Movie theatres in the USSR through the viewers' eyes: expectations and everyday life during the nep (on the questionnaries and sociological survey conducted in cinemas)

Abstract

The essay attempts to understand the specific cultural space of the Soviet city during the NEP through the prism of one of the leisure facilities - movie theaters. Present article is focused on the Soviet moviegoers and their attitudes to theater. In the Soviet society of 1920s cinemas were often estimated by audiences as a place of cultural and leisure activities, despite the fact that they did not really respond to these wishes. Sociology of cinema was a popular scientific field for a short time in the 1920s, that left a large amount of sociological material, but only part of it survived. The unique materials were used for the analysis, its questionnaires and surveys conducted in the Soviet cinema in several regions (Moscow, Tula, Armavir). The essay analyses, on the one hand, the Soviet viewers’ reception of movie theatres as a space of cultural activities and their everyday experience which, on the other hand, oppose such idealized views. The analysis is made on the basis of questionnaires and interviews conducted in the Soviet movie theatres. The author discusses repertory policy of movie theatres, outdoor advertising, cinema press, the organization of viewers’ time in the lobby before and after the screening, work of projectionists and pianists, sanitary conditions and behavior of visitors and filmmakers. Detailed consideration of these issues should create a multiform image of the Soviet cinema as a social phenomenon, which previously was investigated only from positions of policy repertoire.