A Comparativistic Analysis of the Transformation of Alimentary Aspect of the Other’s Image: 2018-2022

Abstract

The study focuses on the transformation of the alimentary models of the imaginative Other. Based on the statistics of the Russian Internet queries, the authors identified a number of markers, determining the main alimentary models of the Other. They carried out a comparative analysis of the obtained in 2018-2019 (pre-Сovid-19) models with similar Post-Covid models for 2021-2022. The researchers' hypothesis is that the queries can reveal the attitude of the modern Russians to the Other, determine the criteria by which the images are formed and the factors, affecting their transformation.
 The study showed that interest in the Other’s food is unstable. The number of queries constantly fluctuates. Both external factors (geopolitical, etc.) and contact with the objects of foreign mass culture can influence the growth of interests. At the same time, all markers (and stereotypes) can be conditionally divided into two groups: stable (fixed for several years), and situational, determined by external factors.
 The long-term analysis allowed the authors to trace the increased relevance of a number of cannibalistic markers in the image of the Other, the main reason for which, according to the researchers, was the pandemic, and the subsequent decline of interest in them in 2022.
 We should also mention the growing interest in video content (mukbang) In our view, this interest may be indicative of the observer's desire to transcend cultural boundaries and interact more closely with the Other. It is also particularly curious that this interest is directed toward the most alert models of the Other.