"Aelita" Jakowa Protazanowa w „złotym dziesięcioleciu” Nowej Polityki Ekonomicznej

Abstrakt

YAKOV PROTAZANOV’S AELITA IN THE “GOLDEN DECADE” OF THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY

The main idea of this essay is to reevaluate the almost forgotten film of Yakov Protazanov Aelita 1924. The first part of the essay tracks the reception of the movie since its premiere; the author argues that Aelita was underestimated because very often its critical evaluations had been motivated by teleological, realist, or formalist paradigms. Aelita is based on Aleksy Tolstoy’s novel of the same title. The second part of the essay is dedicated to the scrutiny of the plot of the novel. In the last part of his essay — through the comparison with the novel — the author shows that Protazanov’s film is much more sophisticated than the literary prototype and offers the cognitive mapping of the social and political conflicts in the ‟golden decade” of the New Economic Policy.

Translated by Tomasz Gaczoł