CHARLES UNIVERSITY in PRAGUE Ph.D. Dissertation
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CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE Institute of International Studies Ph.D. Dissertation 2016 Francesca Mazzali 1 CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE Institute of International Studies Francesca Mazzali, M.A. The Kremlin’s Program for Patriotic Education and Russian War Movies (2000- 2010) Ph.D. Dissertation Prague 2016 2 Author: Francesca Mazzali, M.A. Supervisor: Doc. PhDr. Jiří Vykoukal, CSc. Academic Year: 2016/2017 3 Bibliographic note MAZZALI, Francesca. The Kremlin’s Program for Patriotic Education and Russian War Movies (2000-2010). 97 p. Ph.D. Dissertation. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Studies. Supervisor: Doc. PhDr. Jiří Vykoukal, CSc. Abstract This dissertation considers films to be double-sided mirrors that absorb political and cultural content from one side, with filmmakers filtering and elaborating the content between the two surfaces, and then transmitting the elaborated points to the audience. The elaboration of political content can be performed in an educational and propagandistic way, depicting and supporting specific political ideas. This dissertation analyses the first two programs of a Russian government program, Patriotic Education for Russian Federation Citizens (2001-2005 and 2006-2010) (hereinafter, ‘Patriotic Education’), and identifies six political priorities that can be observed and analysed in eleven Russian war movies. It will first be explained how the movies serve as propagandistic and educational tools in the context of Patriotic Education, projecting its political priorities to the audience. Second, it will be explained how a continuity with the Soviet past is displayed in the content of war films and the way they depict some of the elements promoted by Patriotic Education. Abstrakt Tato disertační práce uvažuje o filmech, jako o dvoustranných zrcadlech, které absorbují politický a kulturní obsah z jedné strany, kde tvůrci filmů filtrují a rozpracovávají obsah mezi dvěmi povrchy a poté přenášející body obecenstvu. Rozpracování politického obsahu může být provedeno ve vzdělávacím a propagandistickém způsobu, jenž líčí a podporuje specifické politické ideje. Tato disertační práce analyzuje první dva programy z ruského vládního programu, vlastenecké výchovy pro ruské federační občany (2001-2005 a 2006-2010) (hereinafter, ‘Patriotic Education’), a indentifikuje šest politických priorit, které mohou být pozorovány a analyzovány v jedenácti ruských válečných filmech. Nejdříve bude vysvětleno, jak filmy slouží jako propagandistické a vzdělávací nástroje v rámci 4 vlastenecké výchovy, promítající její politické priority obecenstvu. Poté bude vysvětleno, jak kontinuita se sovětskou minulostí je zobrazena v rámci válečných filmů a způsob, jakým vykreslují některé z elementů prosazovaných vlasteneckou výchovou. Keywords: Educational Tool, Film, Kremlin, Patriotic Education, Patriotism, Propaganda, Russian Cinema, Soviet Cinema, War. Range of thesis: 413.746 5 Declaration of Authorship 1. The author hereby declares that she compiled this dissertation independently, using only the listed resources and literature. 2. The author hereby declares that all the sources and literature used have been properly cited. 3. The author hereby declares that the thesis has not been used to obtain a different or the same degree. Prague, November 2016 Francesca Mazzali, M.A. 6 Dedication I would like to dedicate my thesis to my beloved parents 7 Acknowledgement Firstly, I would like to express my sincere and deep gratitude to my advisor, Doc. PhDr. Jiří Vykoukal, CSc. for his continuous support of my Ph.D. study and related research, for his patience, motivation, supervision, precious advice and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me throughout my research and writing of this dissertation. I cannot imagine having a better or more patient mentor. My sincere thanks also go to Dr Mitchell Young for his support during some moments of uncertainty and for his friendship. His sincere and kind advice had been important help to me. I sincerely thank Dr Bjorn Olav Knutsen, who collaborated with me on one article and gave me a chance to deepen the discussion and my knowledge of the topic of my research, and who gave me his kind support and motivation for the state exam. I also want to thank Mr Robert R. Kiene for his excellent job in proofreading this dissertation and for giving me precious advices related to how format it. I thank some dear friends who have been of great help and spiritual support, always being very patient with me and offering me important help. Last but not the least; I would like to deeply thank my family. My mother and father have been my anchor and my lighthouse throughout all of my research, while I was writing this dissertation and in every other moment of my life. Thank you for your precious and amazing support; I could not have done it without you. 8 Contents Introduction...................................................................................................................11 Theoretical Approach of the Dissertation...................................................................17 Contribution of the Dissertation to the Research Field...............................................21 Structure of the Dissertation........................................................................................28 Chapter 1: Analysis of Patriotic Education in Russia: 2001-2010..........................31 1.1 Theoretical Approach of the Dissertation..............................................................33 1.2 Official Definition of Patriotism Adopted for Patriotic Education Programs.......38 1.3 Analysis of the Programs for Patriotic Education of Russian Federation Citizens………………………………………………….45 1.3.1 Program for Patriotic Education of Russian Federation Citizens 2001-2005….47 1.3.2 Program for Patriotic Education of Russian Federation Citizens 2006-2010.....66 Chapter 2: Methodology Applied and Criteria for Selection of Films…………...75 2.1 Strategy of Selection of the Eleven Films.............................................................77 2.2 The Seven Parameters and the Analysis of the Films...........................................97 Chapter 3: Contextual and Comparative Films Analysis (2000-2011).................112 Part 1: Contextual Analysis of Films in relation to the Programs for Patriotic Education...........................................................................................................115 Film 1: Brat (2000) by Aleksei Balabanov.................................................115 Film 2: The Star (2002) by Nikolai Lebedev..............................................125 Film 3: Marsh Brosok (2003) by Nikolai Stambula....................................133 Film 4: The Ninth Company (2005) by Fedor Bondarchuk.........................142 9 Film 5: 12 (2007) by Nikita Mikhalkov.....................................................153 Film 6: The Admiral (2008) by Andrey Kravchuk.....................................164 Film 7: We are from the Future (2008) by Andrey Malyukov..................172 Film 8: We are from the Future 2 (2010) by Samokhvalov and Rostov....179 Film 9: The Priest (2009) by Vladimir Khotinenko...................................187 Film 10: Brest Fortress (2010), by Alexander Kott...................................196 Film 11: Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus and Citadel (2010-2011) by Nikita Milkov.....................................................................................207 Part 2: Comparative Analysis of the Films.............................................................220 Conclusions................................................................................................................250 Appendix....................................................................................................................272 Bibliography...............................................................................................................273 1.1 Primary sources......................................................................................................273 1.2 Secondary sources..................................................................................................274 10 Introduction For Russia, the turn of the millennium that occurred in the year 2000 represented a change in terms of its political agenda and leadership, as Vladimir Putin became acting President of the Russian Federation, following the unexpected resignation of Boris Yeltsin. Putin described his decision to accept the office as not easy to make and ‘a rather heavy load to bear’,1 but also a great opportunity to work and serve his country at the very highest level.2 Presidential elections were held on 26 March 2000. Putin won in the first round with 53% of the vote and then was inaugurated as President on 7 May 2000. The resulting change in Russia’s political discourse and agenda had been discussed by several authors. Putin’s Kremlin decided that measures had to be taken to restore Russia as a great power3 and to reform the situation inside the country. In order to provide measures for solving the problems that Russian society faced following the period from the end of 1980s through the 1990s, a program for patriotic education of Russian Federation citizens during the years 2001-2005 was launched. Hesitating steps in the same direction had been attempted at the end of the 1990s under Yeltsin’s political leadership, but never led anywhere. Under Putin, patriotic