ABSTRACT
The film Zashchitniki (Guardians, 2017), directed by the Russian-Armenian filmmaker Sarik Andreasyan, is a remarkably obvious and intentional nod to the Hollywood Marvel and DC franchises not only in title and narrative, but also in overall style. An action film with the superhero-team approach was only recently broached with the film Guardians. Likely because the superhero genre is new, because music is still ignored by film critics and scholars, and because these critics may not be experts in music, there is no language or interest from the general media for discussion of musical details. In terms of the film’s production, distribution, and reception, it is clear that Guardians was intended to be and was received as another exemplar, however negative, of post-Soviet Russian nationalism and transnationalism. As the first Russian superhero kinokomik, it exemplifies a Russian nationalism that reminds too much of the Soviet past for many audiences. It could be described as international in form, Russian in content.
