The stories, “The Housing Crisis” and “Poverty” by Zoshchenko, had a very simple style to identify problems in Russian society. In “The Housing Crisis,” it seemed as if a bathroom was plenty for a family with a child to comfortably live. I thought it was funny when the wife was talking about putting a partition, boudoir, and dining room all in one bathroom. The addition of members to the family and obstacles to the living situation came so easily. As these obstacles appeared, the living space of the man decreased more and more. This indicated the hardship of the living space in Moscow if someone progressed in their life by marrying and having a child. Also, the ease of the hardship that finally made the man leave the bathroom emphasized the pain of living in such a small space. In “Poverty,” something so simple as light indicated the poverty in the mansion. The extra light exposed the bedbugs, stains and rips in the furniture and walls. The landlady did not have the money to pay clean up her room so she cut the wiring in the building. In these two stories, the simplicity of events that occurred emphasized the meaning of the story. The hardship of the housing was displayed the addition of obstacles that limited the space of the man. The simplicity of light showing the dirtiness of the rooms indicated poverty.

When reading Zoshchenko’s poems, I found Poverty to be particularly salient, especially once the lights were turned on and the detriments of the main character’s living conditions were exposed. I believe that this story was an allegory for how some people react to their society when they are made aware of their society’s shortcomings, with some actively working to make it better, while others prefer not to expend that effort, but to go back into a state where they can ignore those shortcomings.

The main character’s belief that he was living in luxury made it all the more painful for him when he realized that he was living in squalor. Despite this, he put his nose to the grindstone and renovated his living quarters, putting all his money and time into ensuring that his room was clean, presentable, and comfortable to live in with the lights on. He represents the kind of person that, when confronted with issues the society is facing, chooses to engage with them and try to make his life better. My belief in this representation is bolstered by the fact that they were just starting to build up the Soviet Union, so I believe that he represents the kind of person who took part in that.

His actions are in stark contrast to the landlady, however, who chose to return to the literal dark ages when her electric lights reveal that her apartment was disgusting. She didn’t want to put the work in to fix her living situation though, so she chose to continue living that way, but without lights so she couldn’t see how she was living. Not only did she refuse to improve her life and living space, but she refused to allow others to keep the luxuries that let them enjoy their newfound cleanliness and organization. I believe that she is meant to represent those who refuse to accept the new society because it exposes current issues, and they don’t want to work to make their society better. This could also be read more directly with the woman as a stand-in for traditional values standing in the way of technological innovation, but given the time this was written, I believe Poverty was meant to be an allegory for how some people actively try to improve society, while others try to shut out problems and hold the improvers back.

There are many fascinating, and enigmatic, recurring images in “Forward March, Time” the 1977 Soviet propaganda film. The one that I would like to focus on is that of the gramophone, as it appears in many different contexts throughout the film, often playing music with the words “How wonderful it is!”. The most fascinating scene in which it appears occurs at around the 11th minute of the film. The gramophone plays music over a black and white sea of buildings and monuments, where the Eiffel Tower can be picked out. The gramophone morphs first into a snake with a flicking tongue, then into a gun, and finally into a tank-like gargantuan war machine that spits out both bullets and airplanes. Throughout this scene, the gramophone keeps its musicality, in some semblance at least, through its emission of sounds.

As to the meaning of this image, I took the clue of the Eiffel Tower to mean that it symbolized the Communist takeover and Socialist revolution of Western Europe. The gramophone playing the idealized music of “How wonderful it is!” seemed to stand for the ignorant and luxurious Western lifestyle, as told by the Soviets. Their music would be replaced by the more beautiful sounds of revolution.

In general, the timing of images with sound in this movie was very intentional. I would be interested to hear what other people noticed on this point in other parts of the film.