SEMIOTIC AND LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF RUSSIAN NATIONAL FLAGS

Abstract

The present research was provoked by high necessity in the analysis of the role of historic memory in interpretation of contemporary state symbols and legal regulation of their use in different political, ideological and cultural contexts. The legal regulation of the national flags, including historical ones, cannot be properly done without taking into consideration their symbolic value for different groups of population, sharing different political views and attitudes to the past. Semiotic aspects are also important for judicial and administrative practice, which should be aimed, as well as the legislation in this area, at formation of the common political identity and should not lead to separation instead of unification. Visual representation of flags as symbols, which can transmit variety of meanings is understood differently by different audiences, is also a means to show how contexts may affect self-identification of the nation. The methodological basis for the research comprises works in legal semiotics, hermeneutics and visual communication. This is accounted for the fact that legal regulation of flags as state symbols cannot be investigated without understanding of their interpretation in non-legal discourses, such as vexillology, heraldry, history and political science. Semiotics unites legal and non-legal discourses and serves as a basis for interdisciplinary research in symbols, their use and interpretation. The authors benefited from the ideas developed in the works by Yu. Lotman, S.A. Knowlton and M. Leone.The article presents the semiotic analysis of three flags in their historical perspective: the black-yellow-white flag of the Russian Empire, the Soviet red banner and the contemporary white-blue-red national flag of democratic Russia. In the context of multiple connotations caused by demonstration of the imperial flag and of the red flag, the attempts to provide them with the special status in the current Russian legislation have been analyzed. The national white-blue-red flag may also be used as an official symbol of the nation and as unofficial symbol of different political movements. The evolution of its visual representation with time is explored. Having been placed into semiotic discourse, visual representation of national flags shows that image of an official flag may receive its own meaning for the audience or different types of audiences, and that, as Steven A. Knowlton put it, "symbols may have meanings beyond just representing the signified, which are often assigned by an official body". The thesis of overlapping, intertwined and sometimes confused meanings of flags as state symbols, which Massimo Leone put forward, should be borne in mind when it comes to legal regulation of the use of flags, responsibility for their desecration or misuse. Judicial practice should take into account the meaning of the signified, or a message, conveyed by the user of flags and the aim of the legal rule. Without attention to specific nature of the symbols the law implementing practice will be apt to mistakes and inadequate interpretation. Contemporary legal regulation of the use of the national flag includes provisions of the Constitution, administrative and criminal law. Their application in practice confronts with the lack of legal certainty, which makes the interpretation of these provisions even more complicated.