Maria Belodubrovskaya
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501709944
- eISBN:
- 9781501713804
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501709944.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Not According to Plan is a history of Soviet filmmaking under Stalin (1930–1953). It addresses why the Stalin regime failed to construct a controlled propaganda cinema despite explicit intention to ...
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Not According to Plan is a history of Soviet filmmaking under Stalin (1930–1953). It addresses why the Stalin regime failed to construct a controlled propaganda cinema despite explicit intention to do so. Using new archival evidence, Belodubrovskaya shows that the Stalinist state was unsuccessful because its ideological ambitions undermined institutional reform and development. When choosing between the short-term goal of making film “masterpieces” and longer-term industrialization targeting mass production, Stalin and his policymakers consistently selected the former. The preference for quality films and Stalin’s intolerance of imperfection reinforced an artisanal, director-centered mode of production; exacerbated planning, screenwriting, and censorship dysfunction; created an entitled artistic workforce; and ultimately closed the door to a mass propaganda cinema. Not According to Plan challenges the notion that Stalin had authority over the arts and suggests that ideological control collapses in environments where artistry is rewarded.Less
Not According to Plan is a history of Soviet filmmaking under Stalin (1930–1953). It addresses why the Stalin regime failed to construct a controlled propaganda cinema despite explicit intention to do so. Using new archival evidence, Belodubrovskaya shows that the Stalinist state was unsuccessful because its ideological ambitions undermined institutional reform and development. When choosing between the short-term goal of making film “masterpieces” and longer-term industrialization targeting mass production, Stalin and his policymakers consistently selected the former. The preference for quality films and Stalin’s intolerance of imperfection reinforced an artisanal, director-centered mode of production; exacerbated planning, screenwriting, and censorship dysfunction; created an entitled artistic workforce; and ultimately closed the door to a mass propaganda cinema. Not According to Plan challenges the notion that Stalin had authority over the arts and suggests that ideological control collapses in environments where artistry is rewarded.
