• A
  • A
  • A
  • АБВ
  • АБВ
  • АБВ
  • A
  • A
  • A
  • A
  • A
Обычная версия сайта
  • RU
  • EN
  • HSE University
  • Publications
  • Articles
  • Images of urban space in constructing the Cold War enemy: American skyscrapers in Soviet animation
  • RU
  • EN
Расширенный поиск
Высшая школа экономики
Национальный исследовательский университет
Priority areas
  • business informatics
  • economics
  • engineering science
  • humanitarian
  • IT and mathematics
  • law
  • management
  • mathematics
  • sociology
  • state and public administration
by year
  • 2027
  • 2026
  • 2025
  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
  • 2012
  • 2011
  • 2010
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2007
  • 2006
  • 2005
  • 2004
  • 2003
  • 2002
  • 2001
  • 2000
  • 1999
  • 1998
  • 1997
  • 1996
  • 1995
  • 1994
  • 1993
  • 1992
  • 1991
  • 1990
  • 1989
  • 1988
  • 1987
  • 1986
  • 1985
  • 1984
  • 1983
  • 1982
  • 1981
  • 1980
  • 1979
  • 1978
  • 1977
  • 1976
  • 1975
  • 1974
  • 1973
  • 1972
  • 1971
  • 1970
  • 1969
  • 1968
  • 1967
  • 1966
  • 1965
  • 1964
  • 1963
  • 1958
  • More
Subject
News
August 21, 2026
Social Integration: At the Crossroads of Knowledge and Values
The International Laboratory for Social Integration Research (ILSIR) at HSE University studies the challenges faced by vulnerable groups and explores ways to help them participate fully in everyday life. To develop effective solutions, the laboratory’s researchers combine cutting-edge methods with practical fieldwork. In this interview with the HSE News Service, Laboratory Head Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova discusses the laboratory’s work.
August 18, 2026
HSE Scholar Presents Research on Postcards in Brazil and South Korea
Timur Khusyainov, Deputy Dean of theFaculty of Humanities atHSE University–Nizhny Novgorod, took part in two international conferences—the XVI World Congress of Rural Sociology in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and the 36th Annual Conference of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organisations (DH2026) in Daejeon, South Korea. On his way to the conferences, the researcher also visited several other places, where he presented the experience of the Pochtovoe educational project.
August 18, 2026
Physicists Discover What Happens Inside a Stable Vortex
Large vortices with characteristic spiral arms are often observed in the atmosphere and the ocean. Physicists from HSE University have explained how these structures form and why they retain their shape. The researchers found that velocities at points located along the same vortex arc remain correlated even over long distances. At the same time, this correlation weakens rapidly with increasing distance from the vortex centre. These differences help explain the formation of spiral arms and may improve models of atmospheric and oceanic currents. The findings have been published in Physical Review Fluids.

 

Have you spotted a typo?
Highlight it, click Ctrl+Enter and send us a message. Thank you for your help!

Publications
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Chapters of books
  • Working papers
  • Report a publication
  • Research at HSE

?

Images of urban space in constructing the Cold War enemy: American skyscrapers in Soviet animation

Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema. 2021. No. 2. P. 122–138.
Рябов О. В., Рябова Т. Б.

This article deals with an analysis of the representation of American cities in Soviet animated films of the Cold War (1946–63). The space-oriented discourse of popular geopolitics was a resource for constructing the Cold War enemy. The authors point out that the images of skyscrapers served as the main signifier of Americanness in Soviet animation. Among their principal functions were othering and dehumanising ‘enemy number one’, supporting the positive collective identity of the Soviet people and legitimising the Soviet way of life. The image of skyscrapers is discussed as a political symbol, which Soviet propaganda treated as an embodiment of America. This image incorporates the negative characteristics of the American enemy: exploitation; economic and social inequality; racism; the dictatorship of the magnates of Wall Street; egoism and hostility among persons; dominance of mass culture; incitement of base instincts in a person; and cult of violence and war.

Language: English
DOI
Text on another site
Keywords: Cold Warimage of the enemySoviet animationsymbolism of urban space anti-Americanismskyscraper
Similar publications
The Microphone as a Medium of Authenticity in Soviet Estrada Song
Nikonov A., Technology and Language 2026 Vol. 7 No. 2 P. 104–117
This article focuses on the notion of authenticity as a characteristic of a specific vocal technique that has its own specificity in relation to Estrada song. The significance of vocal authenticity in the Soviet context is shaped by cultural, technological, and ideological factors functioning within specific historical circumstances. As a case study, the article examines ...
Added: June 28, 2026
A new mechanism of international cooperation in the Arctic region: co-creating the International Arctic Scientific Committee, 1986–1990
Marina M. Panikar, Beloshitskaya N., Polar Journal 2026 Vol. 16 No. 1 P. 145–161
The article attempts to explore the process of formation of a new sphere of relations between the USSR and the countries of the Arctic region in the period from 1986 to 1990. The April Plenum of the Communist Party Central Committee in 1985 laid the groundwork for a profound transformation in both the domestic and ...
Added: May 15, 2026
Женщины нацистской Германии в зеркале советской карикатуры (на материале журнала «Крокодил»)
Рябов О. В., Уральский исторический вестник 2019 № 3 С. 84–92
The article deals with analysis of the images of the Nazi Germany women created by the Soviet propaganda during the Great Patriotic War by means of satirical graphics. The base of the research is the caricatures published in the “Crocodile” magazine in June 1941 - May 1945. The author demonstrates that the comic images of ...
Added: January 28, 2026
“May There Always Be Sunshine!”: A Symbol of Childhood in Soviet and American Cold War Songs
Рябова Т. Б., Вестник Волгоградского государственного университета. Серия 4: История. Регионоведение. Международные отношения 2024 Vol. 29 No. 1 P. 16–25
Introduction. The article is the first to study the use of the symbol of childhood by the USSR and the USA songs for the representation of Cold War issues. Methods and materials. Based on the methodology of constructivism, the author analyzes the reasons for the politicization of the image of childhood and the role of ...
Added: January 28, 2026
The “Red Machine”: The Dehumanization of the Communist Enemy in American Cold War Cinema
Рябов О. В., Quaestio Rossica 2020 No. 2 P. 536–550
This article deals with the US Cold War cinematographic construction of the Soviet enemy. The researcher focuses on the means of dehumanising the communist enemy, external and internal, by equating it to a machine. The author applies Nick Haslam's dual model of dehumanization (2006), according to which dehumanization is visible in two main forms: animalistic, ...
Added: January 28, 2026
Gendering the American Enemy in Early Cold War Soviet Films (1946–1953)
Рябов О. В., Journal of Cold War Studies 2017 No. 1 P. 193–219
Analyzing Soviet films and film criticism from the late Stalin period, this article shows how Soviet cinematographers exploited gender discourse to produce Otherness. Cinematic representations of U.S. femininity, masculinity, love, sexuality, and marriage played an important role in constructing external and internal Enemies. Cinematography depicted the U.S. gender order as resulting from the unnatural social ...
Added: January 27, 2026
Регуманизация «чужих»: Эволюция репрезентаций «врага номер один» в американском кинематографе Холодной войны
Рябов О. В., Диалог со временем 2021 № 77 С. 277–290
The article dwells upon evolution of the ways in which the U.S. Cold War films represented the USSR: from dehumanization of the image of enemy in 1940-1950s to deconstruction of this image in 1960s. The author applies Nick Haslam's dual model of dehumanization, aс-cording to which dehumanization is visible in two forms: animalistic by associating ...
Added: January 27, 2026
Linguistic Means of Constructing the ‘Enemy Number One’ in the U.S. Cold War Cinema
Рябов О. В., Куликова М. Н., Вестник Российского университета дружбы народов. Серия: Теория языка. Семиотика. Семантика 2023 No. 3 P. 719–731
The study examines how the US Cold War cinema employed linguistic means to construct images of the USSR and American communists. The research relevance is determined by: the need to study the techniques of creating the enemy image as one of the crucial issues in international relations; and the importance of the topic amidst the ...
Added: January 27, 2026
“From America with Love”? Love stories and the “Iron Curtain” in the Soviet Thaw cinema
Рябов О. В., Имагология и компаративистика 2024 No. 1 P. 259–275
The article deals with an analysis of the Soviet Thaw films that contain love stories of USSR and USA citizens. Hollywood released a number of films that told the stories of love between representatives of the two hostile blocs; following the canon established in Ninotchka, they served as a part of the “struggle for hearts ...
Added: January 27, 2026
«Советская Родина» как концепт Холодной войны. Материнский символ страны в массовой песне
Рябов О. В., Рябова Т. Б., Женщина в российском обществе 2024 № 1 С. 4–22
The paper deals with the analysis of using the Motherland symbol by the Soviet popular songs in order to represent the Cold War issues. Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, the authors examine more than 1500 Soviet songs (1946-1991); 350 of them employ this symbol. The article demonstrates that the “Soviet Motherland” served as one ...
Added: January 27, 2026
«Спрячь бабушкин паспорт!»: Дискурс возраста как ресурс конструирования образа врага
Рябов О. В., Рябова Т. Б., Вестник Пермского университета. Серия: Политология 2024 № 4 С. 173–183
The article is the first to address the discourse of age as a resource for constructing the image of the enemy. It is based on the Russian government's official statements, politicians' comments and the country's leading media sources, as well the authors' sociological research. The first part of the paper examines approaches to the analysis ...
Added: January 27, 2026
The Enemy with Human Face? Rehumanization of the Images of Americans in the Soviet Thaw Cinema
Рябов О. В., Вестник Волгоградского государственного университета. Серия 4: История. Регионоведение. Международные отношения 2024 P. 6–15
Introduction. The article focuses on the changes that happened in the portrayal of U.S. characters in Soviet Thaw cinema. The contribution of the article in the field of cultural Cold War is threefold: for the first time, it studies the American characters' images through the prism of the concept of rehumanization; establishes common and particular ...
Added: January 27, 2026
«Баба с отбойным молотком»: Женский труд в СССР в дискурсе американского антикоммунизма периода Холодной войны
Рябов О. В., Рябова Т. Б., Женщина в российском обществе 2025 № 4 С. 115–126
The article analyzes representations of Soviet women’s labor in the discourse of American anti-communism during the Cold War. The sources for the study are the works of American anti-communist ideologues, propaganda books, and issues (more than 200 in total) of The American Legion Magazine , Freedom’s Facts , Life , and Look , founded in ...
Added: January 27, 2026
«Красная угроза», колониализм и мученичество: дискурс виктимизации в иранских СМИ в отношении событий переворота 1953 г. в Иране
Alontsev M., Титова В. С., Восток. Афро-азиатские общества: история и современность 2025 № 4 С. 176–187
This article examines the discourse of victimization and collective trauma in Iranian media during the early 1950s, particularly in relation to the Coup of August 19, 1953. This event is crucial in modern Iranian history, profoundly impacting the relationship between the government and society, as well as shaping contemporary Iran's foreign policy. The coup, supported ...
Added: November 10, 2025
  • About
  • About
  • Key Figures & Facts
  • Sustainability at HSE University
  • Faculties & Departments
  • International Partnerships
  • Faculty & Staff
  • HSE Buildings
  • HSE University for Persons with Disabilities
  • Public Enquiries
  • Studies
  • Admissions
  • Programme Catalogue
  • Undergraduate
  • Graduate
  • Exchange Programmes
  • Summer University
  • Summer Schools
  • Semester in Moscow
  • Business Internship
  • Research
  • International Laboratories
  • Research Centres
  • Research Projects
  • Monitoring Studies
  • Conferences & Seminars
  • Academic Jobs
  • Yasin (April) International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development
  • Media & Resources
  • Publications by staff
  • HSE Journals
  • Publishing House
  • iq.hse.ru: commentary by HSE experts
  • Library
  • Economic & Social Data Archive
  • Video
  • HSE Repository of Socio-Economic Information
  • HSE1993–2026
  • Contacts
  • Copyright
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map
Edit