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Aspect-Press publishing house published a collective monograph “Enemy number One” in the Symbolic Politics of the Cinematographies of the USSR and the USA during the Cold War”. In this regard, the authors of the book thinks that Soviet and American cinematic images of "enemy number one" had many similarities, and the book noted parallelism in various aspects of creating these images. There were also significant differences: 1) in the United States, the opposition to the USSR was more rigid; 2) the policy of macropolitical identity pursued by the cinematographers of the USSR and the USA was based on different principles: class and national, respectively (this led to the production of images of “good Americans” as a necessary component of Soviet anti Americanism); 3) Soviet cinema as a whole was characterized by a more balanced and cautious attitude towards representations of the main geopolitical rival; 4) American cinema created a more one-dimensional image of the enemy, while Soviet cinema created a more one-dimensional image of “Us”; 5) finally, the film images of "enemy number one" had different meanings for the American and Soviet audiences. For American viewers, the USSR, in all likelihood, was not only the main rival and the main threat, but also the embodiment of absolute evil; in this aspect, nothing could compete with the images of the "Reds". As for the Soviet film audience of the Cold War, Nazi Germany was still “enemy number one” for them; in terms of emotional intensity, films dedicated to America are incomparable with the best films about the Great Patriotic War, such as The Fate of a Man, The Cranes Are Flying, The Ballad of a Soldier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article dwells upon the use of the symbol of the "Motherland" in the legitimation and delegitimation of power. The Motherland symbolizes the matters that are essential for legitimacy-seeking: the unity of Russia, its territory and sacredness of its borders, the most important events of its history, the "authentic Russianness," and multi-ethnic peace in the country. The author argues that the Motherland serves as an important factor of the legitimation of power in contemporary Russia, which allows the authorities to have high popularity both in domestic and foreign policies. This symbol is also actively exploited by the opposition; one mode of the delegitimation of power through using the symbol of Motherland (the "populist" mode) implies the symbolic struggle for possessing this symbol, or for the right to speak on behalf of the Motherland, while another one (the "liberal" mode) implies the desacralization of the "Motherland" and deconstruction of the practices of employing the symbol by the authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One factor contributing to the Putin regime's popularity is its remasculinization of Russia by creating attractive images of national masculinity and attributing masculine characteristics to the country, while the opposition seeks to counteract this activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]