Abstract

World War II has been mythologized in Russian cinema. Many of the most acclaimed films of the Soviet era discuss the Soviet Union’s violent clashes against the Nazi regime. The aim of this Independent Study is to ascertain how film reflects dominant narratives surrounding War II in Russia through the analysis of select works spanning from the Stalin to Gorbachev eras. These narratives construct what Soviet historian Nina Tumarkin calls the “war cult”, a state sponsored effort to reshape Soviet World War II history to align the event with political ends. This Independent Study will explore this concept through the stylistic and thematic changes of Soviet war films depending on the leadership under which they were released. To accomplish this, this paper will highlight common tropes, cinematic methods, and themes utilized during different Soviet epochs to better understand how Soviet leaders used film to control understandings of history and politics. This paper will examine how state-imposed film conventions were used to reshape history, as well as filmmakers’ cinematic responses to state control. This method of analysis showed that while there was some overlap in cinematic stylings from Stalin to Gorbachev, different leadership and policies yielded distinctly different representations of the Soviet experience during World War II.

Advisor

Pozefsky, Peter

Department

History

Keywords

Film, Soviet Union, World War II

Publication Date

2026

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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