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Страх и детская виктимность в атеистическом дискурсе хрущевского периода
This article aims to show the possibilities of the interpretation of the Thaw period anti-religious propaganda through the lens of the emotional narrative. The author offers to consider the use of the victimized image of religious children for evoking the reprobative public reaction. This atheistic campaign was carried out mostly by means of discreditation of the believers, contrasting them with the social norms and the image of the ideal Soviet citizen – the builder of communism. Images of children-martyrs are archetypical of the Russian culture; they were often used in the stories about Young Pioneers-heroes, as well as in visual propaganda during the Great Patriotic War. Due to the Soviet media, the religious upbringing was based on intimidation and horrification so the sense of fear affected a child’s personality. The key components of the image of religious children were reconstructed through the prism of narration and pictures in press, films, letters into the press media, ideological books and handbooks. Sociological surveys of soviet children and youth, letters of the Soviet people show that the stereotypes of fearful religious children were quite effective. Studying fear as a tabooed emotion helps us to understand the “emotional scope” of the Soviet propaganda in a more profound way, as well as to identify the mechanism of the formation of the “emotional component” of the “the Other” image. Geographically, the research covers Central Russia – the region which was given much attention by the media due to its historical legacy that appealed to the concept of the Holy Rus in the collective consciousness.