Intermedial Representation of Russian Character in American Cinema: Portraits of Men and Women
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-9-162-188
Abstract
This study aims to identify and describe the structural components involved in the representation of Russian male and female characters in American films, taking into account the intermedial nature of cinematic works — specifically their verbal (speech) and visual (video) elements within the narrative structure. The analysis is based on a corpus of 24 films produced from the mid-1980s to 2021, all of which are connected to Russia and feature characters associated with the country. The analysis was conducted in two stages: (1) a corpus-based examination of English-language subtitles to identify concordances containing the root -russ-; (2) a qualitative analysis of the visual content corresponding to the identified concordances using subtitle timecodes. The results indicate that the construction of the Russian character involves several components: verbal (Russian spoken and written dialogue, voiceovers, isolated words in Russian, tattoos in Russian), visual (stereotypical elements of Russianness such as fur, vodka, samovar, accordion, military uniforms, Soviet symbols, the color red, etc.), and narrative (the conflict between Russians and Americans, their unity only against a common enemy; nuclear military conflict, espionage intrigues, secret agents and government structures, criminal organizations).
Keywords
Imagology,
Intermediality,
Corpus Analysis of Film,
Image of Russia,
Representation of Russians in Cinema
Supporting agencies: The study is supported by Russian Science Foundation, project number 23-78-01208, https://rscf.ru/project/23-78-01208/
About the Authors
Yu. M. Alyunina
Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Yulia M. Alyunina - PhD in Philology, Senior Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages.
Moscow
A. A. Rogovets
Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Arina A. Rogovets - Laboratory researcher, Department of Foreign Languages.
Moscow
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Review
For citations:
Alyunina Yu.M., Rogovets A.A. Intermedial Representation of Russian Character in American Cinema: Portraits of Men and Women. Nauchnyi dialog. 2025;14(9):162-188. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-9-162-188
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