Read more
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
A Note on Resources
Introduction. Ivan The Terrible Kills Everybody
Chapter 1. Getting Memes Wrong
Chapter 2. The Soviet Memetic Landscape
Chapter 3. Looking Backward: A Meme’s Eye View of Russian History and Culture
Chapter 4. Folk Heroes of the Runet
Chapter 5. MemeStyles of the Rich and Famous
Chapter 6. The Whole World Is Watching
Chapter 7. Dance Dance Revolution
Chapter 8. Pictures at an Exhibition
Chapter 9. Going Viral: The Memes of COVID-19
Conclusion. The Quick and the Dank
Index
About the author
Eliot Borenstein is Professor and Chair of Russian & Slavic Studies, Interim Chair of East Asian Studies, Collegiate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Senior Academic Convenor for the Global Network at New York University, USA. Before coming to NYU, Borenstein directed the Fulbright Program for the Russian Federation and taught at the University of Virginia, USA. His first book, Men without Women: Masculinity and Revolution in Russian Fiction, 1917-1919, won the AATSEEL award for best work in literary scholarship in 2000. In 2007, he published Overkill: Sex and Violence in Contemporary Russian Popular Culture, which received the AWSS award for best book in Slavic Gender Studies in 2008.
A 2009 Guggenheim recipient, Borenstein wrote Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism (2019), which received the 2020 AATSEEL Book Prize and the 2020 Wayne S. Vucinic Book Prize. His other books include Pussy Riot: Speaking Punk to Power (Bloomsbury, 2020), and Meanwhile, in Russia…: Russian Internet Memes and Viral Video (Bloomsbury, 2022).
Summary
The Russian internet is a hotbed for memes and viral videos: the political, satirical and simply absurd compete for attention in Russia while the West turns to it for an endless reserve of humorous content. But how did this powerful cyber community grow out of the repressive media environment of the Soviet Union? What does this viral content reveal about the country, its politics and its culture? And why are the memes and videos of today’s Russia so popular, spreading so rapidly across the globe?
Award-winning author Eliot Borenstein explores the explosive online movement and unpicks, for the first time, the role of mimetic content and digital activism in modern Russian history up to the present day.
Foreword
The first in-depth exploration of Russian viral media culture, its history and legacy.
Additional text
The author has conducted an in-depth analysis of the CSTO as a case study of post-Soviet integration. He relies on a clear methodological approach, using a wide range of factual data obtained from relevant sources… and theoretical research. The book will be of interest to a wide range of readers, from researchers and students to everyone interested in regional integration issues, security cooperation and functional organisations.
