The Myth of the New Man in Soviet Cinema: A Story about a Real Man
The Myth of the New Man in Soviet Cinema: A Story about a Real Man

Summary/Abstract: The article is focused on Stolper’s film adaptation (1952) of Boris Polevoi’s novel A Story About a Real Man (1946), revealing the hero archetype in the socialist realism interpretation. Although the novel and the film adaptation were designed to explore the myth of the New Man, of the Soviet “real man” in crisis, becoming aware of his special status as a “Soviet man”, both of them unveil the mediation between the desire – virile, ideal body seen in Soviet art and architecture – and the reality – dismembered, harmed, mutilated and physically disabled bodies after the Great Patriotic War. The film adaptation A Story about a Real Man directed by A. Stolper is a prolongation of the representations of Stalinist masculinity in Socialist Realism texts, characterized by masterful cinematographic devices and symbolic usage of lights and shadows.

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