Cinema during the First Two Decades of the Soviet Union: How Censorship of the Arts Inhibits the Dissemination of Information

Lora Hamilton

doi:10.5931/djim.v7i1.67

Authors

Lora Hamilton Dalhousie University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5931/djim.v7i1.67

Keywords:

Soviet Union, Information in Society, censorship, film

Abstract

Abstract: This paper examines the increased censorship that film experienced during the inaugural decades of the Soviet Union. Through an overview of the different genres and trends of Soviet cinema during this time, I draw parallels to the political climate and the role of film as an information medium. Censorship remains a persistent, if evolving, feature of the Party’s relationship with cinema throughout this time, and I conclude that censorship of art, in this case film, is akin to inhibiting the dissemination of information.

Author Biography

Lora Hamilton, Dalhousie University

About the Author: Lora Hamilton is currently enrolled in her first year of the Masters of Library and Information Sciences programme at Dalhousie, and holds a BMus (Hons) from Wilfrid Laurier University. She is interested in the role that arts, and their censorship, play in the dissemination of information, and hopes to become a music librarian. This paper was originally written for the MLIS course Information in Society.

References

References Expressionism. (2008). In The Columbia Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/columency/expressionism Gillespie, D. (2000). Early Soviet cinema: Innovation, ideology and propaganda. London: Wallflower Publishing Ltd. Kenez, P. (1988). The cultural revolution in cinema. Slavic Review: Interdisciplinary Quarterly of Russian, Eurasian, & East European Studies 47(2), 414-433. Levaco, R. (1984). Censorship, ideology, and style in Soviet cinema. Studies in Comparative Communism 17(3/4), 173-183. McLane, B.A., & Ellis, J.C. (2005). New history of documentary film. London: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. Monas, S. (1984). Censorship, film, and Soviet society: Some reflections of a Russia-watcher. Studies in Comparative Communism 17(3/4), 163-172. Plamper, J. (2001). Abolishing ambiguity: Soviet censorship practices in the 1930s. Russian Review 60(4), 526-544. Riasanovsky, N.V., & Steinberg, M. D. (2005). A history of Russia (7th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Spring, D.W. (1982). Soviet Newsreel and the Great Patriotic War. In N. Pronay & D.W. Spring (Eds.), Propaganda, Politics, and Film, 1918-1945 (pp. 270-292). Hong Kong: MacMillan Press Ltd. Taylor, R. (1984). Soviet socialist realism and the cinema of the avant-garde. Studies in Comparative Communism 17(3/4), 185-202. Taylor, R. (1998). Film propaganda: Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany (2nd ed.). New York: St. Martin’s Press. Widdis, E. (2003). Visions of a new land: Soviet film from the Revolution to the Second World War. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Cinema during the First Two Decades of the Soviet Union: How Censorship of the Arts Inhibits the Dissemination of Information

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Author Biography

Lora Hamilton, Dalhousie University

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