Film and Television Genres of the Late Soviet Era

Alexander Prokhorov is Associate Professor of Russian and Film Studies at the College of William and Mary, USA. He is the author of Inherited Discourse: Paradigms of Stalinist Culture in Literature and Cinema of the Thaw (2007).Elena Prokhorova is Associate Professor of Russian and Film Studies at the College of William and Mary, USA. Her articles have appeared in Slavic Review, Slavic and East European Journal, Kinokultura, and edited volumes.

• Table of Contents:AcknowledgementsIntroduction0.1. Approaches to Film and Television Genres0.2. Why Television?0.3. The Difficult Fate of Genre Studies in the USSR and Russia0.4. Overview of Chapters: from Socialist Realism to Film GenresChapter 1. Epic Film as a Tool of Hard and Soft Power during the Cold War.1.1. Syntax and Semantics of the Genre1.2. War and Peace: Art Cinema on State Service1.3. Liberation: War Spectacle and the Politics of Memory1.4. Postscriptum: The Revival of Prestige Productions under PutinChapter 2. The Socialist Television Police Procedural of the 1970s and 80s: Teaching Soviet Citizens How to Behave.2.1. Syntax and Semantics of the Genre2.2. The Investigation Is Conducted by Experts: The Soviet Police Procedural Is Born2.3. The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed: The Romantics of Criminal Underworld2.4. Postscriptum: Streetwise Cops Meet the Russian MafiaChapter 3. Late-Soviet Comedy: Between Rebellion and the Status Quo.3.1. Syntax and Semantics of the Genre3.2. El’dar Riazanov: The Trappings and Traps of Private Life3.3. Mark Zakharov’s Television Films: Between the Romance and the Sitcom3.4. Postscriptum: The Living and the (Un)DeadChapter 4. Reinventing Desire: Late-socialist Melodrama4.1. Syntax and Semantics of the Genre4.2. Television Melodrama4.3. Cinematic Masculinities4.4. Late-Soviet Woman’s Film4.5. Postscriptum: Televised PassionsConclusionBibliographyFilmographyIndex

Alexander Prokhorov and Elena Prokhorova have written an excellent, highly informative, analytically deep, and lucid book that will impact the field with exponentially increasing force. They have laid the foundation for a new conceptualization of late Soviet cinema, TV, and culture in general. Their definitions and descriptions of late Soviet cinematic and TV genres offer an arsenal of tools that can be applied to other works, spheres, and periods of Russian cinema and culture in general.