American Baby Boom and the Soviet Pioneer Camp: Enemies and the “Hidden Threat” in the Children’s Cinema of the USSR and the USA in the 1930s and 1960s

In the article the evolution of the image of the enemy in two cinemas is examined on the material of the Soviet and North American children’s and family films of 1936–1966 years in the following areas: representations of images of a political enemy in the movie, the critics of the axiological analysis of the discourse of a hostile culture, representation of the axiological discourse of their own culture. The analysis of publications on the topic is carried out and the concepts of “children’s cinema” and “family cinema” are clarified. The article reveals various types of construction in feature films for young audience of the “hidden threat” of the Cold War period. Based on the analysis of antagonist markers, archival materials and iconographic analysis of the films, the author identifies various modifications of the image of the enemy in children’s cinema. The article records the loss of interest in clichés by the mid-1960s. However, at the same time, the phenomenon of the spy film for the young audience in the USSR is of special interest, in particular, the militaristic aspect of the image of the internal and external enemy. In addition, the author focuses on the ways of constructing the space of childhood in two cinematographies, the social and cultural context, in particular, the role of social institutions and the family, the representation of social problems in different genres of children’s film. The author reveals that the evolution of the border violation motive in children’s films is associated with the peculiarities of the foreign policy of both countries, which also characterizes the interest in the cultural heritage of other peoples, cultural codes and formulas developed in literature and popular culture.