Contemporary Russian Media

This course explores the evolution of Russian media during the decades following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The fall of the communist state had an outsized effect on the Russian mediascape. The four pillars of mass media which had previously been nationalized — cinema, television, radio, and the paper press — now had to contend with the challenges of the free market. These new economic conditions, together with technological developments and the disappearance of tight ideological control imposed by the state, led to a radical redefinition of the media industry. The Internet, which officially came to Russia in 1994, complicated the picture further. The course primarily focuses on moving image media — cinema, television and the Internet, tracing the historical development of each, analyzing a range of key works produced during this period. Our focus will be on the relationship between media and politics. We deliberately avoid referring to the period in question as post-Soviet or Putin’s Russia because both of these terms come with a set of assumptions and expectations which would limit the scope of our conversation. Instead, we emphasize the diversity of the contemporary Russian mediascape and how different productions negotiated questions of gender, national identity, and politics during the period in question. We conclude by examining the sudden recent conclusion of the relative ideological flexibility which was prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as well as the way platforms such as YouTube and services such as VPN continue making an alternative media sphere possible for Russian speakers.

There is no language requirement to take this seminar. All required readings and course materials will be available in English.