Turning to Myth: The Soviet School Film Growing Up

Soviet cinema for children experienced a shock in the 1980s when controversial films presenting a terrifying image of childhood were made in the USSR. These films put difficult questions of growing up and often refer to Classical Antiquity and mythology. I shall discuss two important films of this period: Чучело [Chuchelo; Scarecrow] by Rolan Bykov, 1983, based on a novel by Vladimir Zheleznikov; and Дорогая Елена Сергеевна [Dorogaia Elena Sergeievna; Dear Miss Elena] by Eldar Riazanov, 1988, based on a play by Liudmila Razumovskaia. Although the movies are far from being typical peplum films, they contain important echoes to Greek mythology and culture, referring to Antigone, Heracles, Christ, and Dionysus. Analyzing the movies in the sociocultural context and in comparison with the texts they were based on, I would like to determine how ancient elements of the movies and references to tragedy and mythology provide children with hope for the challenges of growing up.Book chapter in the volume: Katarzyna Marciniak, ed., Our Mythical Hope: The Ancient Myths as Medicine for Hardships of Life in Children's and Young Adults' Culture, in the series "Our Mythical Childhood", Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press, 2021, 836 pp. Open Access https://www.wuw.pl/product-eng-16830-Our-Mythical-Hope-The-Ancient-Myths-as-Medicine-for-the-Hardships-of-Life-in-Childrens-and-Young-Adults-Culture-PDF.html This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 681202 (2016–2022), Our Mythical Childhood... The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children's and Young Adults' Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges, ERC Consolidator Grant led by Katarzyna Marciniak. Project's Website: www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl. The publication is licensed under (CC BY 3.0 PL) (full license available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/pl/legalcode)