Foreigners’ Portrayal in Russian Film over 1924-53 and 1991-Present

Abstract

The Russian film industry has changed dramatically since Stalin ruled the communist Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953, with a new capitalist system in the post-Soviet period from 1991 to present day changing the motives for making these films as well as changing the way characters are depicted. This study analyses the subject matter through the prism of cultural studies, going beyond narrative content and an analysis of the Russian film industry to identify trends and differences in how foreign characters are portrayed in Russian films during these two periods. A binary representation of foreigners as heroes and villains is demonstrated by applying theories including Hall’s Representation, Barthes’ Mythology and Bakhtin’s Dialogical Theory. The study reveals that there are generally negative portrayals of foreigners in Stalinist film that stemmed from the dominant ideology of socialist realism, with mixed portrayals in the post-Soviet period that coincide with a more balanced portrayal of Russian characters. This is attributed to propagandic motives for making the films changing to fiscal ones, motives that changed from influencing the audience to showing them what they want to see.