(Ivan and Katya – invisible barrier. social stratification)

The contrast between the people and environment where Ivan spends most of his time and the circle of Katya’s friends whom, they meet at a birthday party of elite youth, quite clearly shows stratification of society. Ivan’s friends are the young made not of gold, but rather of black metal, as simple and strong as an iron nail. They drink cheap beer, tell unfunny jokes, but for them it doesn’t matter. They had stopped bothering about their social status long ago, a sort of gang of ragamuffins and slackers.

The elite Soviet youth is presented in a scene at Katya’s friend’s birthday party. A group of young men and women who are shown watching a movie on a color television, which was a rarity at that time, and working out intricate karate techniques. They are stylishly dressed and look at Ivan as though he was from another planet. Ivan, in turn, obviously notices this and starts to play along with their stereotypical representation of “the young people of black metal”. He pretends that he has been in jail for 5 years and asks for some pure ethanol to drink. When there was no ethanol found, he drinks French perfume and becomes ill. His actions are reduced to a simple phrase – “You imagined me like this? Well, here I am, this is me!”