OK, real quick entry today because we are leaving for St. Petersburg in about 40 minutes!!!
Our first class of the day was our third History of Russian Film class…I don’t think I can really express how cool this class is. I am so thankful that I took a film theory class one summer at Spring Arbor University because this is like an extension of that class. First, it’s pretty interesting learning about how films from a different culture to begin with, then you add all the Soviet propaganda that had to be in the films adds even more to the storyline. Second, today we talked a little about how the history of the Russian dualistic mind set (things are either black or white, good or bad, no gray area, nothing in the middle) can be traced back to the long tradition of Russian Orthodoxy. I just thought that was kind of interesting. And lastly, we get to watch movies in class! That’s just awesome no matter what.
Today we entered the world of the ‘talkie’ films and our professor is emphatic that silent films didn’t morph into talking films, silent films died and talking picture shows were born. The film that we got to watch in its entirety today is called The Cranes are Flying. It was a beautiful film both in the storyline and in the cinematography. If you ever are in the mode for a Soviet era black and white film…I’d suggest you go for this one! While it was filmed after Stalin had died and right at the beginning of the ‘thaw’ on censorship in films, it was interesting to see all the communist ideals portrayed. Things like the optimistic, tragic hero (someone who dies but is remembered for standing up for the common greater good) and the sense of the joy within the collective whole. Very interesting stuff if you ask me.
We had short lunch followed but another History to Theater class with Anatoli. Generally, he continued to talk about Stanislavsky today talking about his book “An Actor Prepares.” The big idea I got out of this talk was the idea that acting is a physical action and no amount of book knowledge is going to make you a good actor. Oddly enough, he said that the students there at the school don’t even read it…instead they learn Stanislavsky’s “System” from the professors and not from the book.
I feel I had a big breakthrough in our painting class today (which we found out was our last one)! I forced myself to think more generally and pushed myself to think big and bold and just to start painting. Thankfully the new still life we had allowed for that a little more easily than our last one did. My goal was to paint the whole thing in the one class (that was my goal even before we realized it was our last class). I nearly succeed too! The only I have left to paint are the leaves and stems on the flowers. Most of us are going back next Wed. to finish up this painting because we have a little free time that afternoon. The colors aren’t perfect but I was working with a limited palette and under a personal time crunch so I’m ok if some of the flowers aren’t as bright violet as the really ones.
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