbolic use of the female figure as the Republic, motherhood, and morality has placed the Soviet woman on the screen as an ideological construct far removed from her own reality (particularly in its refusal to recognise her doubleburden as worker and mother) but one which safely echoed Soviet hegemony. Attwood traces the changes in the representations of the Soviet woman and the myths they propagate: particularly-up until Perestroika- the myth of sexual equality. She also discusses the disturbing
317
shift in representation of ‘woman,’ in the films of the 1980s onwards, as an object of violence and finds the logical reason for this. Having been positioned as site of morality under Communism, ‘woman’-now that this regime has been exposed as a failure/corrupt-becomes the site of all that is dishonourable in postCommunism. Attwood’s section, as well as that of the other authors, makes clear that feminism, where it does exist in the now ex-Soviet Union, has always had a very different set of preoccupations. The concerns were primarily social politics rather than sexual. After Perestroika, this has changed somewhat, and sexual politics are coming to the fore but again manifest themselves as quite other, focussing as they do on that which women have been denied: feminine eroticism and beauty- hence the wide appeal of beauty contests. For the Soviet film critics writing in this book, the present plethora of sex-scene films represents a sublimation of other urges: a desire for pluralism on all fronts (including sex); they also see them as representative of a deep ennui where youth, demoralised by the hypocrisy of their elders, see sex in any form and amount as a way of filling that void. The ‘invisibilisation’ of women filmmakers is also addressed in this book. There is a general reluctance for women directors to have their work labelled “women’s cinema.” (Incidentally this is also the case for France.) The reason is not difficult to pinpoint given the strong patriarchal constructs inherent in both countries/nations. And in this context, of particular interest/concern to this reader was the chapter on women in the cinema of the East-that is, Moslem Republics-and their lack of strong characterisation on the screen and their total proscription as filmmakers. Finally, given Soviet cinema’s honoured reputation as an art cinema, it is noteworthy that the effects of Perestroika will erode that standing. All filmmaking has now entered the profit-making culture. Satisfying popular taste has now become the order of the day, and this means primarily satisfying youth audiences: something that has already taken place in most Western societies although not necessarily to the betterment of this popular cultural artifact. Attwood’s book seems to hint that the ex-Soviet cinema is now headed for a rapid decline. Quite possibly, but then Hollywood is but a shadow of its former self in this regard-at least-the former superpower rejoins the only remaining one. SUSAN HAYWARD FRENCHSTUDIES BIRMINGHAMUNIVERSITY BIRMINGHAM,UK
EQUAL VALUE/COMPARABLEWORTH IN THE UK AND
THE USA, edited by Peggy Kahn and Elizabeth Meehan, 284 pages. Macmillan, London, 1992. Soft cover, Brf15.99. Legislation based on the principle of equal pay for equal work was introduced in the USA in the 1960s and in the UK in the 1970s. This was certainly important in challenging direct forms of pay discrimination, such as separate women’s and men’s rates for the same job. It soon became clear, however, that this was not enough because this legislation could not be invoked in situa-
ences, are all actually products of these modernist frameworks of ideas and particularly of feminism. The second puzzle is related. It is apparent from these 178 powerfully written pages that their author is highly engaged with this discourse. By giving it so much time, attention, and intellectual energy she presents it as larger and more powerful than many other feminists would accept: The form of her text belies its message of dismissal. Herein there is far too little of Somer Brodribb’s own ideas. This particular reader thought that someone who writes so well and so powerfully should have expended less energy in critiquing ‘the ideas of the Masters’ and a lot more in constructing the Brodribbian alternative to this masculinist discourse. I very much look forward to her next book. This publication from the newly established Spinifex Press is smartly and indeed expensively turned out, on good quality paper and with a well-designed and beautifully printed cover. For those of us used to feminist books produced on a shoestring and which fall apart after one reading, this book is a treat. Spinifex, based in Australia, represent a new departure in feminist publishing and I look forward to seeing more of their books. LIZ STANLEY UNIVERSITYOF MANCHESTERUK
RED~OMENONTHE
SILVERSCREEN:SOVIETWOMEN ANDCINFMAFROMTHEBEGINNINGTOTHEEND OFTHE COMMUNISTERA, edited by Lynne Attwood, 272 pages. London, Pandora Press, 1993. Soft cover, BrE12.99. This is an extremely enlightened book for readers interested in both women in Soviet cinema (both sides of the camera) and the history of Soviet cinema in general. On both counts it makes for a fascinating read not just because it sets several myths straight-such as the heritage of montage usually/officially accredited to Eisenstein but actually revealed as being to the honour of the women filmmaker Esfir’ Shub (who came to collision editing through her compilation system first devised for the re-editing of Hollywood films) - but also because it examines the development of Soviet cinema in relation to the USSR’s political culture and too the (so-called) emancipation of women. The study is rich, full, and dense. The book is organised with intelligence and sensitivity. The first half is written by Lynne Attwood (who modestly refers to herself as editor rather than coauthor); then there are two other parts which make up the other half and which give space to the voices of Soviet women: film critics, film stars, and women behind the camera. Attwood explains how cinema after the Revolution was perceived as an agent for socialisation and how, throughout the history of Soviet cinema, the symbolic use of the female figure as the Republic, motherhood, and morality has placed the Soviet woman on the screen as an ideological construct far removed from her own reality (particularly in its refusal to recognise her doubleburden as worker and mother) but one which safely echoed Soviet hegemony. Attwood traces the changes in the representations of the Soviet woman and the myths they propagate: particularly-up until Perestroika- the myth of sexual equality. She also discusses the disturbing
317
shift in representation of ‘woman,’ in the films of the 1980s onwards, as an object of violence and finds the logical reason for this. Having been positioned as site of morality under Communism, ‘woman’-now that this regime has been exposed as a failure/corrupt-becomes the site of all that is dishonourable in postCommunism. Attwood’s section, as well as that of the other authors, makes clear that feminism, where it does exist in the now ex-Soviet Union, has always had a very different set of preoccupations. The concerns were primarily social politics rather than sexual. After Perestroika, this has changed somewhat, and sexual politics are coming to the fore but again manifest themselves as quite other, focussing as they do on that which women have been denied: feminine eroticism and beauty- hence the wide appeal of beauty contests. For the Soviet film critics writing in this book, the present plethora of sex-scene films represents a sublimation of other urges: a desire for pluralism on all fronts (including sex); they also see them as representative of a deep ennui where youth, demoralised by the hypocrisy of their elders, see sex in any form and amount as a way of filling that void. The ‘invisibilisation’ of women filmmakers is also addressed in this book. There is a general reluctance for women directors to have their work labelled “women’s cinema.” (Incidentally this is also the case for France.) The reason is not difficult to pinpoint given the strong patriarchal constructs inherent in both countries/nations. And in this context, of particular interest/concern to this reader was the chapter on women in the cinema of the East-that is, Moslem Republics-and their lack of strong characterisation on the screen and their total proscription as filmmakers. Finally, given Soviet cinema’s honoured reputation as an art cinema, it is noteworthy that the effects of Perestroika will erode that standing. All filmmaking has now entered the profit-making culture. Satisfying popular taste has now become the order of the day, and this means primarily satisfying youth audiences: something that has already taken place in most Western societies although not necessarily to the betterment of this popular cultural artifact. Attwood’s book seems to hint that the ex-Soviet cinema is now headed for a rapid decline. Quite possibly, but then Hollywood is but a shadow of its former self in this regard-at least-the former superpower rejoins the only remaining one. SUSAN HAYWARD FRENCHSTUDIES BIRMINGHAMUNIVERSITY BIRMINGHAM,UK
EQUAL VALUE/COMPARABLEWORTH IN THE UK AND
THE USA, edited by Peggy Kahn and Elizabeth Meehan, 284 pages. Macmillan, London, 1992. Soft cover, Brf15.99. Legislation based on the principle of equal pay for equal work was introduced in the USA in the 1960s and in the UK in the 1970s. This was certainly important in challenging direct forms of pay discrimination, such as separate women’s and men’s rates for the same job. It soon became clear, however, that this was not enough because this legislation could not be invoked in situa-