The former Soviet state took special care to control the cultural representation of itself both domestically and abroad. Ballet, the Bolshoi theater, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy became the indispensable attributes whose function was to maintain the country’s positive image as well as to de-emphasize the problematic ideological aspects in favor of the politically neutral sphere of the sublime and the beautiful.
The USSR presented to the western and domestic audiences a professionally crafted socialist picture of reality that was based on a reduced version of the classical culture. Beginning with Stalin’s death and continuing with each Soviet leader’s passing every channel of the Soviet television would broadcast
Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Swan Lake”, while the radio transmitted Vivaldi’s “Seasons”. During the failed 1991 coup d’etat the TV once again took up the unfortunate Tchaikovsky ballet with its popular hit, “The dance of the little swans”.
After the Union’s demise culture in Russia stopped fulfilling the role that had been assigned to it previously. With the bloody shoot-outs of the 90s and the continuous division of state property (privatization), the authorities failed to take care of an articulate cultural image of the country either for foreign or domestic consumption. Even today when property division is over, issues around culture are pushed into the background by the more pressing social problems. The power-holding nouveau riches seem to believe that their limitless and demonstrative consumption and binge partying at luxurious western resorts actually symbolize the well-being of Russia. The most effective instrument of creating a positive image of the country is the control over mass media. Persecution of free press and silencing of the regime’s critics are the power’s main tools. During the last ten years about 200 journalists were killed or went missing.
Similarly to the way the “Dying swans” from the Tchaikovsky ballet died out and dropped from the media broadcasts, many representatives of the opposition press left us.
I would like to dedicate my project “Dying swans” to those journalists.
The USSR presented to the western and domestic audiences a professionally crafted socialist picture of reality that was based on a reduced version of the classical culture. Beginning with Stalin’s death and continuing with each Soviet leader’s passing every channel of the Soviet television would broadcast
Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Swan Lake”, while the radio transmitted Vivaldi’s “Seasons”. During the failed 1991 coup d’etat the TV once again took up the unfortunate Tchaikovsky ballet with its popular hit, “The dance of the little swans”.
After the Union’s demise culture in Russia stopped fulfilling the role that had been assigned to it previously. With the bloody shoot-outs of the 90s and the continuous division of state property (privatization), the authorities failed to take care of an articulate cultural image of the country either for foreign or domestic consumption. Even today when property division is over, issues around culture are pushed into the background by the more pressing social problems. The power-holding nouveau riches seem to believe that their limitless and demonstrative consumption and binge partying at luxurious western resorts actually symbolize the well-being of Russia. The most effective instrument of creating a positive image of the country is the control over mass media. Persecution of free press and silencing of the regime’s critics are the power’s main tools. During the last ten years about 200 journalists were killed or went missing.
Similarly to the way the “Dying swans” from the Tchaikovsky ballet died out and dropped from the media broadcasts, many representatives of the opposition press left us.
I would like to dedicate my project “Dying swans” to those journalists.