How do Russian films portray Ukraine and Ukrainians? • Ukrainer in English

Рет қаралды 3,501

Жыл бұрын

Any form of art can be used to defy, critique or reinforce cultural norms and political ideologies. Analysing films within their political, periodic and geographic context can provide a deep insight into the society where they emerged. Not only do they tell us a lot about their creators, but they also give us a look into the audience for whom they were created.
We are going to investigate the role of film in the relationship between Ukraine and Russia. Specifically, this video will focus on how Ukrainians have been depicted in Russian films throughout history.
In this analysis put together by Vitaliy Gordienko, we will demonstrate to you that, apart from promoting Moscow’s colonial narratives, Russian cinema has been actively discriminating, mocking and belittling Ukraine, its culture, language, and people. We will first look at some examples of films that were released before the first Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Back then, the relationships between these two countries were described as “friendly” or “brotherly.” Then, we will see how the narratives shifted after Russia illegally occupied Crimea and invaded Donbas region of Ukraine.
Vitaliy Gordienko’s channel (Ukrainian): ‪@zagin_kinomaniv‬
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Пікірлер: 32

@stevelampley2591 Жыл бұрын

In all the WW2 movies produced by Ruzzia, it seems they won the war and defeated Germany all by their big, brave, totally honorable selfs.

@joemammon6149 Жыл бұрын

most of the heaviest fighting took place on the eastern front, but most western ww2 movies are told from the British or American point of view. when the west made ww2 movies set in eastern front, it usually has negative view of the Red Army like in "Enemy at the Gates" or "Cross of Iron"

@basroos_snafu Жыл бұрын

Well done, interesting, not always easy to understand when you've grown up in the free West. Ambitious perhaps, but you've done a very good job in every aspect. Thank you! Glory to Ukraine! The Heroes will be Glorious.

@oksanabula8709 Жыл бұрын

The same with books. In russian translation of foreign literature, when main character do meet some “stupid peasant” somewhere in the fantasy world, it talks Ukrainian 😒

@tamcon72 Жыл бұрын

[Preparing to get very angry . . . . ] It's fascinating how, in hindsight, the Ukrainian characters--rather, caricatures--reflect in actuality what Russians are, at least their military forces. A nation suffering from a 1000-year-long identity crisis that has made them psychotic today. That remake of "Taras Bulba" is frankly batshit crazy for its absurd revisionism of historic fact; no wonder Russians don't know who they are! This was an illuminating examination of this topic; thanks for posting.

@Tanmexam27 Жыл бұрын

I remember watching “Taras bulba” and noticing that overt Russian bent. Thanks for the video-it was very thorough )

@chriswindleydigitalsalesexpert Жыл бұрын

RuZZians manage to forget all the Soviet Ukrainian heroes ...

@oksanabula8709 Жыл бұрын

Great job! Thank you for sharing the truth!

@johngorentz6409 Жыл бұрын

I've watched Brat a few times and Brat 2 once, but didn't know about those Ukrainian portrayals. I guess I was focused more on the attitude toward the U.S. I'm trying to figure out whether Alexei Balabanov's Gruz 200 needs to be reconciled with these two earlier films. It seems that the Brat films were about a Russian resurrection of sorts, while Gruz 200 said, "but don't resurrect this." But in some ways, the war against Ukraine is resurrecting just that. I had almost forgotten about the film with the scene at Sevastopol, but now that you showed the clip I definitely remember that scene. I didn't like what it portrayed, but wasn't aware of all that was at stake for Ukraine. Russian film seems to have gone downhill under Putin, but already some years ago I found it alarming to see how films and documentaries now rehabilitating not only Stalin, but also Lavrenti Beria. And some of the war films are rehabilitating the role of the NKVD political officers. I was aware of Russia's unhealthy obsession with Ukraine in the early-mid 2000s when I watched some Russian news shows on the internet. I remember RTR Planeta, but don't remember if there was anything else. I understood even less Russian then than I do now, but it was ominous to see how the Russian news was obsessed with what was happening in Ukraine. But I never adequately understood the depth of that obsession. Your KZfaq post helps add to that understanding. This is also reminding me of a discussion on a linguistics forum on LiveJournal back in 2008. I think it started from a discussion of a scene in the film, The Return, in a Russian nightclass I was taking. I took something the instructor said to a colleague at work (originally from Russia) who said, "Nobody talks like that." That language made sense, he said, but it's childish. I took it to a linguistics forum on LiveJournal, where Russians from Russia agreed that nobody talks that way. Rednecks from the south might talk that way, but nobody else talks that way, one of them said. ("Rednecks" was the English term he used.) "Does Ukraine count as the south?" I asked. "Because my instructor is from Ukraine." I was assured that Ukraine counted as the south where rednecks lived. I took that back to my instructor (without mentioning the word redneck). She sighed and said, "I'm always running into that with people from Moscow." She was working on a PhD in linguistics and I think is now a professor somewhere in a U.S. university.

@serhii710 Жыл бұрын

Great, high-quality video went unnoticed. What a shame

@wouterke9871 Жыл бұрын

Great video. I have seen a lot of movies with bad scripts, historic inaccuracys or terrible plots, but that was from lack of skill. Deliberate misrepresenting historic facts is lame, and makes awfull movies. Shame that it is accepted in Russian culture.

@wenxindong9536 3 ай бұрын

Very useful references(examples of details in Films) to my graduation papers, but is there a video to talk about how Ukrainian decolonization working after 2014??????

@tomfoolery617 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for this valuable resource. Glory to Ukraine and Her Heroes!

@leonidavkhimenko2339 Жыл бұрын

Appreciate your job ! Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦

@mariyamerkusheva9977 Жыл бұрын

Very interesting video and so relevant, thank you! Quick note, for a bit more nuance: Though true that the term "Banderivets" has become a slur used against Ukrainians, Bandera himself and his following (cult?) is strongly associated with the ultra nationalistic movement and widely criticised in Ukraine.

@arsla5308 Жыл бұрын

Банднра герой, але не всі його ідеї адекватні та актуальні(це стосується всіх українських ідеологів націоналізму, частина їхніх ідей застаріли)