Dr. Matthias Schwartz
Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung – Berlin, Germany
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2024-03S-10
Abstract. The essay deals with the enormous success of the Russian television series The Boy’s Word. Blood on the Asphalt (Slovo patsana. Krov’ na asfalte, 2023), directed by Zhora Kryzhovnikov, on both sides of the trenches during the Russo-Ukrainian war. It discusses the role of social media and the public reception in Ukraine and Russia. In particular, the way the series depicts the so-called ‘Kazan phenomenon’, when the Tatar capital was shocked by criminal youth gangs in the late Soviet Union, makes it attractive and topical in the current situation. By analyzing this, the essay also attempts to gain a better understanding of how popular cultural products take up and process social problems and conflicts in a complex way.
Keywords: Popular culture, TV series, social media, Russo-Ukrainian war, Zhora Kryzhovnikov, Russian TV series Slovo patsana. Krov’ na asfalte (2023)
