Part of the exhibition "Unity is Strength. An Art Exhibition on the Fight Against Covid-19" at the National Museum of China in Beijing.

  • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Hot take: I'm actually not really a fan of socialist realism because it's boring and quasi-reactionary. Socialist realism was only codified as "the" art style of the USSR after the Soviet bureaucracy began to reel in the craziness of the post-Revolutionary period in terms of new cultural forms. Constructivism (heavily supported by the Bolsheviks) is far more interesting and boundary pushing than socialist realism, while still upholding and working well with socialist values. If all art was just socialist realism I would be so sad.

    • Zezima [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      it combines history and ideology while also telling imperialists to fuck off

        • LibsEatPoop2 [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          could you translate what they say? and do you have any good sources to get into cool socialist art (inc. books, tv etc)?

          • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Yeah, so the first one says "The oppressed peoples of the whole world, under the banner of the Comintern, overthrow imperialism!" The second one says "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge." As far as Constructivism goes, this is a good primer.

            Outside of Constructivism, the Soviet film industry was extremely influential and experimental at times. Check out people like Eisenstein (who invented the montage) and Tarkovsky (who is one of the best filmmakers of all time).

            The best socialist TV show I've ever watched is Dekalog, made right before the collapse of communism. Set in Poland, it's really a wonderful look at the lives of common people in late 20th century communist Europe, and very innovative.

            I love this book of Chinese revolutionary poetry. Mao's "Snow" is an absolute banger.

            Fiction-wise, I love Chevengur by Andrei Platonov and Red Star by Bogdanov.

            Yugoslav synth pop is amazing and so much fun; it's more 80's than anything from the West.

    • LeninWalksTheWorld [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I like socialist realism (and just realism) personally but I agree that if it was the ONLY art it would get boring