The Return of Mother Russia

Representations of Women in Soviet Wartime Cinema

in Aspasia
Author:
Elena Baraban University of Manitoba baraban@cc.umanitoba.ca

Search for other papers by Elena Baraban in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Restricted access

This article examines the process of symbolisation in the images of women in Soviet cinema. It argues that during the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) many female characters served as symbolic representations of the country itself, of Mother Russia, determined to defeat the enemy and ready to endure hardships and to cope with deprivation and grief. The start of the resistance against Nazi Germany called for many more depictions of women than was typical in the thoroughly masculinised culture of the 1930s. At the same time, wartime images of women were quite abstract: they recalled posters and often relied on a symbolically charged mise-en-scène.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

Aspasia

The International Yearbook of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European Women's and Gender History

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 463 178 6
Full Text Views 23 0 0
PDF Downloads 41 5 0