The film “Circus” portrays a white American actress Marion Dixon attempting to integrate into Soviet culture while struggling to conceal the existence of her black child. After fleeing from the racial West (specifically America), Marion moves to Moscow to join the circus with her manager, who blackmails her and threatens to expose her secret. However, Marion’s career in the circus provides her with a sense of community and belonging. When her manager attempts to humiliate her, he exposes her baby to the entire audience and is shocked when the audience warmly embrace the baby and proclaim that they do not discriminate against children. Marion is then welcomes warmly into Soviet life and the film concludes with her marching in a Soviet parade. In this film, the circus is the setting of Marion’s transition from an oppressive former life to a liberated new existence.
When Marion debuts at the circus, she performs alone. However, once she joins the circus, she develops a group of friends, a companionship and romance with ideal Soviet man Martinov and establishes herself not as an outsider with a secret, but as a part of a greater, benevolent collective. The circus represents a platform for which groups of individuals perform for their audience. When Martinov and Reya (and later Marion) perform, they do not perform as solo artists but always with a group. The tricks of the circus are so spectacular because they involve precision and multiple people (as was the case in the first scene when dogs were jumping over horses) – everything was timed, rehearsed and orchestrated, which made is all the more outstanding. By becoming part of the circus, Marion is able to appreciate and identify with the collective and is transitions into Soviet life.
I think it is important to note the specific nationalities of both Marion and her manager. Marion is from the United States and has been driven out of her country by evil Americans. The manager, the antagonist in the film, is German. He blackmails Marion and attempts to control her life. The underlying currents of propaganda shine through when the accepting and cheerful Russians save the desperate American from her evil captor. The stereotypical characters align with the political situation of the day. The Soviet Union’s enemies, the Germans and the Americans, are portrayed as either immoral or dependent on the Russians. The saviors of the film are, of course, the communist Russians themselves. The film ends with Marion happily accepting communism, convinced that she finally understood the world.
This movie highlights the contradictions of Soviet aspirations with reality. The movie did portray many of the aspects you mentioned in your post yet at the same time it was trying to present an untruthful image to the rest of the world. The movie showed people fashionably dressed, eating “shortcake”, not just a slice, and an entire cake for two people. It showed a black maid in an opulent apartment, which supports class distinction. Granted the maid was working for Marion’s manager portrayed as a villain, a German villain of course. One particular piece of propaganda that stood out, that of Marion desiring Rubbles instead of dollars, when at the time what could one really buy in Russia?
Finally, the filmmakers did not do something original in having an intricately choreographed scene in the various circus scenes. Hollywood had the same, over the top, highly choreographed scenes of synchronized swimming and dancing and the list goes on and on of these types of scenes before this. To steal or mimic Charlie Chapman showed how the Soviets so desired to be equal with what was taking place in the west. Imitation really is the best form of flattery. The movie, to an outsider, showed the hypocrisy of the Socialists and to a Soviet citizen must been confusing.
I agree with you on the fact that the film did portray a sense of collectiveness, specifically paying attention and focusing on the Soviet Union’s collectivity. This is especially apparent when Marion’s baby is being passed amongst the people of Russia, in this scene we see a number of races that are apart of the Soviet Union gathered in the same place sining the same lullaby in different languages. This shows that the Soviet Union was representing themselves in a collective unity where everyone watching the film could see this.
Collective unity adds a sense of pride for the Soviets to portray in their films, as the Soviets were comprised of many different nationalities and ethnicities. It would seem that the general perception of this concept (collectivism) surmised by scholars who interpret Circus is absolute. Therefore this film could be considered a “Stalinst” film as it provokes propaganda elements of the pro-Soviet nationalist school of thought (definitely not Marxist).