ABSTRACT

Conceived and shot in the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War (WWII), Kashchei the Immortal (1945) offers a superlative illustration of just how effectively the time-honoured characters and narrative structures of folklore and fairy tale can be adapted to propagandist purpose. In using fairy tale as a nationalistic metaphor for war and conquest, Kashchei built upon longstanding international precedent, even as the particular time and place of its production shaped its ideology in crucial ways. Kashchei’s creators employed fairy-tale allegory to present a rousing parable of invasion and defence, which served as an urgent call to arms while proposing a roadmap for an avowedly righteous Soviet triumph. The film also reinforced the view that the perpetuation of shared national folk tradition cements community strength and spirit, and that folk-mindedness, and the patriotism it must surely inspire, is an indomitable weapon against foreign threat. As I demonstrate through a detailed close textual analysis, the film’s rich symbolism and expressive mise-en-scène are integral to the construction of a reassuring, motivational and easy-to-understand message that fully supported the Soviet Union’s broader wartime rhetoric.

摘要

不朽的卡什切伊( Kashchei the Immortal) (1945)在伟大卫国战争 (WWII) 期间在苏联构思和拍摄，提供了一个最高级的例子，说明了民间传说和童话故事的历史悠久的人物和叙事结构如何有效地适应宣传目的。在使用童话作为战争和征服的民族主义隐喻时，Kashchei建立在长期的国际先例之上，即使其产生的特定时间和地点以关键方式塑造了其意识形态。卡谢伊的创作者使用童话寓言来呈现一个激动人心的入侵和防御寓言，在为公然正义的苏联胜利提出路线图的同时，它作为紧急呼吁武装起来。这部电影还强化了这样一种观点，即共同的民族民间传统的永存巩固了社区的力量和精神，而民俗思想及其必定激发的爱国主义是抵御外来威胁的不屈不挠的武器。正如我通过详细细致的文本分析所证明的那样，这部电影丰富的象征意义和富有表现力的布景是构建一个完全支持苏联更广泛的战时言论的令人安心、鼓舞人心且易于理解的信息不可或缺的一部分。