CIN201Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Soviet Montage Theory, Communist International, Kazimir Malevich
Lecture I-8: Constructivism and Soviet Theories of Montage
Lecture Structure:
1) Introduction: Accounting for Significance Historically
2) Constructivism and Its Relation to Montage
3) Eisenstein and Pudovkin as Montage Theorists
4) Political Changes and the End of Soviet Montage
Introduction: Accounting for Significance Historically
How might one determine significance? In terms of:
1) typicality
2) distinctiveness
3) influence
How to explain the distinctiveness of Soviet filmmaking of the 1920s? One
could employ the explanatory frameworks of …
1) the economic: how did a non-capitalist country build its industry?
2) the social/political: how did film serve the government’s interests?
3) the technological: how was cinema’s technological base instrumental
in the government’s plans and integral to the centrality of montage?
4) the aesthetic: how do trends in Soviet filmmaking relate to other
tendencies in Soviet art of this time?
5) the biographical: which key figures helped advance the form and
reputation of Soviet cinema?
Why was montage so important as a means of expression for the Soviets?
One can invoke the social/political and the aesthetic to craft a response.
Constructivism and Its Relation to Montage
The importance of montage in cinema owes much to the influence of
Constructivism on a variety of artforms.
The fundamental principles of montage—the assemblage of heterogeneous
parts: the juxtaposition of fragments; the need for the spectator to make
conceptual connections—are not unique to cinema.
Constructivism was an outgrowth of Futurism, which became the official
Soviet style in 1918.
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Document Summary
Lecture i-8: constructivism and soviet theories of montage. Lecture structure: introduction: accounting for significance historically, constructivism and its relation to montage, eisenstein and pudovkin as montage theorists. 4) political changes and the end of soviet montage. One can invoke the social/political and the aesthetic to craft a response. The importance of montage in cinema owes much to the influence of. The fundamental principles of montage the assemblage of heterogeneous parts: the juxtaposition of fragments; the need for the spectator to make conceptual connections are not unique to cinema. Constructivism was an outgrowth of futurism, which became the official. Russian futurism broke into two camps, one (non-ideological) headed by. Kazimir malevich, the other, dedicated to social use, headed by vladimir. The assembly process of montage had to rework raw material; the artwork should effect a similar transformation of the beholder"s consciousness. Constructivist artists saw themselves as workers or engineers, not gifted aesthetes.
