Russian Aviation, Space Flight and Visual Culture

314 Pages·2016·17.921 MB·English

by  Vlad Strukov, Helena Goscilo (eds.)

Russian Aviation, Space Flight, and
Visual Culture
Among the many successes of the Soviet Union were inaugural space flight—ahead
of the United States—and many other triumphs related to aviation. Aviators and
cosmonauts enjoyed heroic status in the Soviet Union, and provided supports of
the Soviet project with iconic figures which could be used to bolster the regime’s
visions, self-confidence, and the image of itself as forward looking and futuristic.
This book explores how the themes of aviation and space flight have been depicted
in film, animation, art, architecture, and digital media. Incorporating many illus-
trations, the book covers a wide range of subjects, including the representations
of heroes, the construction of myths, and the relationship between visual art forms
and Soviet/Russian culture and society.
Vlad Strukov is an Associate Professor in Film and Digital Culture in the School
of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the University of Leeds, UK.
Helena Goscilo is Professor of Slavic at the Ohio State University, Columbus,
Ohio, US.
Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series
58 Fashion and the Consumer 65 Democracy, Civil Culture
Revolution in Contemporary and Small Business in Russia’s
Russia Regions
Olga Gurova Social processes in comparative
historical perspective
59 Religion, Nation and Democracy Molly O’Neal
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Edited by Alexander Agadjanian, 66 National Minorities in Putin’s
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60 Eurasian Integration – The View 67 The Social History of Post-
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Edited by Piotr Dutkiewicz and Edited by Piotr Dutkiewicz, Richard
Richard Sakwa Sakwa and Vladimir Kulikov
61 Art and Protest in Putin’s 68 The Return of the Cold War
Russia Ukraine, The West and Russia
Lena Jonson Edited by J. L. Black and Michael
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62 The Challenges for Russia’s
Politicized Economic System 69 Corporate Strategy in Post-
Edited by Susanne Oxenstierna Communist Russia
Mikhail Glazunov
63 Boundaries of Utopia - Imagining
Communism from Plato to Stalin 70 Russian Aviation, Space Flight
Erik van Ree and Visual Culture
Edited by Vlad Strukov and
64 Democracy in Poland Helena Goscilo
Representation, participation,
competition and accountability 71 EU-Russia Relations, 1999-2015
since 1989 From courtship to confrontation
Anna Gwiazda Anna-Sophie Maass
Russian Aviation, Space Flight,
and Visual Culture
Edited by Vlad Strukov and
Helena Goscilo
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Vlad Strukov and Helena Goscilo
The right of Vlad Strukov and Helena Goscilo to be identified as the
author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Strukov, Vlad, 1973- editor. | Goscilo, Helena, 1945- editor.
Title: Russian aviation, space flight and visual culture / edited by Vlad
Strukov and Helena Goscilo.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2016. |
Series: Routledge contemporary Russia and Eastern Eeurope series ;
70 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016003131| ISBN 9781138951983 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315667881 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Astronautics in mass media. | Astronautics in art. |
Astronautics—Social aspects—Soviet Union. | Astronautics and
civilization—Soviet Union. | Popular culture—Soviet Union—
History—20th century.
Classification: LCC P96.A792 R87 2016 | DDC 700.4/56—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016003131
ISBN: 978-1-138-95198-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-66788-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
To my brother, a real pilot.
-VS
To Dziudzio, who chose water over air.
-HG

Contents
List of figures ix
Notes on contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xvi
Note on the text xvii
Introduction: the aerial ways of aspiration and inspiration,
or the Russian chronot(r)ope of transcendence 1
VLAD STRUKOV AND HELENA GOSCILO
PART I
Art and architecture 33
1 Ever onwards, ever upwards? Representing the aviation hero
in Soviet art 35
MIKE O’MAHONY
2 Deineka’s heavenly bodies: space, sports, and the sacred 53
HELENA GOSCILO
3 Comic cosmonaut: space exploration and visual satire in
Krokodil in The Thaw 89
JOHN ETTY
4 Flying city or housing freed from gravity: ideas of space travel
and internationalism in G.T. Krutikov’s City of the Future 116
ALEKSANDRA IDZIOR
5 Neo-cosmism, empire, and contemporary Russian art:
Aleksei Belyaev-Gintovt 135
MARIA ENGSTRÖM
viii Contents
PART II
Film, animation, and computer games 167
6 Special/spatial effects in Soviet cinema 169
BIRGIT BEUMERS
7 Leaving the house of dreams: the myth of flight in Russian
films of the 2000s 189
JULIAN GRAFFY
8 Animal aviators: refashioning Soviet myths in contemporary
Russian digital animation 224
VLAD STRUKOV
9 Screening aviation, mediating Afghanistan:
Andrei Kavun’s Kandahar 250
ANINDITA BANERJEE
10 Simulating Sturm und Drang: theorizing digital historization,
commemoration, and participation 270
VLAD STRUKOV
Index 292
Figures
I.1 Yggdrasil, the tree of life central to Norse cosmology, in
the translation of Oluf Bagge’s Prose Edda (1847) 2
I.2 Gustav Klimt, Tree of Life (1909) 3
I.3 Michael Lukas Leopold Willmann, Landscape with the
Dream of Jacob (1691), in which Jacob’s ladder
reaches up to the heavens, depicting humans’
immemorial aspirations 3
I.4 Peter Paul Rubens, The Fall of Icarus (1636), one of
numerous visuals capturing the incautious son of a
wiser father plummeting to his death 5
I.5 Frederic Leighton, Icarus and Daedalus (c. 1869), showing
Icarus in youthful glory before his demise, aided by his
concerned parent 6
I.6 Sergei Solomko, Icarus’ Dream (date unknown), which
connects human desire to transcend, avian wings, and
airplanes in a single, compact image 7
I.7 Viktor Vasnetsov’s famous Sirin and Alkonost (1896), the
two mythical birds whose songs symbolize joy and sorrow 8
I.8 Ivan Bilibin, Sirin (1905), frequently reproduced graphic
image of the mythical bird of joy by the premier
illustrator of fairy tales in Russia 9
I.9 Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’ Zeus and Thetis (1811)
visualizes an episode from Homer’s Iliad, where the
nymph Thetis supplicates Zeus to intervene on behalf
of her son Achilles. The eagle at the god’s left is Zeus’
symbol, linking the bird to royal divinity/divine royalty 10
I.10 The Holy Trinity (1492) in St. Elizabeth’s Church in
Wrocław, Poland, represented by the dove 11
I.11 Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Mary Nazarene (1857)
symbolizes her spirituality, love, and peace by
the dove 12
I.12 The Byzantine eagle as a symbol of double-headed power 13