XIII - Perestroika of kitsch: Sergei Soloviev's Black Rose, Red Rose

Summary

The hero of Assa (dir. Sergei Soloviev, 1988) makes a paradoxical statement that can be interpreted as a comment both on the new aesthetics of the Soviet cinema and on glasnost in general: “kitschy but original” (Poshlo, no original'no). How can “kitsch,” often understood as “pseudoart” or “vicarious experience” (the Russian word “ poshlost,” suggesting something that has been recycled many times and turned into a weary cliché) coincide with originality in the context of contemporary Soviet culture? In what way does a comic reconsideration of the notions of “vulgarity,” “kitsch,” and poshlost offer a serious cultural critique? (Is there a conflict between irony and poshlost, or between the uses of kitsch and the uses of absurd?) What are the limits of irony and satire in Soviet cinema? What cannot be treated ironically? Can poshlost and kitsch be funny? If so, then from whose point of view — and who gets the last laugh?

Nabokov asserted that poshlost is a moral category. The examination of what in any specific culture is considered kitsch and poshlost — besides providing a valuable comic relief from the high seriousness of the scholarly enterprise — gives us a rare insight into operation of the culture.