Starring the People: Eisenstein's Notion of the Collective Hero and the Representation of the Masses in The Battleship Potemkin
Throughout the history of cinema, most films have adopted the simple technique of a three-act structure, using one or two main protagonists and a main antagonist. Russian films from the imperial era were no different, adding to their stories lavishly decorated sets and gothic elements. Similar to the revolutions that led to the establishment of the Soviet Union, a great shift occurred also in Russia's cinema that would further solidify the fervor and rapid change of political atmosphere. After Vladimr Lenin rallied the people to dismantle the monarchy of Tsar Nicolas II, director Sergei Eisenstein sought to solidify the glory of the revolution by eschewing the traditional narratives of the individual folk hero (similar to Vladimir Romashkov's 1908 film Stenka Razin) or the lavish scenery and atmosphere (as seen in Yevgeni Bauer's 1917 drama The Dying Swan). Eisenstein's most acclaimed film, The Battleship Potemkin, serves as the best example of the representation of the masses (or the collective hero), through its use of depicting everyday, typecast people (rebellious sailors, average workers, mothers, children, the physically impaired) as they struggle against the forces of tyranny (loyal forces to the tsar). This essay will examine Eisenstein's unique contributions in creating a new style of narrative for Soviet films, narratives which are inspired by and depict the events leading to the rise of the Soviet Union.
Russia's cinematic history began with the exhibition of films imported from the West, especially France and Great Britain. While the first Russian narrative was Stenka Razin (a film based on the lyrics of a poem that describes the titular Cossack hero), filmmakers would continue to borrow aesthetic ideas of films from the West, including the standard plot structure. These themes and the attention given to the posh scenery and backgrounds were seen as revelry in bourgeois taste in the eyes of the Communist leaders. This prompted Soviet directors to create a new alternative of storytelling, one that would relate more closely to the people. According to film historian David Bordwell, the Soviet directors began to focus on "plotless cinema," a style fueled by expression, which included "unrealistic manipulations of time and the use of non-diegetic and associative montage." (Bordwell; p. 43)
As did many artists in the Soviet Union, Eisenstein wanted to do away with the old themes and storytelling structure of imperial Russia. He traded narratives for historical reenactment and switched focusing on single characters with the masses that represented good or evil. His desire was to contribute in the formation a new style of art theory and appreciation, which would unite the workers of Russia to contribute to the communist ideology in any way they could. The idea of rejecting "individualism" in the arts was a principle celebrated by the intellectuals associated with the Left Front of the Arts (or LEF), such as Sergei Tretvakov and Osip Brik. Directors, like Eisenstein, who were inspired by the LEF artists, exposed the artificiality of the traditional plot structure driven by a single protagonist's struggle with an antagonist, arguing that both would drive a standard structure of a plot, since those elements represented the decadent bourgeois taste in art. Instead, these theorists advocated the need to show the people as a whole in concrete historical circumstances, especially favoring the theme of the gestation of their revolutionary consciousness. All of Eisenstein’s films made in the 1920s – Strike, The Battleship Potemkin, October, and Old and New – seem to embrace this ideal: they do not have a single hero but rather celebrate the masses rising up against the tsar's ruling class and establishing a more equal society that coincided with Lenin's vision.
The artistic anticipation for the new Russia was a conflicting one. Some artists foresaw a light-hearted, worker's utopia, which would eventually become a template of the Socialist Realism art movement enforced by the regime of Josef Stalin. Others envisioned an aesthetic focusing on order based on solemn monumentality conditioned by what historian Richard Stites refers to as an "anti-iconoclastic fear" that would unleash chaos if said order was left to the masses (Stites; p. 79). But the main purpose for eradicating individualist artwork was to create a new art to coincide with Lenin's pursuit for the dictatorship of the proletariat, a vision, originally created by Karl Marx, that called for the working class to rule over the previous ruling class.
Many scholars and film enthusiasts herald The Battleship Potmekin as Eisenstein's greatest achievement in cinema. They have looked to the "Odessa Steps" scene as the best example of the Soviet montage theory. This theory (or more specifically, the rhythmic montage that was used in the scene) was meant to create a jarring emotional impact through the use of clashing shots depicting an event in the scene. But it was more than just the editing that made this moment of the movie stand out. The participants of the event also represented clashing ideologies.
The protagonists were those who rebelled against the tsar. The anti-tsarist masses included the defecting sailors on the ship, as well as various, everyday townspeople of Odessa. Eisenstein intended for them to represent the masses during the revolution whose deaths would serve as inspiration to the Bolshevik fighters later on in history. What is interesting to note is that the townspeople are the only ones in the Odessa Steps scene to be given close-ups (aside from the Cossack fighters). The purpose of these close-ups is to magnify their emotions, which exaggerates their humanity as opposed to their oppressors. The protestors’ faces of joy, fear, and anger are shown close up for the audience to empathize with them, seeing them as the more human characters when compared to those who are loyal to the tsar.
The tsar's troops were the collective antagonists. Eisenstein wanted to show them not only as a representation of an old model of society that was no longer fit to function in the 20th Century, but also as an inhuman force comparable to that of a machine. Their rhythmic stepping and movement appear robotic, only stopping momentarily to indiscriminately fire at whatever and whoever is in front of them. Their faces are never shown, therefore being stripped of their humanity and serving as the metaphorical cog-wheels meant to keep the tsar’s oppressive reign in motion.
Because this example of following the masses instead of certain characters persists throughout the film, the characters should not be seen as individuals, but instead as expressions of abstract ideological perspectives. The only time the audience is introduced to any named character is for brief moments during the "Men and Maggots" scene. The Potemkin's commander, Golikov, and the chief officer, Giliarovsky, are the only named individuals loyal to the Tsar. The only named individual resisting the orders of the tsarist forces is Vakulinchuk. His leadership of the rebellious sailors is the initial spark of conflict that starts the narrative of the film. But even in this moment, the named characters do not appear long enough to allow for the audience to get acquainted with them. The main reason for the rushed introduction of characters is due to Eisenstein's attempts to cover the broad range of events during the 1905 uprising, from the mutiny, to the massacre in Odessa, to the Potemkin's stalemate with the rest of the navy.
Like The Battleship Potemkin, Eisenstein's other famous works throughout his early career involved the masses being categorized as the collective protagonist and antagonist. His 1925 film Strike, revolves around a group of factory workers prosecuted for their righteous demands by the bourgeois factory owners and tsarist spies, joined by the tsarist troops who quell the strikers' movement. No single character could be said to be the definitive hero of the film; rather, it shows a variety of situations typifying the drama of the proletariat’s life under the Tsar's regime. The actors and actresses portraying the characters were members of the First Workers' Theater of Proletkult. The actors of the Proletkult would also appear in The Battleship Potemkin, as well as in the 1928 film October: Ten Days That Shook The World. The Proletkult (a fusion of the words "proletarian" and "culture") was formed along with other major state institutions of the newly created Soviet Union. It's purpose was to serve as the part of the backbone of Soviet high art. Born from the proposals of a wave of "proletarian culture" by the Bolshevik intellectual Aleksandr Bogdanov, the purpose for its existence was for the proletarians to create a new culture in general that would encourage the people to eventually take control of the socialist movement. (Mally; p. 2).
Eisenstein's use of the masses as the collective hero would end after October, which coincided with the growing totalitarian rule of Stalin. He would go on to make films with centered plotlines and individual heroes in films such as Alexander Nevsky and Ivan The Terrible. Ironically, his latter films would mythologize past historic figures of Russia, in the same manner as Stenka Razin. A sense of freedom can be felt in his earlier movies (made during the transition from Lenin's rule to Stalin's), but the turn in storytelling techniques signaled a more restrictive environment in Soviet cinema, which built up Stalin's repressive regime that brought fear and censorship in all artistic fields of Russia until Stalin's death in 1953.
The Battleship Potemkin. Dir. Sergei Eisenstein. Kino Video, 2010. DVD.
Bordwell, David. "Monumental Heroics: The Silent Films." The Cinema of Eisenstein. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1993. 43. Print.
Stites, Richard. "Ch. 4: Festivals of the People." Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. N. pag 79. Print.
Strike. Dir. Sergei Eisenstein. Kino International. 2011. DVD.
October (Ten Days That Shook the World). Dir. Sergei Eisenstein. Perf. Nikolay Popov, Vasili Nikandrov, Layaschenko. Grapevine Video, 2002. DVD.
Mally, Lynn. Culture of the Future: The Proletkult Movement in Revolutionary Russia. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1990. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft6m3nb4b2/
Alexander Nevsky. Dir. Sergei Eisenstein. Perf. Nikolai Cherkasov. The Criterion Collection, 2001. DVD.
Ivan the Terrible. Dir. Sergei Eisenstein. Perf. Nikolai Cherkasov. The CriterionCollection, 2001. DVD.
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