Родины нашего страха: рецепция фильма Юрия Дудя «Колыма» в социальных сетях

ИНТЕРакция. ИНТЕРвью. ИНТЕРпретация. 2021. Т. 13. № 4. С. 28–46.

Khlevnyuk D., Maximova A. S.

The article examines reception of the online documentary "Kolyma - the birthplace of our fear" (produced by journalist Yuri Dud in 2019) in social networks. In their comments, internet users regard other topics along with the Soviet repressions, to which the film is dedicated. They discuss the traumatic experience of the recent past, namely the late Soviet period, the collapse of the USSR, the 1990s, and contemporary problems. As a result of analysis of YouTube comments, we identify two trauma narratives. The first narrative is based on the idea of violation of civil human rights, the second focuses on the violation of socio-economic rights. Different topics appear in comments and posts on social media depending on which rights viewers consider key and which they pay more attention to when watching the documentary. In the case of civil rights, these include contemporary political repressions in Russia, names of famous political prisoners, references to recent protests. In the case of socio-economic rights, these topics include privatization, oligarchs, economic reforms, inequality. Those users who comment about the violation of socio-economic rights generally express a positive attitude towards the USSR and a critical attitude towards capitalism. Topics such as corruption or the problems of the penitentiary system in Russia are “inbetween” - they are important symbols in both narratives. The study clarifies how the cultural trauma narrative of the recent past and present-day events is formed. We also demonstrate how this process takes place on social media, and how social media enables participation of ordinary users and not only public figures.

Keywords: социальные сети, гражданские права, socio-economic rights, социально-экономические права, collective memory, коллективная память, сталинские репрессии, cultural trauma, культурная травма, civil rights, Stalinist repressions, social media