Mannerheim in the Twenty-First Century: Finnish National Symbol, Aesthetics, and Media Strategies

Abstract

This article analyses media discussions around three film projects of the 2000s and 2010s, interpreting the figure of field marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim from the point of view of Bourdieuan social aesthetics and civil religion. Mannerheim is a central part of Finnish civil religious concentration of symbols—that is symbols associated to the Finnish nation. This article analyses different actors’ strategies of classification, legitimisation, de-legitimisation, and evaluation in relation to the three film projects. These socio-aesthetic strategies reflect the positions and competitive environment of the Finnish media field. Civil religious concentration of symbols and their connected aesthetic practices work as resources for media power and for classificatory power, and media competition creates a new kind of visibility for these civil religious symbols.