The Russian Television space is an interesting section of entertainment that is often not seen by Americans. In the Soviet Union, there much use of such mediums such as radio and television to propagate the ideals of Communism or Socialism to the masses. However, in the late 1980s, the television especially began to resemble more of American television. It was a product of a time that wanted to get away from such secular orthodoxy. Much of the ideological nature of the Soviet Union was no longer what people wanted to see on screen. They wanted to see what they saw on American TVs and experience that instead of having lectures given to them. This is not to say that Soviet Television was propaganda, but many people were in the mood to see something that they had not seen before.
The Russian TV Series Clean (Чистые 2024) is remarkably interesting because it represents something you do not see often on American channels; there is an actual exploration of history rather than trying to create a political narrative to gain some points on a screen. The Pre-Revolutionary Era has been having somewhat of a renaissance in its depictions on the screen in Russia. While the Soviet era has always had some presence on the Russian screen, the Pre-Revolutionary era is getting recognition again. Even though it was always on the Soviet screen, it was not the focus of Soviet cinema, which was much more interested in Science-Fiction as a genre than history, especially history that would represent times before the Soviet Union.
Clean (Чистые 2024) is much in the tradition of the period dramas that seem to be more about using costumes to tell stories than trying to be historically accurate. It is true that costumes in tv series have been getting better in comparison to the Classical Hollywood era where many historical movies were not even accurate in how they were depicting the people. While they were glamorous, they were more of a vehicle to highlight the acting chops of actors.
The modern age has taken another approach to historical movies and tv shows.
In this age, it seems that many directors, who tend to be more libertine in their views, have been putting much eroticism into their historical shows.
Clean (Чистые 2024) is a story about women in early 20th Century St. Petersburg who are just prisoners under a system that seems to not care about them. They live in a beautiful house and have nice clothes but no freedom to engage in their own pursuits.
It is clear the series is not meant to be a romanticization of prostitution. However, the series seems to veer in another direction and is not about making this profession into something that people want to get into. This is the right approach. There are too many series on Netflix that are about Narcos and their influence on Mexican society. However, Clean (Чистые 2024) is not the vein of the Mexican Nacro series. It is more about a mood or atmosphere of a decadent age during the Belle Epoque in Europe. There is a hidden violence just bubbling underneath the surface. The Russians in St. Petersburg aim to be Europeans but there is dissatisfaction just hidden through gowns and millinery. Clean (Чистые 2024) is about one section of this age; women who are straying the line between common thievery and modern love which put up for auction.
The situation as seen in the series is very extreme. Prostitution was legal in the Russian Empire, but this is a brothel which is fulfilling something else. These women are prisoners and are not there by choice.
The women all wear crimson costumes and have pins that in the shape of a bee. I was confused about the reason the Madam was making them wear these clothes. This is not a traditional house of prostitution but a place that helps the madam engage in thievery of wealthy nobility. The women are more akin to modern escorts who work with an agency that creates a veneer that covers the primitive nature of their jobs.
The main conflict in Clean (Чистые 2024) is really a battle between two women and the madam. While the other women are yearning for freedom and sovereignty, the series focuses on the plight and tribulations of two women rather than an ensemble cast. While the series has just begun, the series is going to be about these women trying to emphasize the whole group in the series.
Clean (Чистые 2024) in the series, especially when talking about these two women is really about their moral purity even though that they have been stripped of an identity by the madam. They maintain purity in their heart even though the Madam has essentially taken it away. They are still humans who are not looking for pity but for a sense of independence. This is not a series the acts in the way that one sees in the trailers. It is genuinely a unique series.
This series in a sense has a subversive quality. Underneath its pretensions as a historical show, there is a message about the maintenance of human morality under the pressure of the world’s corruption. That seems like a really an important message to have, especially in time such as this. That is what makes Clean (Чистые 2024) a great series which pushes boundaries that is sorely lacking in American television. It may create strong emotions but there is a something interesting in there.
It would great to see if American television were willing to take such risks in this age. However, the culture has become so stagnant and insular in its nature that I think that Russia is surpassing it in this area.
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