Index
1984 (Orwell), 109
access: money and, 117; role in post-Soviet era, 97; Soviet system and, 95, 96
Ackroyd, Dan, 25
affect theory, and concept of self-hatred, 4
affirmational fandom, 22; and reactionary defense of Tolkien, 131; and Russian Orc, 153; state-sponsored, Russian historiography under Putin as, 160–61; war in Ukraine as extreme real-life expression of, 23
African Americans, and racial melancholia, 6
Akunin, Boris, 28
alienation: between elites and common people, Russia’s history of, 68–69; of evil, Russian antisemitism as, 62; negative identities and process of, 16, 63, 67; sovok’s, from post-Soviet trends, 69
American Born Chinese (Yang), 26–27
American exceptionalism, and self-proclaimed Russian Orcs, 17, 137
American Psycho, New Russian compared to, 102
America protiv Rossii (Kalashnikov and Krupnov), 137–38
Anderson, Benedict, 20
Andropov, Yuri, 32
anekdoty (jokes): about Chukchi, 107, 166n2; about New Russians, 103–8, 166n9; characters populating, 48; political, in Soviet era, 103
anime fan culture, 21
Anninsky, Lev, 41
antisemitism, Russian: explanation for, 62; slur used in, 165n6; and war on Ukraine, 162
Asian Americans: anxieties of, 26–27; and racial melancholia, 6–7
Asimov, Isaac, 138
Atwood, Lynn, 27
Atwood, Margaret, 109
The Barber of Siberia (film), 154–59; affirmative messages of, 169n2; casting of, 155, 156, 169n1; cost of, 157; and Russian identity, renegotiation of, 156, 157–59; tagline from, 155, 157–58, 162
Baron Cohen, Sacha, 24–26, 80, 81
The Bedbug (Mayakovsky), 29–30, 98
Belostotsky, Gennady, 50
Benediktov, Kirill, 115
Berdiaev, Nikolai, 98
Berezovsky, Boris, 89
Bershidsky, Leonid, 146
Bezrukov, Sergei, 112
Bilbo, Theodore G., 131
Billionaire trilogy, 114–18, 119
Bimmer (film), 112
The Black Book of Arda (Vasilieva and Nekrasova), 136
Blok, Aleksandr: “The People and the Intelligentsia,” 68; “The Scythians,” 138, 149
Bobyr’, Zinaida, 133
Bodrov, Sergei, Jr., 18
Bogdanov, Konstantin, 34
Boiko, Mikhail, 143
Bolshevism: approach to feminism, 27–28; and New Man, idea of, 28
Bond, James, Cold War plots in movies about, 123
Borat character, 24–26, 80, 81; Kazakhstan government’s response to, 25, 26, 164n1; post-Soviet shame exemplified by, 26
Brigada (film), 112–13, 114, 119
Bright (film), 168n9
The Bronze Horseman (Pushkin), 55
Buber, Martin, 103
Buddha’s Little Finger (Pelevin), 66
Bulgakov, Mikhail: Heart of a Dog, 29, 30; The Master and Margarita, 52
Bumer (film), 112
Burnt by the Sun (film), 56, 154
Buslov, Pyotr, 112
Butler, Judith, 156
bydlo, 16, 63, 67–69; connection to self-hatred, 62, 69; Internet and, 165n14; national and global, 69; Orcs compared to, 143; as proxy for socioeconomic class, 79; television and, 69–72; as tool for alienation, 67
Bykov, Dmitrii, 23, 52, 53; Justification, 66; Living Souls, 16, 63, 64–67, 165n12; popularity of, 53; on sovok, 52, 69
capitalism: accumulation of wealth in, assumed rationality of, 88; management of scarcity in, 95; Marxist perspective on, 108
capitalism, Russian: criminality and, 108–9; injustice and deceit characterizing, 88, 97; New Russian as face of, 88, 98
Cassiday, Julie, 166n3
Chaadaev, Pyotr, 158
Chadsky, Anton, 77; public art action in Ukraine, 77–78; and Vatnik Internet meme, 72, 73–74, 75
Chapaev: jokes about, 48, 66; literary works about, 65–66
Chapaev (film), 66
Chapaev (Furmanov), 65
Chapaev and the Void (Pelevin), 66
Chaplin, Vsevolod, 121
Chekhov, Anton: The Cherry Orchard, 52, 53, 108; The Three Sisters, 108
Chen, Adrian, 151
chern’ (term), 68
Chernaia kniga Ardy (Vasilieva and Nekrasova), 136
The Cherry Orchard (Chekhov), 52, 53, 108
Chess, K., 58
Chin, Bertha, 20
Chukchi, jokes about, 107, 166n2
Clark, Katerina, 110
class. See socioeconomic class
Clinton, Bill, 129
Colbert, Stephen, 75
Cold War, 122; dualistic storytelling popularized during, 122–23; politics of, entanglement with Western mass fantasy, 124–25; reversal of binaries of, Russian Orc and, 130; in Western popular culture, 122–23
common people: alienation between elites and, Russia’s history of, 68–69; as bydlo, 67; as category under Soviet ideology, 61, 63; infatuation with, in 19th-century Russia, 68; post-Soviet types embodying disdain for, 61–63; as Vasyas/Vaskas, 61, 63, 64–67, 165n2
conservative nationalists, 22–23, 42–43
conspiracy theories: about Soviet collapse, 11; Russophobia as tool in, 62, 129, 165n4; and US elections of 2016, 151–52; and war in Ukraine, 162
consumer culture/consumption: negative identities defined in relation to, 51; New Russian and, 95, 103–6; sovok and, 17, 45, 49, 50, 51
Crimea, Russian annexation of, 12; appropriation of “Orc” epithet after, 140, 146; nationalists supporting, 16, 76
criminality: imaginary post-Soviet identities and, 16–17, 79; New Russian and, 17, 52, 79, 83, 106, 108–9, 112–13, 114; privatization in 1990s and, 94
Cronin, Justin, 166n3
culture: imaginary post-Soviet identities and, 16–17, 79; New Russian and, 100, 102, 106–7; Russian Orc and, 17; sovok and, 17, 69
curatorial fandom, 22. See also affirmational fandom
The Daily Show, right-wing person in, 75
The Day of the Oprichnik (Sorokin), 98
Dead Man’s Bluff (film), 105, 108–9
Death by Internet (Tuchkov), 99–102, 118
DeLillo, Don, 82
Dilbert (comic strip), 25
dissidents, Brezhnev-era, 43
Donbas: as live-action-role-playing game (LARP), 23; as Orc homeland, 148, 149
Dontsov, Sergei, 55
Dostoevsky, Fyodor, 28
Dozhd TV, 22
Dreiden, Sergei, 55
Dubin, Boris, 38
Dubov, Yuli, 89
Duncan, Andy, 131
effectiveness, imaginary post-Soviet identities and, 16–17, 79
egalitarianism, Soviet, 97; vs. access, 96; vs. elitism of educated urbanites, 61, 63; vs. post-Soviet capitalism, 97
Elizarov, Mikhail, 140–41; The Librarian, 140, 141; “Orkskaia” (“Orc Song”), 140–41, 143, 144, 146, 148, 149; Pasternak, 140
Erofeev, Venedikt, 94
Erofeyev, Viktor, 37
Estingeev, Denis, 112
Ethnogenesis (literary project), 114–18, 167n5
ethnogenesis, theory of, 102, 114, 161
Etkind, Alexander, 7
EVE online fan fiction, 145
Everything Is Illuminated (film), 25
Eye of Sauron: as basilisk, 127; planned art installation in Moscow, 121–22, 128–29, 147
Famous Men Who Never Lived (Chess), 58
fandom, 20–21; nationalism compared to, 20, 21, 153; types of, 21–22, 153. See also affirmational fandom; transformational fandom
fantasy: allegorical potential of, 135; Cold War dualism and, 123; ideology as form of, 125, 138; politics compared to, 129; Star Wars (film series) as, 130
Fantasy Worlds website, 144
fascism: The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) and connections to, 128, 134, 141; online trolls and espousal of, 127; Soviet use of term, 161
feminism, Bolshevik approach to, 27–28
feudalism: fantasies of New Russian and, 98–102; nostalgic, The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) and, 130
Foer, Jonathan Safran, 25
Forster, E. M., 58
The Forsyth Saga (Galsworthy), 128
Foundation (Asimov), 138
Frankfurt, Harry, 91
Freud, Sigmund: on conflicts between ethnicities/nations, 21; on hatred as libidinal attachment, 4; impact on Russian audiences, 135; Russian revisionist reading of The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) and, 151
Frolkov, Vladimir Georgievich (“Yarovrat”), 139–40
Fukuyama, Francis, 24
Furmanov, Dmitry, 65
Fyodorov, Nikolai, 135
Galsworthy, John, 128
Game of Thrones (TV series): ethical compromises of, 125; racial undertones of, 136
Gardner, John, 137
Gates, Bill, 88
gay propaganda law (2013), 19
Geller, Mikhail, 33
gender: of New Man, 27; of New Russian, 83–84; and post-Soviet identity constructs, 17–19. See also masculinity; women
Generation P (Pelevin), 127
Genis, Alexander, 41
Georgia, Russia’s 2008 invasion of: and post-Soviet, declaration of end of, 12; and Voronezh bombing meme, 1
Global Orcs, 143
global unity, predictions regarding, 24
Gnev orca (Kalashnikov and Krupnov), 137–38
Goblin Studios, 141
Gogol, Nikolai: Dead Souls, 64, 68; influence on Tuchkov, 99
Goscilo, Helena, 107
Graham, Seth, 103, 107, 166n2, 166nn8–9
Griboyedov, Alexander, 77, 101
Gulag, vatnik associated with, 72, 74
Gumilev, Lev, 167n6; in Billionaire trilogy, 114–18; ethnogenesis theory of, 102, 114, 161
Gumilev, Nikolai, 114
The Handmaid’s Tale (Atwood), 109
Harry Potter (Rowling): Anglo-Saxon values in, 124, 126, 135; fundamentalist US Protestants’ objections to, 121; Russian audiences’ response to, 124, 126, 128
hatred: complicated dynamic between self and other in, 4; role in conspiracy theories, 62; toward New Russians, 111; Vatnik associated with, 74, 75. See also self-hatred
Hayek, F. A., 98
Haynes, Todd, 156
Heart of a Dog (Bulgakov), 29
Heldt, Barbara, 31
“hereditary proletarian,” category of, 61
heterotopia, political fantasies and, 129
Hitler, Adolf: in Ethnogenesis series, 115; representation in The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), 134; in revisionist Lord of the Rings fan fiction, 136
The Hobbit (film series): Eye of Sauron art installation in honor of, 121–22, 128–29, 147; Russian nationalist review of, 147
homelessness crisis, post-Soviet, 16, 64
Homo sacer, 35, 37; vs. Homosos, 38
Homosos, 17, 34–38, 39; origins of term, 34, 40; sovok compared to, 34, 37, 40
Homo Sovieticus, 33–35; as Homosos, 17, 34–38; ideological function of, 39
Homo Sovieticus (Zinoviev), 17, 34–37, 38, 94
Homo Zapiens (Pelevin), 127
Hooker, Mark T., 134
humanism, New Russians’ reflexive rejection of, 104
humor: American, Russian anekdoty compared to, 48; centered on sovok, 45–48. See also anekdoty; styob
“I Am a Vatnik” (Lukin), 75–77
identity: imaginative formation of, 2, 19; Soviet collapse and crisis of, 2–3, 7, 157–58; Soviet experiment with, 27. See also identity constructs; negative identity
identity constructs, post-Soviet, 16, 19; axes for evaluation of, 16–17, 79; The Barber of Siberia (film) and, 156, 157–59; gender and, 17–19; as masks/performances, 8; melancholy and, 7; negative, 6, 63; pride and shame and, 3, 8, 15, 67; self-hatred and, 7, 15, 159
identity constructs, Soviet: degradation of, 33–39; development of, 27–33
ideology, as form of fantasy, 125, 138
imagined community, notion of, 20
immigrant experience: Soviet collapse compared to, 50; sovok compared to, 50; yokel as reflection of, 26–27
I’m Not There (film), 156
intelligentsia: late Soviet, sovok as typical member of, 51–53, 57, 69, 108; in rich Russians’ origin story, 119–20
Intergirl (film), 112
Internet: Bill Gates and, 88; bydlo on, 165n14; Russian Orc on, 138–39, 151; Sovok of the Week on, 45–48
Internet meme(s): Russian Orc Runet, 138, 139; Vatnik, 63, 72, 73, 75; Voronezh bombing, 1–2, 160
Internet Research Agency, St. Petersburg, 151
Internet trolls: and fascist tropes, 127; Orcs compared to, 151–52
Jackson, Peter, 124, 127, 128, 147. See also The Hobbit (film series); The Lord of the Rings (film series)
Jameson, Frederic, 129
Jenkins, Henry, 20
Jew(s): as descendants of Khazars, theory of, 66–67, 165n7; designation on Soviet internal identity papers, 86; Lord of the Rings revisionism and, 140–41
Jewish anxiety: Borat character as variation of, 26; self-hatred as variation of, 3–4, 5
Jewison, Norman, 124
Jigoulov, Vadim, 45
Jobs, Steve, 99
Joel, Billy, 82
Justification (Bykov), 66
Kalashnikov, Maksim, 137–38, 143, 146
Kamenkovich, Mariia, 134
Karlsson-on-the-Roof (Lindgren), 128
Karrik, Valerii, 134
Kartseva, Elena, 126
Kaufman, Andy, 25
Kazakhstan, Borat films and, 25, 26, 164n1
Khort, Igor, 145
Kobrin, Kirill, 163n10
Kolina, Elena, 84
kolorady, as ethnic slur, 73
Kol’tso t’my (Perumov), 136
Konchalovsky, Andrei, 56
Kondrateva, Elena, 115
Korobov-Latyntsev, Andrei, 149–51
Kostya Gumankov’s Paris Love (film), 50
Krasnyi padavan (Dubchek), 145–46
Krasnyi vlastelin (Shkenev), 144
Krivov, Andrei, 151
Lapin, Sergei, 61
The Last Ringbearer (Yeskov), 136–37, 139
Law of the Lawless (film). See Brigada
Leviathan (film), 111
LGBTQI community, demonization of, 19
liberals: anti-Russian, projecting Orc traits onto, 149–50; patriotic, 22, 23; post-Soviet, negative identity constructs employed by, 16, 67, 74–75
“liberpunk” science fiction, 137
The Librarian (Elizarov), 140, 141
Limita (film), 112
Lindgren, Astrid, 128
Lipovetsky, Mark, 3, 92, 99, 101, 166n6
Liu, Hailong, 20
Liubit’ po-russki (film), 110–11
live-action-role-playing game (LARP), Donbas as, 23
LiveJournal, and Russian Orc Runet meme, 138, 139
Living Souls (Bykov), 16, 64–67, 165n12
Lombroso, Cesare, 135
Lomko, Ivan, 151
Looking Backward (Bellamy), 24, 25
The Lord of the Rings (film series): first installment of, 124, 127; Goblin Studios version of, 141
The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien): Anglo-Saxon values in, 124, 126, 130; dualistic cosmology of, 125, 130; “evil empire” in, 17, 122, 128, 136; racist undertones in, 128, 130–32, 133–34, 167n3; resonance in Russian culture, 122, 127–29; revisionist fiction based on, 136–38, 139–45, 168n5; Russian audiences’ response to, 124, 126, 130, 133, 136, 147–48; Russian nationalist reading of, 149–51; Russian translations of, Soviet subtext in, 134–35; Russophobic intent of, accusations of, 133–34, 136, 137–38, 139; and Soviet collapse, prediction of, 133; unofficial circulation in Soviet Union, 129, 133; war in Ukraine and references to, 146–47; World War II and, 128, 134, 141. See also Orc(s)
“Lord of the Steppe” (Tuchkov), 100–101, 102
Love, Russian Style (film), 110–11
Lucas, George, 124
Lukyanenko, Sergei, 145
MAGA hat, vatnik compared to, 75, 79
Maguire, Gregory, 137
Maikov, Pavel, 112
Mamet, David, 156
Mamin, Yuri, 164n7; Window to Paris (film), 50, 55–59
Mamleev, Yuri, 37
Martin, Steve, 25
Marxism: on capitalism, 108; on class, 51, 97; on common people, 68; and labor as cult, 94; and nurture vs. nature, 35; and utopianism, 27, 28
masculinity: and affirmational fandom, 22; of New Man, 27; of New Russian, 83; and post-Soviet identity constructs, 17–19; of yokel figure, 25
mass culture: categories of, as interpretive framework, 20; dualistic Western, and Cold War imaginary, 122–23; and post-Soviet identity constructs, 16, 18, 157; Soviet, 122; Westernized, anxieties about, 3, 69
The Master and Margarita (Bulgakov), 52
Mavrodi, Sergei, 105
Mayakovsky, Vladimir, 29–30, 98
McFarlane, Seth, 72
medievalism: alt-right and, 131; faux, Tolkien and, 131; new, 98–102
Medinsky, Vladimir, 22
Medvedev, Dmitri, 114
melancholy: and contemporary Russian identity, 7; racial, 6–7
meme(s). See Internet meme(s)
Meshalkin, Leonid, 145
meshchanstvo, Soviet struggle against, 49
Mikhalkov, Nikita: The Barber of Siberia (film), 154–59; Burnt by the Sun (film), 56, 154; Oscar hopes of, 154–55; in role of Tsar Alexander III, 155, 169n1
Miloševic´, Slobodan, 129
minorities: identity studies regarding, 3–4; parallels with Russian fans’ experience, 135–36; in Soviet Union, 85
Mironenko, Sergei, 22
MMM pyramid scheme, 94–95; ad campaign for, 53–54; founder of, 105
money: New Russian and, 79, 84, 87, 95, 97, 102–3, 117, 166n9; after reforms of 1990, 95; rich Russian and, 117; in Soviet society, 95, 96
Morimoto, Lori Hitchcock, 20
Moscow-Petushki (Erofeev), 94
moskali, as ethnic slur, 73
Narbikova, Valeria, 37
nationalism: fandom compared to, 20, 21, 153; Swift’s satire of, 21; transformational/affirmational binary in, 22–23
nationalism, Russian: and annexation of Crimea, 16, 76; and Orc phenomenon, 19–20, 147–49, 153; Putin-era, Vatnik as representative of, 16, 72, 73, 75, 76–77; and revisionist Lord of the Rings interpretations, 144–45, 149–51; and Star Wars fan fiction, 145–46
nation building, shame as form of, 5
Navalny, Alexei, 114
Nazis: Orcs modeled on, 134; in Soviet binary storytelling, 123; victory over, pride in, 42–43; war in Ukraine framed as battle against, 161–62
Nebesa obetovannye (film), 55
negative identity, 6, 63; process of alienation and, 16, 63, 67; reclaiming as point of pride, 17, 63, 67
Nekrasova, Natalia, 136
Nevzorov, Aleksandr, 147
New Economic Policy (NEP), 29
New Man: dystopian representations of, 29–32; limitations of term, 32; masculinity associated with, 27; NEPman as rival of, 29–30; New Russian compared to, 28, 98; New Soviet Man replacing, 28, 32; paradox of, 43; Soviet Man compared to, 35; utopian roots of, 28–29, 35
New Russian(s), 16, 79, 82; American Psycho compared to, 102; business model of, 114; characteristics of, 84, 95, 102–3; as concept, 87–88; and consumer culture, 95, 103–6; and criminality, 17, 52, 79, 83, 106, 108–9, 112–13, 114; and culture, 100, 102, 106–7; decline of, resurgence of state power and, 109–10; as economic pseudophenomenon, 93–94; as face of Russian capitalism, 88; and feudalist fantasies, 98–102; as figure of urban folklore, 87; in film, 89–93, 108–9, 111; financial collapse of 1998 and, 113–14; gender of, 83–84; hint at masculine inadequacy in, 18–19; jokes (anekdoty) about, 103–8, 166n9; literary depictions of, 99–102; New (Soviet) Man compared to, 28, 98; North American robber barons compared to, 97; oligarchs as version of, 89, 93, 95; origins of term, 84–86; Putin-era successors to, 82, 95; rich Russian distinguished from, 117, 118, 120; romance novels and features of, 82–84; sovok compared to, 16, 17, 49, 52, 87, 95, 106; and taste, 95, 105–7; temporalities suggested by, 97–98; transformation into rich Russian, 110, 112–13, 119–20; and wealth, 79, 84, 87, 95, 97, 166n9
The New Russians (Smith), 85, 86, 98
New Soviet Man: New Man replaced by, 28, 32; New Russian as parodic counterpart to, 98; as political aspiration, 38
Neyolova, Marina, 156
Night Watch series (Lukyanenko), 145
Novak, Joseph, 34
Novodvorskaia, Valeriia, 145, 168n12
Novoe srednevekov’e (Berdiaev), 98
Okno v Parizh (film), 50, 55–59
oligarch(s): as New Russians, 89, 93, 95; Putin and, 109–10, 114
Oligarkh (film). See Tycoon (film)
Orc(s)/Orc identity, 136–38; Internet trolls compared to, 151–52; mass culture and, 18; online, 138–39; as the Other, 132, 168n5; racism in depiction of, 128, 131–32, 133–34, 167n3; revisionism regarding, 136–38, 139–45, 168n5, 168n9; Russian appropriation of, 19–20, 122, 130, 148–49. See also Russian Orc(s)
Orki i russkie—brat’ia navek! (Meshalkin), 145
“Orkskaia”/“Orc Song” (Elizarov), 140–41, 143, 144, 146, 148, 149
Orwell, George, 109
Osminkin, Roman, 8
paleoconservatism, Russian, 129, 167n2
parasite, social: New Russian as, 95; Soviet understanding of, 94
participatory culture, 20–21. See also fandom
“Party Like a Russian” (song), 80–82
Passage (Cronin), 166n3
Pasternak (Elizarov), 140
Pelevin, Victor: Chapaev and the Void, 66; Generation P, 127; “ork”/“urk” wordplay by, 142, 146; popularity of, 53; on post-Soviet intelligentsia, 51–52, 54, 69; S.N.U.F.F., 141–43, 148
“The People and the Intelligentsia” (Blok), 68
Perumov, Nik, 136
Philosophical Letters (Chaadaev), 158
Platonov, Andrei, 135
politics: Cold War, entanglement with Western mass fantasy, 124–25; fantasy and science fiction compared to, 129
Polyanskaya, Anna, 151
Poslednii kol’tsenosets (Yeskov), 136–37
posthuman, New Russian as, 104
postmodernism, late- and post-Soviet, 37
postsocialism: built-in limitation of term, 9; definition of, 10–11; end of, eagerness to declare, 12–15; messiness associated with, 14; perspectives on, 9–11; post-Soviet compared to, 11; scholars’ discomfort with term, 10–11; as temporal framework, 15; viewed as global condition, 10; virtues of term, 11, 14, 15
post-Soviet: built-in limitation of term, 9; difficulty defining, 33; discursive void left by, 13–14; end of, eagerness to declare, 12–15, 163n10; end of, joke regarding, 8–9; end of, Putin’s declaration of, 11–12; meaning of, 8; postsocialism compared to, 11; virtues of term, 11, 14; weakness associated with, 15
post-Soviet Man, 33
pride: and identity formation, 2–3, 8; reclamation of negative identities as point of, 17, 63, 67; Soviet victory in World War II and, 3, 33, 42–43; transformation of shame into, Russian Orc and, 17, 19, 141, 143; transformation of shame into, vatniki and, 75–77
privatization (1990s), 88, 92–93, 94, 97
Prokhorov, Mikhail, 114
The Promised Heavens (film), 55
Pushkin, Alexander: The Bronze Horseman, 55; “The Stationmaster,” 87
Putin, Vladimir: centralization of state authority under, 109–10; compared to Sauron, 146, 168n12; economic growth under, 114; on end of post-Soviet period, 11–12; historiography under, as state-sponsored affirmational fandom, 160–61; idea of Russophobia under, 62; imaginary world created and sold by, 129; “Nazi” (term) used by, 161–62; and oligarchs, 109–10, 114; paleoconservatism (term) applied to program of, 129; and politics of collective identity reclamation, 7; and russkii vs. rossiiskii, use of term, 163n12; and salvational myth of New Russia, 15; supporters of, identity labels used for, 67, 73; and war in Ukraine, 159, 161
racism: Game of Thrones (TV series) and, 136; The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) and, 128, 130–32, 133–34, 167n3
Radishchev, Alexander, 104
The Rage of the Orc (Kalashnikov and Krupnov), 137–38, 143
Reagan, Ronald: “evil empire” speech of, 17, 124–25, 126, 127, 128, 137; imaginary world created and sold by, 129
Red Lord (Shkenev), 144
Rhys, Jean, 137
rich Russian(s), 82; Billionaire trilogy about, 114–18; New Russian distinguished from, 117, 118, 120; New Russian’s transformation into, 110, 112–13, 119–20; origin story of, 119–20; romanticization of, 112–13; self-image of, contradictions inherent in, 119; song about, 80–82
Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie (Schimpfössl), 119–20
right-wing circles: crusades against Social Justice Warriors, 136; preoccupation with Middle Ages, 131; and Russian Orc identity, 138–40
The Ring of Darkness (Perumov), 136
robber barons, New Russians compared to, 97
Rodin, Vasily, 75
romance novel, Russian, 82–84, 166n3
Room with a View (Forster), 58
rossiianin: use of term, 14, 86; vatnik as, 72, 74
rossiiskii, use of term, 86, 163n12
Russian Federation: Borat films and, 25; contrast with Soviet Union, 33; Soviet legacy and, 2
Russian Orc(s), 19–20, 130; bydlo compared to, 143; and culture, 17; as double projection, 152–53; imagined perceptions of Russians from outside of Russia and, 17, 19, 153; Internet trolls compared to, 151–52; as interpretive strategy, 18, 146; nationalism and, 19–20, 147–49, 153; online, 138–39, 151; pivot from shame to pride in, 17, 19, 141, 143; in revisionist fan fiction, 136–38, 139–45, 168n5; right-wing online circles and, 138–40; roots of, 133–34, 151; self-hatred and, 17, 139, 147–48; song about, 140–41, 143, 144; sovok compared to, 139, 146; war in Ukraine and evolution of, 146–47, 148–49
Russian Orc Runet meme, 138, 139
Russian Orthodox Church: Eye of Sauron art installation in Moscow and, 121–22; on Tolkien fans as “foreign sect,” 133
The Russians (Smith), 85
The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (film), 125
russkii, use of term, 85–86, 163n12
Russophobia, accusations of: conspiracy theories and, 62, 129, 165n4; Eye of Sauron art installation and, 128–29; history of, 62; image of Vatnik and, 75; in The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), 133–34, 136, 137–38, 139; in Western entertainment, 127
Ryazanov, Eldar: Irony of Fate (film), 8–9; The Promised Heavens (film), 55
Sakharnyi Kreml’ (Sorokin), 98
Salt of the earth (band), 148–49
Saturday Night Live (TV show), 25
Saunders, Robert A., 25
Sauron (character): Putin compared to, 146, 168n12. See also Eye of Sauron
Schechter, Brandon, 161
Schimpfössl, Elisabeth, 119–20
Schreiber, Liev, 25
science fiction: Cold War dualism and, 123; politics compared to, 129; Russian, “liberpunk” subgenre of, 137
“The Scythians” (Blok), 138, 149
self-hatred: and contemporary Russian identity, 7, 15, 159; depathologization of, 5; and Jewish anxiety, 3–4, 5; libidinal logic of love and hate and, 4; post-Soviet successors to sovok and, 62, 63; and racial melancholia, 7; role in conspiracy theories, 62; Russian Orc and, 17, 139; Russia’s war on Ukraine as form of, 160, 162
Sergeitsev, Timofei, 162
Shabelnikov, Yuri, 77
Shafarevich, Igor, 62
Shakhnazarov, Yuri, 40
Shakhter (Khort), 145
shame: and contested Russian identities, 3, 8, 16; individual and collective sense of, 5; Soviet and post-Soviet, Borat character exemplifying, 26; after Soviet collapse, 2–3, 18, 26; transformation into pride, Russian Orc and, 17, 19, 141, 143; transformation into pride, vatniki and, 75–77
Sharafutdinova, Gulnaz, 7–8, 38, 39
Shkenev, Sergei, 144
Sibirskii tsirul’nik (film). See The Barber of Siberia (film)
Sidorov, Aleksei, 112
The Simpsons (TV series), 21–22
Siutkin, Valery, 61
Sleptsov, Ivan, 133
The Slynx (Tolstaya), 99
Smert’ prikhodit po internetu (Tuchkov). See Death by Internet (Tuchkov)
Smith, Hendrick: The New Russians, 85, 86, 98; The Russians, 85
S.N.U.F.F. (Pelevin), 141–43, 148
social asthenia, 6
socialist realist hero, fate of, 110
Social Justice Warriors, right-wing crusades against, 136
socioeconomic class: Marx on, 51; New Russians and, 97; in post-Soviet Russia, stigmatized identities used as proxy for, 79; in Soviet Union, 96; in US, 96
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr, 40
Souch, Irina, 15
South Ossetia, reconstruction of, 1
Soviet: as nearly empty signifier, 32; sovok as slang for, 42–43
Soviet Man: degradation of, 33–38; idea of, 32–33; ideological function of, 39; movement to sovok from, 33, 39; New Man compared to, 35; sociological research on, 38–39; supranational nature of, 33; Zinoviev on, 34
The Soviet Novel (Clark), 110
Soviet Union: access in, role of, 96; alleged egalitarianism vs. elitism in, 61, 63; erosion of confidence in, explanations for, 3; as experiment in utopian identity formation, 27; labor as cult in, 93–94; legacy of, pride and shame associated with, 2–3; money in, role of, 95, 96; sovok as slang for, 42–43; value of production in, 88
Soviet Union, collapse of: chaos (bespredel) after, 109; conspiracy theories regarding, 11; crisis of homelessness following, 16, 64; crisis of naming following, 14; crisis of taste following, 51; identity crisis following, 2–3, 7, 157–58; immigrant experience compared to, 50; The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) as prediction of, 133; loss experienced in, 13; melancholia after, 7; privatization after, 88, 92–93, 94, 97; process leading to, 13; shame after, 2–3, 18, 26; sovok after, 50–51; Western fantasy’s capture of Russian popular imagination coinciding with, 124–25
sovok: ambivalence associated with, 49, 50; Borat character compared to, 26; built-in limit on life span of, 59; bydlo compared to, 67–69; catchiness of term, 40; characteristics of, 17; and consumer culture, 17, 45, 49, 50, 51; and culture, 17, 69; as diagnosis, 42; double bind of, 44; in film, 50, 55–59; Homo Sovieticus/Homosos compared to, 34, 37, 40; humor centered on, 45–48; love-hate dynamic associated with, 63; masculine inadequacy of, hint at, 18–19; meaning of, 42–43, 44; as member of late Soviet intelligentsia, 51–53, 57, 69, 108; memetic success of, 42; in MMM ad campaign, 53–54; movement from Soviet Man to, 33, 39; New Russian compared to, 16, 17, 49, 52, 87, 95, 106; oral folklore and, 40, 43; Orc compared to, 139, 146; origins of term, 40–42, 50, 72–73; polyvalence of, 42, 43, 62; post-Soviet successors to, 62–63; as slang for Soviet, 42–43; song about, 43–44; Soviet insecurities projected on, 16; after Soviet Union’s collapse, 50–51; and taste, 47, 48, 51, 106; traveling, tropes of, 50, 55–59; Vatnik as successor to, 74, 76; Vatnik compared to, 72–73, 78–79
Spengler, Oswald, 135
Spielberg, Stephen, 25
SpongeBob (cartoon character), Vatnik compared to, 72
Stakhanov, Alexei, 94
Stalin, Joseph: and category of “hereditary proletarian,” 61; imaginary world created and sold by, 129; and New Soviet Man, idea of, 28; representation in The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), 134; in Russian revisionist fan fiction, 144, 145; and “Soviet” (term), 32
Star Trek (TV series): political and ideological messages attributed to, 125, 135
Star Wars (film series): Anglo-Saxon values in, 124, 126, 135; Cold War politics and, 124, 126–27; dualistic cosmology of, 130; Russian audiences’ response to, 124, 126, 127–28; Russian revisionist fan fiction based on, 145–46
state power, Russian: centralization under Putin, 109–10; merger with wealth, 111
“The Stationmaster” (Pushkin), 87
“Stepnoi barin” (Tuchkov), 100–101, 102
stiliagi, Soviet campaign against, 49
“Stiliagi iz Moskvy” (album), 60–61
“Strashnaia mest’ ” (Tuchkov), 99–100
Strategic Defense Initiative, 124
styob (ironic overidentification): Chadsky and, 77–78; negative portrayal of Russia in Western media and, 127; Vatnik as, 75
Surkov, Vladislav, 114
Svechenie (art group), 121
Swift, Jonathan, 21
The Tank Driver of Mordor (Mochalov), 144–45
taste: as cultural capital, 51; New Russian and, 95, 105–7; Soviet collapse and crisis of, 51; sovok and, 47, 48, 51, 106
Taxi (film), 25
television, identity constructs associated with, 16, 69–72
Terminal (film), 25
“A Terrible Vengeance” (Tuchkov), 99–100
That ’70s Show (TV series), 25
The Three Sisters (Chekhov), 108
Tolkien, J. R. R.: disdain for political interpretations, 141. See also The Lord of the Rings
Tolstaya, Tatyana, 99
transformational fandom, 22; liberal nationalism as, 23; The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) and, 131; and Russian Orc, 153
transition to democracy (transitology): notion of, 10; vs. postsocialism, 14
trickster(s): New Russian as, 92, 101; in Russian literature, 92–93
trolls. See Internet trolls
Trump, Donald: imaginary world created and sold by, 129; New Russian compared to, 87, 106
Tuchkov, Vladimir, 99–102, 118
Ukraine: Chadsky’s public art action in, 77–78; imperial attitude of condescension toward, 160, 161, 162; linkage of “orc” to, in revisionist fiction, 142, 146; Russian dismissal of existence of, 78; separatist movement in, 19. See also Crimea; Donbas
Ukraine, war in, 12, 159–60; anti-Nazi rhetoric and, 161–62; antisemitism and, 162; ethnic slurs gaining prevalence during, 16, 73; as extreme affirmational fandom, 23; meaning for Russia, 160–62; and Orc identity, evolution of, 146–47, 148–49; Putin and, 159, 161; Russian cultural figures supporting, 76; as self-hatred, 160, 162; Western media on, 121
Ukrainian(s): designation on Soviet internal identity papers, 86; inherent Russianness of, insistence on, 162
ukropy (dills), as ethnic slur, 73, 142, 146
United States: exceptionalism of, and self-proclaimed Russian Orcs, 17, 137; hostility toward, “negative identity” stemming from, 6; identity formation in, 27, 164n3; majority identity in, 3; “middle class” designation in, 96; racial melancholia in, 6–7; Russian interference in elections in, 62, 151–52; slavery in, shame associated with, 5. See also Western other
urapatriotizm (hurrah patriotism), Vatnik as mouthpiece of, 72
utopianism: and idea of New Man, 28–29, 35; Marxism and, 27, 28; politics and, 129
Vail’, Pyotr, 41
Vasilieva, Natalia, 136
Vasyas (Vaskas/Vaski), 16; average person indicated by, 61, 165n2; in Bykov’s Living Souls, 63, 64–67; connection to self-hatred, 62, 63; hint at masculine inadequacy in, 19; origins of term, 60–61; as proxy for socioeconomic class, 79; as successor to sovok, 62–63
vatniki, 16, 72–79; American version of, 75, 79; connection to self-hatred, 62; in contemporary Russian fashion, 75; hint at masculine inadequacy in, 19; as proxy for socioeconomic class, 79; reappropriation as positive image, 75–77; sovok compared to, 72–74, 76, 78–79; as Ukrainian ethnopolitical slur, 16, 73; visual image of, 72, 75
Vatnik Internet meme, 63, 72, 73, 75, 77
veshchizm, Soviet rejection of, 49
Vesti (TV newscast), 80
Voinovich, Vladimir, 40
Volkov, Shulamit, 4
Volkov, Vadim, 109
Voronezh bombing, meme of, 1–2, 160
Vysotsky, Vladimir, 111
wealth: accumulation of, narratives to sell, 87–88; imaginary post-Soviet identities and, 16–17, 79; merger with state power, 111; New Russians and, 79, 84, 87, 95, 97, 102–3, 117, 166n9
Weininger, Otto, 135
Western (American) other: hatred of, vatnik associated with, 74, 75; imagined alienating gaze of, Russian Orc based on, 19, 153; negative identity based on hostility toward, 6; Russian nationalist reinterpretation of The Lord of the Rings and, 147–48
Western popular culture: anxieties about, 3, 69; Cold War in, 122–23
Window to Paris (film), 50, 55–59
Winters, Joseph R., 6
Woe from Wit (Griboyedov), 77, 101
women (woman): concept of New (Soviet) Man and, 27; in first post-Soviet decade, 18; New Russian, 83–84; nineteenth-century Russian heroines, “terrible perfection” of, 31; Russia represented as, 18; as targets of Internet trolls, 151; and transformational fandom, 22
World War I, 24
World War II: and The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), 128, 134, 141; popularity of superhero comics in run-up to, 123; pride associated with, 3, 33, 42–43; and Soviet storytelling, 122–23; story of Panfilov’s guardsmen in, 22
“Yarovrat” (Vladimir Georgievich Frolkov), 139–40
yokel: Borat character as, 24–26; as common global phenomenon, 26–27; as figure in popular culture, 26; New Russian as, 16; Second World, representations of, 25; Soviet/post-Soviet, 25, 26; sovok as, 16
YouTube, and bydlo, 69
Zelensky, Volodymyr, 161
ZhD (Bykov), 64, 165n7. See also Living Souls (Bykov)
Zhirinovsky, Vladimir Vol’fovich, 145
Zhmurki (film). See Dead Man’s Bluff (film)
Zhogov, Dmitrii, 77
Zinoviev, Alexander: and Homosos, origins of term, 17, 34, 40; Homo Sovieticus, 17, 34–37, 38
Znak kachestva (TV program), 69–72
Zubok, Vladislav, 6
Zviagintsev, Andrei, 111