REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

280 REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

paints a stark contrast between the conduct of the men and the women.

Women are portrayed as warm, caring, strong, generous, and reliable

( babushka types), but also as fatalistic and long - suffering. Men, on the

other hand, are presented as having a self - destructive streak manifested

through episodes of sudden violence and bouts of alcoholism.

The compelling babushka imagery refl ects a mindset that is typically

Russian. The picture of the generous, benefi cent grandmother lingers

on, serving as the mother - image of adulthood as well as childhood.

For someone ruled by this kind of mental imagery, adult reality is

likely to be disappointing as they probably experience a lifelong

yearning for ‘ Paradise lost, ’ an undefi ned sense of pre - Oedipal, regressive

nostalgia — a romantic sentimentality that is part of being Russian

(Chasseguet - Smirgel, 1975 ).

Suffering and Violence

But this nostalgic yearning is not the only pattern explored in Kozintsev

and Trautberg ’ s fi lm. Viewers are subjected to sudden, unexpected erup-

tions — violent beating scenes fi ll the screen periodically, and sadistic and

masochistic behavior patterns intertwine. Accurately refl ecting Russian

life, the fi lm identifi es suffering in various forms as another prevailing

theme: suffering is needed to attain salvation for whatever ‘ crimes ’ —

imagined or real — a person has committed. Sin, remorse, and punish-

me nt h ave a l w ay s b e e n i m p or t a nt t he me s i n Ru s s i a n h i s t or y. T he Ru s s i a n

Orthodox Church, with its imagery of torment, agony, and martyrdom,

its view of suffering as the means by which to seek and fi nd God ’ s grace

and mercy, has played an important role in the formation of this aspect

of the Russian psyche.

It can be argued that a sadomasochistic identifi cation with author-

ity — whether the authority fi gure is the tsar, a nobleman, a landowner,

Lenin, Stalin, or a Communist Party commissar — has also characterized

the Russian people over the centuries (Murray, 1995 ). This attitude

toward authority fi gures implies not only a readiness to be abused

but also a willingness to assume the position of sadistic authority over

others.

In the seminal book Childhood and Society (1963) by psychoanalyst

and human - development scholar Erik Erikson, we fi nd a chapter entitled

‘ The Legend of Maxim Gorky ’ s Youth. ’ Erikson uses Kozintsev and

Trautberg ’ s fi lm about Gorky to explore what he saw as timeless, salient

patterns in the Russian character; in particular, the sadomasochistic

orientation. And he is in good company in emphasizing such patterns,