Presently, this idea of Europeanness not only informs a variety of social virtues such as law abidance, work ethics, a healthy lifestyle, and a well-balanced distribution of time between work and family, but also defines the material markers of flourishing such as nicely furnished apartments in good neighborhoods, comfortable foreign cars, elegant dress codes, and luxurious vacations abroad. This explains why the rise of the middle class in post-Soviet Russia resulted in the emergence of liberal professions inconceivable in the communist past. It is not surprising therefore that advertisements presenting the perfect wedding as a prerequisite for living happily ever after are now common in the pages of women\u2019s glossies, while the web abounds with images of radiantly smiling couples in lushly decorated settings.<\/p>\n
Whereas weddings in Soviet times were usually organized by the marrying couple\u2019s families reproducing long-established popular rituals, the preoccupation of the new middle class with the Western way of doing things has inevitably led former traditions to being abandoned.<\/p>\n In his 2013 film\u00a0Kiss!<\/em>\u00a0(Gorko!<\/em>) Zhora Kryzhovnikov juxtaposes new and old marrying practices to bring out the conflict between the Soviet-era habits of the parents and the post-Soviet middle class tastes of the children. Here the bride and groom have to attend a grand restaurant reception in line with the Soviet tradition to indulge their family before they escape to a beach party secretly organized by the posh and ostentatiously expensive wedding planner they hire for the occasion. Having discovered the couple\u2019s disappearance, the unruly restaurant crowd shows up at the beach. In the end, the film seems to promote an idea that it is not some misinformed notion of a European-style wedding that can guarantee a good life but an extended family ready to provide continuing guidance and support to its members regardless of cultural preferences, socioeconomic standing, or age.<\/p>\n In \u201cThe World of Fixtures\u201d the Soviet tradition is epitomized by a slightly scabrous Russian folk verse eulogizing spontaneous eating, drinking, and copulation performed by an amateurish sounding accordionist, which the bride decisively relegates to the realm of poshlost\u2019<\/em> (tawdriness).<\/em> Contrary to the bride and groom in Kiss!,<\/em> here the old-fashioned family do not interfere with the couple\u2019s designs. Rather, we see that in spite of the usual association of a wedding with romance and emotion, the prospective spouses do not demonstrate any signs of excitement or joyful anticipation. Segal delivers a sharp piece of social satire by allowing the ruthless professional (who, contrary to conventional expectations, is a man) to take advantage of the young couple\u2019s provincial insecurity, lack of creativity, and almost obsessive commitment to the ephemeral European ideal. To name but one example, he deviously creates an illusion of independent and original taste by presenting rice to them as the preferable European substitute for traditional millet. In her analysis of the film Lilya Nemchenko aptly remarks that this is uncannily reminiscent of a scene from Il\u2019f and Petrov\u2019s novel Twelve Chairs<\/em>\u00a0(1928) where the protagonist, in a similar way, cons the ignorant and gullible Ellochka out of her chair by offering her a tea strainer as the European gadget du jour.[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n As its title already indicates, the story problematizes the image of individual life as tightly fitted, meticulously planned, and protected against any form of contingency, something perceived as a Western invention. What starts as an innocent preparation for a wedding gradually transforms into a farcical rehearsal of the couple\u2019s entire life, including their future children\u2019s hobbies and type of education, the virtual casting of prospective lovers, and the choice after death between cremation and burial. In their fear for the unforeseen they become utterly susceptible, feeble victims of the external paternalistic power of the wedding planner, with his ostentatious wristwatch and smooth manners.<\/p>\n In a circumvent way, the film unveils a number of important controversies in the life orientations and values of the Russian middle class today. Recent sociological surveys portray the middle class as the most conservative part of the Russian population. In spite of the increasing socioeconomic uncertainty the majority of the middle class keeps away from political action, valuing stability as an essential foundation for its well-being.[2]<\/a> It sees no problem in staying loyal to the present authorities\u2019 domestic and foreign policies on the condition that these authorities guarantee its material privilege and high level of consumption. It even paradoxically supports the government\u2019s strong anti-Western sentiments and belief in Russia\u2019s unique position on the world stage.[3]<\/a> And it is exactly this desire for stability and a future sheltered from traumatic interruptions that, in \u201cThe World of Fixtures,\u201d informs the marrying couple\u2019s anxiously dependent behavior, no matter how absurd and bleak the outlook of their over-organized existence might seem to viewers.<\/p>\n Returning to the Russian socioeconomic and political reality, however, it remains to be seen whether or not the authorities will continue to live up to their promise of stability and to retain the loyalty of the middle class in the years to come. The quoted surveys also identify the emerging signs of concern, especially within the most educated and prosperous part of this stratum, about the authorities\u2019 geopolitical stance and a lack of a realistic long-term strategy of socioeconomic development.[4]<\/a> The growing difficulty for the middle class to emulate European material standards might, in the end, bring about the realization that its own wellbeing does not come without social responsibility and political engagement in the country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n January 2016<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Nemchenko, Lilya \u201cTell me what you know about Russia?\u201d KinoKultura<\/em> 2013, 39. http:\/\/www.kinokultura.com\/2013\/39r-rasskazy.shtml<\/a> [Accessed 3 January 2016].<\/p>\n [2]<\/a>Of course, one needs to keep in mind that historically the Russian middle class is not a homogeneous entity but a highly stratified socioeconomic group comprising intellectuals, artists, highly qualified professionals as well as entrepreneurs. Therefore, the understanding of and reaction to specific manifestations of the crisis might considerably differ among individual representatives of this class.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a>Source: Skorobogatyi, Petr \u201cTrevozhnyi i loialnyi,\u201d Expert Online<\/em>, 2 November 2015. http:\/\/expert.ru\/expert\/2015\/45\/trevozhnyij-i-loyalnyij\/[Accessed 3 January 2016].<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> See for a detailed discussion of the gradual precarization of the Russian middle class: Zhukovskii, Vladislav \u201cGriadet realnyi bunt srednego klassa, kotoryi pustili pod nozh.\u201d Interview with Elena Kolebiakina, Business Online<\/em>, 5 January 2016. http:\/\/m.business-gazeta.ru\/article\/298565<\/a> [Accessed 7 January 2016].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Irina Souch, University of Amsterdam A wish to organize a wedding in the latest European fashion motivates the soon-to-be-married Olia and Dima to engage the services of a wedding planner in the first of Mikhail Segal\u2019s Short Stories (Rasskazy, 2012), symptomatically titled \u201cThe World of Fixtures\u201d (\u201cMir krepezha\u201d). Offering a lively mosaic of contemporary social … Continue reading Wedding Planner<\/span> ![\"wedding](\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/files\/2016\/01\/wedding-ad-2.jpg\")
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