Myth Actualization as a Way to Build the Self-Reflective Plot of the Film “Ilyich’s Gate”

The article provides the analysis of mytho­logical dimension of the film “Ilych’s Gate” (Zastava Ilycha) by M.M. Khutsiev. The author concludes that the text of this film represents self-reflexive structure. Firstly, the plot of the film quite clearly depicts the mythological perception of reality. Secondly, the course of narration reproduces the influence of mytho­logical codes on the perception of the audience. The text of the film contains a description of its own mechanism of influence on the viewer as well as the processes taking place in the minds of the audience at the moment of viewing.

The first part informs of the main principles of mytho­logical thinking and the idea of time and space in the myth, referring to the works by C. Lévi-Strauss, R. Barthes, M. Eliade, A. Losev, E. Cassirer and others. Special attention is paid to the role of myth and initiation ritual in the psychological formation of a personality, as, based on the following, this is the theme that forms the basis of the film plot.

The second part deals with the methods by which the mythological dimension is manifested in the text of the film.

In the third part, the researcher shows how the contrast of secular and sacral becomes the main semantic opposition promoting the motion of the plot.

In the fourth part, the author proves that the reflection of reality in the characters’ minds is a referent of the images shown on the screen. The characters’ development lies in the actualization of the sacral and mythological perception of the world. In turn, the cultural codes contained in the text of the film are designed to evoke a kind of response in the minds of the audience — to actualize the same sacred modus of perception in its ideas, the achievement of which is the ultimate goal of the characters. Thus, the inner path of the characters in the film reflects the processes that excite the studied film in the perception of the audience.

The relevance of the article lies in the discovery and description of the principle of self-reflection in the structure of the film “Ilych’s Gate”, which allows us to understand at a qualitatively new level its structure and place in the historical development of Russian cinematography.

1. Margolit E.Ya. Zhivye i mertvoe: zametki k istorii sovetskogo kino 1920 - 1960-kh godov [The Living and the Dead: Notes on the History of Soviet Cinema of the 1920s - 1960s]. St. Petersburg, Masterskaya “Seans” Publ., 2012, 560 p.

2. Pondopulo G.K. Kul’tura obraztsa. Formirovanie kul’turnykh paradigm Vostoka i Zapada: uchebnoe posobie [Sample Culture. Formation of Cultural Paradigms of the East and the West: textbook]. Moscow, VGIK Publ., 2014, 380 p.

3. Eliade M. Aspekty mifa [Aspects of Myth]. Moscow, Akademicheskii Proekt Publ., 2014, 234 p.

4. Lévi-Strauss C. Strukturnaya antropologiya [Structural Anthropology]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1983, 536 p.

5. Cassirer E. Filosofiya simvolicheskikh form. T. 2: Mifologicheskoe myshlenie [Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Volume 2: Mythical Thought]. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Universitetskaya Kniga Publ., 2001, 280 p.

6. Losev A.F. Dialektika mifa [Dialectics of Myth]. St. Petersburg, Azbuka Publ., 2014, 316 p.

7. Lévi-Strauss C. Pervobytnoe myshlenie [The Savage Mind]. Moscow, Terra-Knizhnyi Klub Publ., Respublika Publ., 1999, 392 p.

8. Barthes R. Mifologii [Mythologies]. Moscow, Akademicheskii Proekt Publ., 2014, 351 p.

9. Toporov V.N. A Ritual. Introduction to the Problematics, Arkhaicheskiii ritual v fol’klornykh i ranneliteraturnykh pamyatnikakh [Archaic Ritual in Folklore and Early Literary Monuments]. Moscow, Glavnaya Redaktsiya Vostochnoi Literatury Izdatel’stva “Nauka” Publ., 1988, pp. 7—60 (in Russ.).

10. Campbell J. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Moscow, Piter Publ., 2016, 347 p. (in Russ.).

11. Campbell J. Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation. Moscow, Otkrytyi Mir Publ., 2006, 314 p. (in Russ.).

12. Khrenov N.A. Obrazy Velikogo razryva. Kino v kontekste smeny kul’turnykh tsiklov [Images of the Great Break. Cinema in the Context of Changing Cultural Cycles]. Moscow, Progress-Traditsiya Publ., 2008, pp. 468—485.

13. Eliade M. Myths of the Modern World, Mify, snovideniya, misterii [Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries]. Moscow, REFL-book Publ., Kiev, Vakler Publ., 1996, pp. 35—36 (in Russ.).

14. Kurbatova K.G. Time in the Image Structure of the Film by Marlen Khutsiev “Ilyich’s Gate”, Kinovedcheskie zapiski [Film Studies Notes], 2004, no. 68, pp. 237—263 (in Russ.).

15. Eliade M. Izbrannye sochineniya: Mif o vechnom vozvrashchenii; Obrazy i simvoly; Svyashchennoe i mirskoe [Selected Works: The Myth of the Eternal Return; Images and Symbols; The Sacred and the Secular]. Moscow, Ladomir Publ., 2000, 414 p.

16. Kovalov O.A. The Fourth Meaning. “Ilyich’s Gate”: A Hypothesis of Reading the Film Text, Iskusstvo kino [Film Art], 2008, no. 10, pp. 63—72 (in Russ.).

17. Toporov V.N. Feast, Mify narodov mira: entsiklopediya: v 2 t. [Myths of the Peoples of the World: encyclopedia: in 2 volumes]. Moscow, Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya Publ., 1988, vol. 2. K—Ya, pp. 329—330 (in Russ.).

18. Meletinsky E.M. Poetika mifa [Poetics of Myth]. Moscow, Vostochnaya Literatura Publ., 2000, 407 p.

19. Greimas A.-J. Reflections on Actantial Models, Frantsuzskaya semiotika: ot strukturalizma k poststrukturalizmu [French Semiotics: From Structuralism to Post-Structuralism]. Moscow, Progress Publ., 2000, 536 p. (in Russ.).