ABSTRACT
Contemporary Russian popular culture obsessively ‘remakes’ and ‘rediscovers’ history. In 2008, one of the most ambitious and popular media projects became the show ‘Name of Russia’ (Imia Rossia), which collected votes for historical figures promoted by politicians, actors, and contemporary media personalities. 1 The ‘winner’, Alexander Nevskii, succinctly embodies a revived paradigm of militant state nationalism. 2 In recent cinematographic releases, sacrificial officers die for the fatherland (Gentlemen Officers, 2008), Kolchak is transformed from a Soviet-era villain into a war-hero-turned-martyr under the ‘red terror’ (The Admiral, 2008), a witty agent uncovers anti-Russian plots in the Russo–Turkish War (Turkish Gambit, 2005), a serf restores peace at the Times of Trouble (1612, 2007), Soviet soldiers heroically perish during a vaguely specified ‘mission’ in Afghanistan (The 9th Company, 2005), and a staunch detective risks his life in a daily assault on the post-war Odessa underworld (Liquidation, 2007). Even in the fantasy genre pseudo-Slavonic heroes fight the omnipresent evil (Wolfhound, 2006).
