Modern Russian Cinema as a Battleground in Russia's Information War

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-032-39817-4
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 232 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 517 g

Reihe: BASEES/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies

This book explores how modern Russian cinema is part of the international information war that has unfolded across a variety of battlefields, including social media, online news, and television. It outlines how Russian cinema has been instrumentalized, both by the Kremlin's allies and its detractors, to convey salient political and cultural messages, often in subtle ways, thereby becoming a tool for both critiquing and serving domestic and foreign policy objectives, shaping national identity, and determining cultural memory. It explains how regulations, legislation, and funding mechanisms have rendered contemporary cinema both an essential weapon for the Kremlin and a means for more independent figures to publicly frame official government policy. In addition, the book employs formal cinematic analysis to highlight the dominant themes and narratives in modern Russian films of a variety of genres, situating them in Russia’s broader rhetorical ecosystem and explaining how they serve the objectives of the Kremlin or its opponents.

Zielgruppe

Academic

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rojavin, Alexander

Haft, Helen

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Empirische Sozialforschung, Statistik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Note on Transliteration

Contributor Details

List of Illustrations

Introduction

Alexander Rojavin

Part I: Regulations, Funding, and Policies of the Russian Film Industry

Chapter 1. Russia’s Film Industry between State and Commerce, between National and Global

Birgit Beumers

Chapter 2. In Defense of Historical Truth: The Second Front of Russia’s Information War

Rebecca Johnston

Part II: Military Adventurism and Foreign Policy Fantasies

Chapter 3. The Holocaust and Russia’s Cinematic Go-Betweens: Cultural Diplomatic Internationalism or Covert Information Warfare?

Stephen Hutchings

Chapter 4. Exploiting the Seventh Art: Legitimizing of Contemporary Russian Private Military Adventurism

Kiril Avramov

Chapter 5. Preparing for Total War: Ukraine in Recent Donbas and Russian Cinema

Gillian Littleton and Joshua First

Part III: Law and Dissent on the Screen

Chapter 6. The Battle for Narrative Dominance: Criminal Law in Contemporary Russian Cinema

Alexander Rojavin

Chapter 7. The Russian Orthodox Church and Religious Legislation Reflected in Contemporary Russian Film

Helen Haft

Chapter 8. Angry Young Men and Modest Provincials: Reimagining the Dissident Writer in Russian Cinema

Otto Boele

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Alexander Rojavin, formerly of the theater world, is an intelligence, policy, media, and film analyst specializing in information war history, strategy, and tactics. He is currently the Vice President of Counter Foreign Malign Influence Strategy at Deft9 Solutions, Inc.

Helen Haft is currently an Assistant District Attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (she is contributing to this volume in her personal capacity and the views expressed herin do not represent those of the DA's Office or the City of New York). Prior to joining the DA’s office she was a legal fellow at Human Rights in China, after having spent many years studying Russia, with a focus on church-state relations, religiously inspired legislation, and freedom of speech.