Narrativization of news video content during the period of martial law (using the example of «Suspilne Sumy»)

Abstract

Introduction. The propagandistic basis of the Russian war against Ukraine includes the narrative about so-called «Ukrainian nationalists» as an «enemy image» firmly identified with «fascists» or «Nazis». This is likely a revival of Soviet propaganda inventions, so, a study of constructing a «Ukrainian nationalist» image in Soviet propaganda gains relevance. This article continues the study of this image in cartoons of Soviet Ukrainian satiric magazine «Perets’» («The Pepper») in 1941–1991. The article aims to develop the coverage of the topic of propagandistic typification of the «Ukrainian nationalist» visual image as an «enemy image» in terms of its contexts and personalities in «Perets’» cartoons. Methodology. The methodology continues the principles of our earlier work. The methods of research include observation, content analysis, generalization, comparison, quantification, and data visualization. Results. The most common companions of the «Ukrainian nationalist» character in the «Perets’» Soviet-era cartoons are 1) «American imperialists», 2) Nazis, 3) counterrevolutionaries, and 4) Zionists. If the first two categories were represented steadily for decades, as the versions of «the main enemy», then the third had been slowly decreasing, and the fourth one – on the contrary, sharply gaining popularity in the 1970s. The motif of «brotherhood of Zionists and Ukrainian nationalists» appears as a prototype of some concepts in the present-day Russian-Ukrainian semantic war. The modern Russian narrative about «Ukrainian nationalists» identifying them with the Nazis and the Americans at the same time, revives the old developments of Soviet propaganda. The results of the study of cartoons in terms of the representation of personalities are somewhat unexpected: in particular, the image of Stepan Bandera turned out to be less common than it was expected in view of his role in present-day Russian war narratives. Personified images of «Ukrainian nationalists» do not make up the vast majority of the materials in question. However, they provide interesting information about which persons and with what priorities attention was paid during the satirical and ideological processing of «enemy images». Conclusions. The significance of the article lies in the further consideration of an insufficiently researched topic using a quantitative approach. Promising areas of further research are the discovery of the methods of associating some «enemy images» with the «fascist/Nazi» image in Soviet and modern Russian propaganda; study of the novel ideological myths and their representation in the media; retrospective study of the genesis of propagandistic mythologems of the Russian-Ukrainian war.