Soviet and post-Soviet Serials in the Social Histories of Classical and post-Classical Mass Cultures: Problems of Discreteness and Continuity
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Keywords

Serials, Soviet mass culture, Russian mass culture, consumption, cultural traditions, historical memory, historical gaps, cultural continuity

How to Cite

Kyrchanoff, M. (2019). Soviet and post-Soviet Serials in the Social Histories of Classical and post-Classical Mass Cultures: Problems of Discreteness and Continuity. Galactica Media: Journal of Media Studies, 1(2), 143-168. https://doi.org/10.24411/2658-7734-2019-10017

Abstract

The author analyzes the developments features of mass Soviet and Russian cultures. The serials including “Vechnyi zov” (“Eternal Call”, 1973 – 1983), “Rozhdionnaia revoliutsiei” (“Born by the Revolution” 1974 – 1977), “Rostov” (2019) and “Angel-hranitel” (“Guardian Angel”, 2019) are analyzed in article. These serials emerged as forms of ideologization and attempts of indoctrination of the masses simultaneously. Soviet and post-Soviet mass cultures formed, imagined and invented the consumer, but the tactics and strategies of consumerism cultures formation and promotion were different. The author, on the one hand, insists that the concept of “simulacrum” is applicable for the analysis of Soviet and post-Soviet forms of mass culture. On the other hand, the author believes that the Soviet and Russian serials simulated and imitated realities, imagining and constructing them. The author believes that between the Soviet and Russian forms of mass culture there are continuities and numerous gaps that actualize the peculiarities of the genesis and political genealogy and intellectual archeology of Soviet and Russian mass cultures. The creators of modern Russian serials are too active in their attempts to transplant Soviet ideological clichés and myths into mass post-Soviet culture of consumerism, but they primitivized them. The author believes that the modern serial culture became an attempt to de-Sovietize the Soviet cultural heritage, to simplify and integrate it into modern cultural spaces and contexts. Soviet serials became a form of ideologization and indoctrination of consumers; Russian serials became an attempt to desacralize history and integrate it into the contexts of popular culture

https://doi.org/10.24411/2658-7734-2019-10017
pdf (Русский)

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