Sidorova, G. P. Soviet Economic Daily Life in Popular Culture of the 1960 – 1980th: Archetypical Grounds of Image Codes

Abstract: The research subject of the article is the archetypical grounds of the images of Soviet economic daily life represented in popular art of the 1960 – 1980th. The images typical for the Soviet culture depict an archetypical narrative model – longing for harmony and urge to overcome Chaos and create Cosmos. Each image contains a code that serves as the key to understanding the Soviet culture. To discover these image codes, the author of the article analyzes iconic pieces of art that have been popular for long time, reflects the state of mind and spirits of the society and have a large number of readers/audience and popular quotations. The research methods used by Sidorova in her article include the following: the comparative method that allows to describe the changes of the Soviet economic culture since the 1960th (the Khrushchev Thaw) till the Seventieth, semiotic method, the archetype concept, hermeneutic method, content analysis and the method of historical typology. It is the first time that the archetype concept as well as the archetype classification that was introduced by A. Chernyshov within the framework of the Russian national culture offered are applied to the analysis of images of the Soviet economic daily life in popular art of the 1960 – 1980th. Having analyzed the Soviet economic daily life presented in iconic pieces of popular culture of the 1960 – 1980th, the author has discovered the image codes that have the best representation of the archetype narrative model. According to the author, the images of the Soviet economic daily life relate to such archetypes of the Russian national culture as Heroism, Simplicity, Search, Creativity, Wisdom, Loyalty, Love, Care, Carnival and Rebellion. The images that personified the archetype of Love have become the most popular ones. The image codes of Soviet economic daily life present the collective view of the socialistic variant of the national esthetical ideal and reflect the dynamics of that ideal. Thus, the images that personify the archetypes of Simplicity and Creativity have been gradually disappearing since the 1960th till 1980th. The meaning of the Heroism archetype has been shifted from labor deeds for the country to the performance of duties and self-sacrifice for one’s family. New images of Rebellion and Carnival started to appear. Cosmos had the same structure Communism had. The path to Cosmos went in struggle with Chaos but the main drivers were not antagonism between classes or an external enemy but the struggle of the ‘builder of Communism’ against his internal enemy, i.e. his moral diseases, irresponsibility, dishonesty and indifference. These image codes reflect the duality of the Soviet picture of the world: the image codes declared that the society was moving towards Cosmos (i.e. Communism) while in fact Chaos was growing, i.e. massive irresponsibility, economic mismanagement, dishonesty, social injustice and etc.

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