Intermedial Metadramatic Measurements: Children's Cinema of 1960–1980's

Abstract

The article attempts to apply the common concept of metadrama and metatheatrality, developed by L. Abel, J. Calderwood, J. Schluter, P. Hornby, S. Sviontek, K. Vieweg-Marks, and others related to dramaturgy, to the phenomena of cinema. The problem of theatricality in cinema aesthetics and the history of world cinema is touched upon. The research material is the work of the national cinema for children of the 1960s–1980s, primarily Rolan Bykov’s films (“Seven Nannies”, “Aibolit-66”, “Automobile, Violin and Blot the Dog”). Various manifestations of metatheatrality are analyzed in the films for children: “Mama” (“Rock'n'Roll Wolf»), “The Adventures of Buratino”, “New Adventures of Captain Vrungel”, “A Merry Dream, or Laughter and Tears”, film dilogy about Petrov and Vasechkin, etc. The phenomena of metacharacter (a character who is aware of himself as a character) in children's films are also explored. Characters of Rolan Bykov's films can be categorized as metacharacters: they also perceive themselves as actors, not human beings, articulate their “artificiality”, are aware of their fictional character. Manifestations of metadrama diversify film text, bring a bright game element, create an atmosphere of theatricality, carnival, festivity. Metadramatism makes the viewer think about aesthetic problems, in particular, artistic convention, the boundaries between art (“screen”) and reality (“audience”), their expansion and even destruction. Metadrama techniques contribute to the convergence of the aesthetics of cinema and theatre.