Abstract
ABSTRACT: The arrival of consumer-grade video had a dramatic impact on the 1980s Soviet Union: the unregulated cross-border traffic in the new medium and foreign, primarily Western, screen entertainment erupted; the state monopoly over circulation and exhibition of moving image media collapsed; and the alternative, allegedly aberrant and debased, transcultural viewing habits and tastes of the Soviet audiences surfaced. In examining these transgressive effects of home video, this article simultaneously traces the factors, ranging from socialist cultural doctrines to the conditions of shortage economies and distinctive screen translation practices, that contributed to legitimation of emerging video cultures within the Soviet project.