Magic Mirror: Moviemaking In Russia, 1908-1918 (Wisconsin Studies in Film) [Paperback]

Denise J. Youngblood (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wisconsin Studies in Film | Publication Date: April 7, 1999

Amid the instability and violence of turn-of-the-century industrialization and urbanization Russians embraced a revolutionary art form to reflect the aspirations and motivations of a new class. In The Magic Mirror Denise Youngblood portrays a newly urbanized entreprenurial middle class-not the revolutionaries or imperialists of historians-and the movies they made and paid to see. Upon those screens they saw their lives depicted in all their variety and uncertainty.

Youngblood provides a cultural angle into an era most often viewed through a revolutionary lens. Film and the film industry illuminates and reflects the popular attitudes of the time.

The Magic Mirror is a study of the ten years of native film production through the Revolutions of 1917, based almost exclusively on Russian language primary sources. Topics examined include the organization and evolution of the industry followed by description and analysis of genres, motifs, and themes as exemplified in 65 of the most important surviving films.

Youngblood's anatomy of the ten years of Russian native film production before the revolution and subsequent nationalization of the Russian film industry, gives a clear and useful overview of the social climate surrounding early Russian cinema; the societal phenomena of pre-revolutionary Russia as it is reflected in the people and the business, the filmmakers and films.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A compelling account of the social basis of the development of Russian cinema.”—Vance Kepley, University of Wisconsin–Madison

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Denise Youngblood is associate professor of history at the University of Vermont and the author of Movies for the Masses and Soviet Cinema in the Soviet Era.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (April 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299162346
• ISBN-13: 978-0299162344
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,537,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Denise J. Youngblood, Professor of History at the University of Vermont, has written extensively on Russian and Soviet Cinema, including, most recently, Cinematic Cold War: The American and Soviet Struggle for Hearts and Minds, and Russian War Films: On the Cinema Front, 1914-2005.