The character image of Russian and Soviet cinema: from socialist realism model to uncertainty of post-Soviet period

The problem of loss of national and cultural identity and loss of identity of Russian culture is actual today in conditions of absolute openness to Western influence. The change of ideological and artistic principles reflecting a development of national and cultural identity is particularly noticeable in a space of cinema art. The authors of the article refer to the domestic cinema and offer an analysis of the stages in the formation of the model of a movie hero from the era socialist realism to the present day. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the features of a cultural and historical development of the artistic image of a hero in the domestic cinema. The following tasks were solved. Firstly, axiological attitudes inherent to the domestic culture were identified. Secondly, the main features representative of the character image of Soviet cinema were marked. Thirdly, the features of the artistically-shaped model of a movie hero of post-Soviet period was analyzed. Soviet cinema created an inimitable style and became means of a forming morality and a new person. The authors showed that principles of socialist realism partly correspond to attitudes of national mentality. Attitudes of patriotism, spirituality, collectivism are realized in artistic-shaped system of Soviet cinematic art and in images of constructible heroes. But modern filmmakers have been losing connection with aesthetic and ideological traditions of the Soviet cinema. Loss of continuity is due by complex sociopolitical and cultural transformations derived in post-Soviet period. Since the 1990s cinema art has reoriented to entertainment functions and hasn't implemented a task of a transmission of cultural axiological attitudes. A loss of authentic artistic orientations and using West-European visual models is observed. The research has showed that model of a movie hero went through a transformation from an ideal image possessed just positive characteristics than to an ambivalent character (possessed as positive and negative qualities) to "new Russian" and bandits to the hero possessed vague qualities. A blur of axiological orientations, an indistinct representation about country's future, a decrease of the role of patriotism allow concluding that Russian modern cinematograph is in the search its hero.

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