It's been almost twenty years since Russian television proudly proclaimed its independence from the Soviet heritage. And it's not tired to emphasize the fact on every suitable occasion. But still every New Year's eve Russian television waves a white flag of surrender to the Soviet by broadcasting old and much loved Soviet films, songs - and TV viewers are taken back to 1960-70-s just by switching the TV button on.
It's not hard to make a detailed forecast of what would be on during New Year's night and a couple of following days. I've made bets on the contents of the TV programme just for the laughs of it. "Ironia sudby", "Charodei", "Kavkazskaya plennitsa", "Ivan Vasilievich menyaet professiu" -are the films no New Year passes by without. Even cartoons broadcast in this period of time as a rule were made a couple of decades earlier. A large number of singers popular in the Soviet times are invited to participate in New Year TV programmes and sing their 20-year old or older songs, and even young performers instead of singing their own songs often prefer to make remakes of the famous hits of previous decades for New Year's concerts.
That said, I don't mean to criticise Soviet film and music industry. On the contrary, just as the majority of the population of the country, I enjoy watching these films and listening to these songs for the millionth time. I just wonder how long is our television going to shamelessly exploit people's feelings of nostalgia and repose on its laurels? The funny thing is that with the rapid development of new filming technologies, with the government's and independent sponsors' financial support and an increasing number of young people willing to pursue careers in TV and film industry, one would normally expect a surge in creativity and an abundance of new concepts for programmes and films.
It's not hard to make a detailed forecast of what would be on during New Year's night and a couple of following days. I've made bets on the contents of the TV programme just for the laughs of it. "Ironia sudby", "Charodei", "Kavkazskaya plennitsa", "Ivan Vasilievich menyaet professiu" -are the films no New Year passes by without. Even cartoons broadcast in this period of time as a rule were made a couple of decades earlier. A large number of singers popular in the Soviet times are invited to participate in New Year TV programmes and sing their 20-year old or older songs, and even young performers instead of singing their own songs often prefer to make remakes of the famous hits of previous decades for New Year's concerts.
That said, I don't mean to criticise Soviet film and music industry. On the contrary, just as the majority of the population of the country, I enjoy watching these films and listening to these songs for the millionth time. I just wonder how long is our television going to shamelessly exploit people's feelings of nostalgia and repose on its laurels? The funny thing is that with the rapid development of new filming technologies, with the government's and independent sponsors' financial support and an increasing number of young people willing to pursue careers in TV and film industry, one would normally expect a surge in creativity and an abundance of new concepts for programmes and films.
However, judging by its contents Russian television still prefers to cling to its glorious past. TV bosses realise that by making changes they could risk losing a considerable amount of their audience. But they don't see or just prefer to close their eyes to the inevitable. Time passes, and generations change. And teenagers nowadays simply don't understand the values of the old days, they have different needs. And they definitely are not going to be sold nostalgia for someone's youth. And if those in the TV industry don't tackle this problem soon they will risk losing it big time to the internet which already now poses a threat by giving its users the right to choose.
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