How did Nikita Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech” criticize Stalin’s system and what were the limits of this criticism? Using Polly Jones’ Myth, Memory, Trauma, how did this greater freedom transform Soviet society in 1956 and beyond? What greater liberation and freedoms do you see in the carnival atmosphere in Carnival Night, made in the same year as the “Secret Speech.” Which character represents the die hard Stalinist bureaucracy in the film and how does he try to monitor and control the New Year’s celebrations? Which of these opposing impulses do you think has won by the end of the film and why?
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