Man Xu

Man Xu

31 October 2023

Film, Mikhalkov, Russia, National identity, Text analysis.

The collapse of the Soviet Union plunged Russians into a crisis of national identity. The national elements in the famous Russian director Mikhalkov's films have an important impact on the construction of Russian national identity. This paper uses text analysis to interpret the films created by the director after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and explains the profound connection between national identity and film from a new perspective. It is found that in the trilogy of Burnt by the Sun, 12, Sunstroke, and The Barber of Siberia, Mikhalkov constructs national identity by building hero images, revealing and resolving social contradictions, reproducing and reflecting on history, and promoting national culture. This study not only explores the pluralistic construction of national identity in Mikhalkov's films, but also provides inspiration for Chinese filmmakers and lays a foundation for future related studies. 

© 2023, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license