The master's thesis focuses on the development of the poetics and aesthetics in the work of the Russian film director Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (1989 -1948). The aspiration to discover something unknown and new, through the usage of art in a state of constant development, is characteristic of Soviet montage, which has influenced Eisenstein's work greatly. The first part of the thesis will focus on the early development of Eisenstein's creative process which started with his work in the theatre. Another great influence on his work can be attributed to Japanese culture, namely Kabuki theatre and Japanese poetry. Eisenstein's enthusiasm for the circus and Kabuki theatre, the influence from Meyerhold's biomechanics, and his understanding of D. W. Griffith's theory of montage, created Eisenstein's own montage theory of attractions. Its main idea lies in connecting attractions into basic contrastive comparisons which guide and centre the audience's feelings. The primary mechanism for creating new associative connections is comparing pictures which carry clear and powerful emotional associations. The principle of associativity reaches its pinnacle in the final stage of silent film montage - intellectual montage. The difference between the usage of montage before and after 1930 is demonstrated in the thesis. "The old" film was subjugated to literature and the theatre, whereas "the new" film tries to escape that subordination. In Eisenstein's theoretical background, we can clearly see the upgrading and the developing of notions to which he returned throughout his opus - attraction, ecstasy, pathos, emotions, montage. After 1934, when social realism became the basic creative guideline, the ideology started to push down on the artists. The 1930s also brought forth the emergence of sound film, which upgraded Eisenstein's associative montage into vertical montage, in which the audio-visual counterpoint plays a big role. The final part of the thesis will apply the main characteristics of both periods to sections from the film "Strike" (1928) and "Alexander Nevsky" (1938).
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