A vast array of research institutes and cultural organizations began to study the viewer of Soviet cinema and theatre in the years following the October Revolution. These investigations called on the techniques of sociology, psychology, and physiology to make Soviet cultural production more “efficient” and “rational.” Belying the conventional assumption that the cultural revolution of 1928–1932 brought empirical research in aesthetics to an abrupt end, this paper traces the continuation and redefinition of studies of the viewer in the Soviet Union after the “Great Break.” My analysis of the work of the “Scientific Research Sector” at the State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) between 1933 and 1936 outlines how Stalin-era researchers shifted their gaze from viewers’ tastes and attitudes to questions of perceptual management and effectiveness. Exploring the VGIK researchers’ attempts to determine the “laws” of aesthetic perception and optimize intelligibility, the article brings to light the developments in scientific knowledge underwriting Soviet culture's transition to a form “accessible to the millions.”

中文翻译：

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探索观众的心灵和思想：苏联电影和戏剧观众的科学研究，1917-1936

在十月革命之后的几年里，大量的研究机构和文化组织开始研究苏联电影和戏剧的观众。这些调查利用社会学、心理学和生理学的技术来使苏联文化生产更加“高效”和“合理”。本文摒弃了 1928-1932 年文化大革命使美学实证研究戛然而止的传统假设，追溯了“大断裂”后苏联观者研究的延续和重新定义。我对 1933 年至 1936 年间国家电影学院 (VGIK) 的“科学研究部门”工作的分析概述了斯大林时代的研究人员如何将他们的目光从观众的品味和态度转移到感知管理和有效性问题上。