The Discussion of the Work of Sovetsky Ekran (The Soviet Screen) Magazine in 1958. Cinema and Criticism Between Ideology and Commerce

The article deals with the two packages of archival documents — the 1955 resolutions on the establishment of the popular illustrated magazine Sovetsky Ekran (The Soviet Screen) and the transcript of the discussion of the magazine’s work in the Union of Cinematography Workers in 1958. The author of the article considers the general style of the issues of The Soviet Screen of 1957 and 1958 and the individual materials, in particular, the wishes for the new magazine and the retellings of readers’ letters on the pages of the magazine; analyses and compares the initial goals of the magazine, its real format in 1957, its gradual transformation in 1958, and the evolution of tasks and strategies declared in various documents, published texts, and oral presentations at discussion. Certain contradictions are observed between the stated purpose of advertising Soviet films in order to increase distribution and cinema rental profits, and the ideological requirements emanating from the state cultural management. The author highlights an ambiguous attitude towards mass demands and the creative interests of the intelligentsia. There was a lack of consensus on film journalism, the preferred genres, and themes of the magazine articles both among the ‘ordinary readers’ and the professionals of the film industry — writers, critics, and journalists. The absence of a common vision on almost all the issues raised in the discussion allows us to see the complexity and versatility of tastes and mores among the intelligentsia of the Thaw, to recognise the contradictions between the perception of art and culture by the intelligentsia, on the one hand, and the mass perception, on the other hand. The article also sheds light on attitudes towards commerce, profit, and the social, financial and media success in the late 1950s.