Abstract
Satirical cinemagazine Fitil (The Fuse), one of the final products of the Thaw, the time of liberalization in both foreign and domestic policy of the Soviet Union, appeared in 1962 and was produced under the supervision of Sergei Mikhalkov, a prominent public and literary figure in the USSR. Vivid and engaging, the cinemagazine starred many famous theatre and cinema actors and soon became an important part of mainstream satire, which was aimed at reinforcing the Soviet regime by criticizing some of its flaws. The significance attached to Fitil by Soviet authorities can be illustrated by the fact that its episodes were shown before films in cinemas, that is, it was officially promoted and was seen by the mass public across the Union. Fitil was expected not only to relieve social tension, but also marked the boundaries of the permissible in public criticism and satire. The agenda of Fitil was heterogeneous and dynamic: apart from a number of permanent themes, such as bureaucracy and red tape, bad management, poor service in retail and catering, alcohol abuse, morals, and manners, there were variations in the choice of themes and subjects of satire in different periods. The changes also affected the degree of generalization, the scale of the problems discussed and characteristics of the comic itself. This article analyzes Fitil issues of 1962-1991 and outlines the cinemagazine’s agenda and its changes in time. It is shown that Fitil was a part of mainstream satire, determined by the state policy in the sphere of humour and comedy.
References
Alexeeva, L. M. (1992). History of dissidence in the USSR. Contemporary period. Vilnius - Moscow, 1992. URL: http://library.khpg.org/files/docs/1314780425.pdf (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Dobrenko, E. (2013). 'Gogols and Schedrins: lessons of 'positive satire' (2013). Novoe literaturnoye obozrenie 121. URL: http://www.intelros.ru/readroom/nlo/121-2013/19673-gogoli-i-schedriny-uroki-polozhitelnoy-satiry.html (last accessed date 14.10.2019).
Eremeeva, E. A. (2013). 'Soviet Humorous Discourse: `Content-Analysis of Soviet Political Jokes and Magazine 'Perets'. Istoricheskaya informatika 6. URL: http://kleio.asu.ru/2013/4/hcsj-42013_14-24.pdf (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Fitzpatrick, S. (2018). 'Social parasites: How tramps, idle youth, and busy entrepreneurs impeded the Soviet march to communism'. Soviet Social Policy: Scenes and Actors, 1940-1985. Moscow: OOO 'Variant', Center for Social Policy and Gender Studies, pp. 219-254.
Fokin, A. A. (2014). 'The Decree of the CPSU Central Committee and Council of Ministers of the USSR 'On the Intensification of the Struggle against Alcoholism and Enforcing Order in the Sale of Strong Alcohol Drinks' and the anti-alcohol campaign of the 1960s'. Journal of Chelyabinsk State University 12 (341). URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/postanovlenie-tsk-kpss-i-soveta-ministrov-sssr-ob-usilenii-borby-s-pyanstvom-i-o-navedenii-poryadka-v-torgovle-krepkimi-spirtnymi-napitkami-i (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Golubev, A. V. (2008). 'If the world crashes down on our republic': Soviet society and external threat in the 1920-1940s'. Moscow: Kuchkovo pole, 2008. URL: http://istmat.info/node/47296 (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Gorbatov, A. V. (2014). 'Propaganda and mass media in the period of Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign (1954-1964)'. Journal of Kemerovo State University. 3. URL: https://vestnik.kemsu.ru/jour/article/view/1421 (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Grinko, I. A. & Shevtsova, A. A. (2018). 'The 'woodpecker hammering on reports' and other animals: science in the mirror of Soviet caricature'. Istoricheskaya ekspertiza 2. URL: https://istorex.ru/page/grinko_ia_shevtsova_aa_dyatel_dokladodolbyaschiy_i_drugie_zhivotnie (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Kalinin, I. (2013). 'Laughter as labour and laughter as a commercial product (Stakhanovite movement and capitalist conveyor)'. Novoe literaturnoye obozrenie 121. URL: http://www.intelros.ru/readroom/nlo/121-2013/19671-smeh-kak-trud-i-smeh-kak-tovar-stahanovskoe-dvizhenie-i-kapitalisticheskiy-konveyer.html (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Kaunova, E. V. (2013). 'Alcohol industry in the USSR: reforms and consequences'. Analitika kulturologii 27. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/piteynaya-industriya-sssr-reformy-i-posledstviya (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
KVN: History of the project and its name. FYI. (2008). RIA Novosti as of 09:32, 08.11.2008. URL: https://ria.ru/20081108/154649576.html (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Klinova, M.A. & Trofimov, A. V. (2017). 'Administrative practices of regional and local Soviet and party authorities in 1953-1964 (materials of magazine 'Krokodil')'. Journal of the South Ural State University. Series: Social Sciences and Humanities 17 (3), pp. 25-29.
Kozlov, V. V. (2015). Stilyagi. Young, brave, free. St.Petersburg: Amfora. URL: https://culture.wikireading.ru/24677 (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Krokodil pays a visit to Meduza: May Day idleness (2015). Meduza as of 15:17, 01.05. 2015. URL: https://meduza.io/galleries/2015/05/01/krokodil-v-gostyah-u-meduzy-pervomayskoe-tuneyadstvo (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Kudryavtseva, O.S. (2004). 'Satirical genres of 'Literaturnaya gazeta' as an object of literary study'. Laughter in Literature: Semantics, Axeology, Polyfunctionalism: Collection of Papers, Samara: Samara State University. URL: http://repo.ssau.ru/handle/Smeh-v-literature/Satiricheskie-zhanry-Literaturnoi-gazety-kak-obekt-literaturovedcheskogo-issledovaniya-Smeh-v-literature-semantika-aksiologiya-polifunkcionalnost-Elektronnyi-resurs-mezhvuz-sb-nauch-st-78180 (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Lastovka, T. (2011). 'Sponging in the USSR (1961 - 1991): Legal theory and social practice'. Antropologichesky forum 14. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/tuneyadstvo-v-sssr-1961-1991-yuridicheskaya-teoriya-i-sotsialnaya-praktika (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Lebina, N.B. (2015). Everyday life in the age of space and maize: destruction of the big style. Leningrad, 1950-1960s. St.Petersburg: Kriga; Pobeda.
Lyubimova, O.V. & Geranina, G. A. (2019). 'Khruschev anti-religious campaign in cinema'. Nauchny zhurnal 6 (40). URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/hruschevskaya-antireligioznaya-kampaniya-v-kinematografe (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Oushakine, S. (2013). 'Fighting horror with laughter: on refined weapons of the proletariat's jesters'. Novoe literaturnoye obozrenie 121. URL: http://www.intelros.ru/readroom/nlo/121-2013/19672-smehom-po-uzhasu-o-tonkom-oruzhii-shutov-proletariata.html (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Program of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Adopted by the Twenty-Second Communist Party Congress. URL: http://aleksandr-kommari.narod.ru/kpss_programma_1961.htm (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Satirical magazine 'Fitil'. (2012). RIA Novosti, as of 10:10, 04.06.2012. URL: https://ria.ru/20120604/662644732.html (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Skradol, N. (2011). 'Living got sweeter': the Stalin-era chastushka and production of the 'ideal Soviet subject'. Novoe literaturnoye obozrenie 108. URL: https://magazines.gorky.media/nlo/2011/2/zhit-stalo-veselee-stalinskaya-chastushka-i-proizvodstvo-idealnogo-sovetskogo-subekta.html (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Skradol, N. (2013). 'The gnomes of Stalinism, or an epistemology of Soviet wit'. Novoe literaturnoye obozrenie 121. URL: http://www.intelros.ru/readroom/nlo/121-2013/19674-stalinskie-gnomy-ili-epistemologiya-sovetskogo-ostroumiya.html (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Smolyak, O. (2012). 'Soviet pilferers'. Otechestvennye zapiski 1. URL: http://www.intelros.ru/readroom/otechestvennye-zapiski/o1-2012/14863-sovetskie-nesuny.html (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Turovets, M.V. (2011). 'Problems of method and methodology in film analysis. Notes on the margins of Master's thesis'. Sociology Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. Fourth Sociological Readings in Memory of Valery Borisovich Golofast, St.Petersburg: Eidos. URL: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=24088853 (last accessed date: 14.10.2019).
Vail, P. & Genis, A. (2001). In the 1960s: the world of the Soviet man. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2001.
Vorobyeva, M.V. (2015). 'Vestiges of history in the margins of Soviet aesthetic studies: Yury Borev's concept of the comic and its cultural background'. Soviet Socio-Cultural Project: Historical Chance or Global Anti-Utopia: Proceedings of the International Conference 'Tenth Kolosnitsyn Readings. Ekaterinburg, Liberal Arts University, 2015, pp. 29-36.