The book examines the complex connections between culture and the secret services using the examples of the Soviet Union and Romania. Topics such as the relationship with the secret police of writers, in particular M. A. Bulgakov, and how police aesthetics affected their work are touched upon; experiments by Soviet filmmakers in the field of surveillance; as well as the first films, documentaries and fiction, dedicated to correctional institutions. The author questions the traditional dichotomy of rebellious artists and the repressive state, seeking to show that in addition to resistance and complicity, there were many other nodes in the entangled relationship between police and art - such as imitation, parody, appropriation and defamiliarization. The book will be of interest to philologists, historians, film experts, and a wide range of readers. The publishing layout of the book is saved in PDF A4 format.