The Image of the Child in Soviet Cinema: A New Look

Representations of the nude body rarely appeared in Soviet films, especially when it comes to the body of the child. However, there are a number of films where such images are present. This article aims to establish the reasons for the appearance of these images on the screens of Soviet cinemas and to identify the strategies for perceiving eroticized images of children by domestic viewers in the Soviet era, and in our days. The article analyzes several Soviet films of the late 1960s - early 1980s. The paper separately considers those aspects in which a critique of these movies can be carried out from the standpoint of the new ethics and civic activism. The aspects include viewing the eroticized body of the child as sexual exploitation and visual abuse, the need to draw attention to the nature of the relationship between the participants in the creative artistic process that developed in Soviet cinema, and the lack of clear boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate cultural practices typical of Soviet society.