I didn't say a word about the current situation. But since you asked, the cultural situation now is terrible; it wasn't even like this in pre-Soviet times (take, for example, the use of profanity as the norm in speech). And everyone's minds (and mine, most likely too:() are so muddled that God forbid; but the state isn't deliberately muddled them – at least, not to that extent. And if you don't agree, just ask those who lived in Soviet times how it was with ideology. I personally am just horrified. Yes, there are unworthy people at the top now; but were the Soviet heroes really that great? In the humanities, scientists were promoted not for their achievements, but for fulfilling party orders (I know this for sure, as I have very close and direct ties to scientific circles); the situation with art was no better – for example, my grandfather, a painter, was forced to emigrate. In addition, as I said, living conditions have improved significantly since then – at least we have an abundance of diverse and delicious food, and we don't have to stand in lines for hours to get it! "Vesna" was filmed in 1947, and during the war and the "immediately post-war" years, ideological control was significantly weakened; yes, by the way, Stalin also began to revive many things that were the norm before the revolution in the 1930s. And just so no one gets the wrong idea – right now, our family's total income is about $700-800 per month for 5 people + my scholarship; any Muscovite knows how little that is in our city.