This book studies satirical protest in today’s Russia, addressing the complex questions of the limits of allowed humor, the oppressive mechanisms deployed by the State and pro-State agents as well as counterstrategies of cultural resistance. What forms of satirical protest are there? Is there State-sanctioned satire? Can satire be associated with propaganda? How is satire related to myth? Is satirical protest at all effective?―these are some of the questions the authors tackle in this book. The first part presents an overview of the evolution of satire on stage, on the Internet and on television on the background of the changing post-Soviet media landscape in the Putin era. Part Two consists of five studies of satirical protest in music, poetry and public protests.
Author(s): Aleksei Semenenko
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 236
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Notes on Transliteration and Translation
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Introduction
Satire: Russian Perspective
Cynics, kynics and stiob
Satire and Myth
Censorship that isn’t there
Satire on a Leash
Satire as Protest
Concluding remarks
Part I: Satire on a Leash
Chapter 1: Stand-Up, Jokers and Dual Reality
The Soviet Context: Estrada and Satiric Writers
Author-Performer
New Stand-Up Comedy: Danila Poperechnyi
The Joker Function and Dual Reality
References
Chapter 2: Is Putin Afraid of Memes? Satire on the Runet
The Internet Samizdat
Memes as Digital Anekdots
“Time for a Meme”
Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 3: Satire on Post-Soviet TV: From Puppets to Puppets
The 1990s: Puppets
The 2000s: Nostalgic Entertainment
After 2012: The Era of Agitainment
Dmitrii Kiselev
Vladimir Solov’ev
Prozhektorperiskhilton
References
Chapter 4: KVN: A TV Show Larger Than Television
The Context: The Thaw, Samodeiatel’nost’, and Student Theater
From the Thaw to Perestroika to the 1990s
Becoming a State Project
The Main Patron of the Show
Between Censorship and Propaganda
Concluding Remarks
References
Part II: Satire as Protest
Chapter 5: Rapping the Protest: New Russian Music
Semen Slepakov
Vasia Oblomov
Kasta
“Terrorizing Rappers”
Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 6: Transgressing the Mainstream: Camp, Queer and Populism in Russian Visual Culture
Russian Neo-camp
Sergei Shnurov and Leningrad: Celebrating the (Russian) Abject
Little Big: Camp Aesthetics of the Subaltern Empire
Aleksandr Gudkov: Queering the Mainstream
Conclusions
References
Chapter 7: The “Poetic” Protest in Putin’s Russia: “Grazhdanin poet”
Creating an alternative space: virtuality and participation
Creating a sense of belonging: community and intertextuality
Creating a broad reach for criticism: censorship and non-seriousness
References
Chapter 8: Political Games of Chance: Monstrations and Their Ludic Tactics
Monstrations and “Shimmering”
Games with Chance
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: Hybrid Political Humor: The New Dissent Art in Putin’s Russia
From the Soviet Era to the Present
From Provocation to Participation: Aesthetical Micropractices
The Climate of Hybrid Humor
Concluding Remarks
References
Index
