Popularizing traditional values. What is our choice of spiritual bonds and the right heroes

Ivan Zubov

As Novye Izvestia has already reported, President Putin instructed to popularize the heroes of Russian history and folklore that meet "traditional values", suggesting that images of such heroes be used in "graphic, printed, souvenir and other replicated products and consumer goods", follows from the list of instructions following the results of the meeting with historians and representatives of traditional religions of Russia. The government must take appropriate measures by May 15, 2023. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has been appointed responsible for the implementation of this order.

Is there a “Russian culture” in reality?

This news caused the expected strong reaction in social networks. And, in most cases - sarcastic. As one of the main arguments, the thesis was put forward that, in general, no Russian culture in the strict sense of the word exists, since no Russian nation has yet been created. It's no secret that nations are formed in nation-states, and Russia has never been one - it has always been only an empire. Nevertheless, references to the existence of a certain “great Russian culture”, and, first of all, literature, are meaningless, since its samples were created by an extremely narrow layer of European-educated and oriented people, and according to European patterns. What is specifically Russian here?

Political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov collected and published on his blog the names of the main characters of Russian folklore. This is a very revealing list from all points of view:

• Baba Yaga
• Bogatyrs
• Vasilisa the Beautiful and / or Wise (Wikipedia, included in the list of unfriendly states, does not really explain whether this is one person or two)
• Water
• Father Frost
• Grandfather Pihto
• Firebird
• Dragon
• Ivan the Fool
• Ivan Tsarevich
• kikimora
• Kolobok
• cat Baiyun
• Koschey
• Hen Ryaba
• Goblin
• Lisa Patrikeevna
• Famously
• Parsley
• turnip
• Mermaid
• Sadko
• Snow Maiden
• Soldier
• nightingale the robber
• Mistress of Copper Mountain
• Princess Frog
• King Peas
• Miracle Yudo

* Excluding Alkonost (a bird with a head and arms), Fixies and Fried Chicken

We even serve news not in Russian, but in American style!

Kommersant's columnist Dmitry Drize believes that despite the fact that everything is in order with folklore in Russia, he loses to the foreign one by " one gate " :

“Something, and we always had enough monsters - Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal, the Serpent Gorynych ... And in modern times, something like this can be found if desired. In addition, to receive an order for the production of knitwear with appropriate images for kindergartens, educational corners and training centers is the cherished dream of any contractor. By the way, we also have films and animation.

The question is: why does all this lose to Disney, Hollywood and other foreign corporations? How did it happen that the American Batman dealt with our Koshchei so easily?

It is difficult to answer this unambiguously. In this regard, it seems that fulfilling the order of the head of state is not as easy as it might seem at first glance..."

Publicist Vladimir Kozyrkov is also very worried about the fate of Russian folklore in the face of American:

“And what did Ivan Tsarevich not please? Do you like Godzilla with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Why were the Frog Princesses so afraid? After more than 30 years of indulging in American mass culture, it's time to remember that there is still a rich Russian culture and the culture of the peoples inhabiting Russia. And there is no need to scoff about the "clamps" here. It's not about them, it's about culture. It needs to be revived and developed further. This is the meaning of the modern historical turn.

If all TV channels implant American culture, then viewers simply do not know Russian culture. Turn on any channel and you will see that this is the case. We even serve news in the American style, and not in Russian. For some reason, this is not the case in France, Italy, Japan and other countries, but we have it. Why?

So how can we not revive Russian culture, if in our country even the Russian language is already half beaten out by Anglicisms. She has not died, but everything is heading towards this if she does not stop in time, as the French did in their time, when American culture rushed over their heads. They defended their just by the decision of the state and very categorical. So Batman must be replaced by Ilya Muromets and Alyosha Popovich. Such attempts are very successful. Although some cities, I will not name them, have become branches of New York.

today's young people over 30 are brought up on American culture. Literature and cinema adopted the aesthetics of American mass art. Go to any bookstore and cinema - and you will see everything. Only a few normal feature films are made. First, people were brought up on the absorption of American militants, theaters were deprived of resources, libraries, cinemas and recreation centers were closed, and then they say that people are not interested in Russian culture. The people were simply deprived of the opportunity to master Russian culture, and the intelligentsia for the most part went over to the canons of American culture, which were rejected in their time in France, Italy and other developed countries. And we got hooked on it thanks to those who calmly look at all this and approve of it, saying that the people demand it. Just like in Soviet times: at the request of the workers..."

This whole campaign will end with another cut of the state budget

The writer and publicist Dmitry Petrov (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation) quite plausibly painted a picture of how the execution of Putin's orders would actually look like:

“We are not talking about teaching history in schools and universities (as was the case in other Soviet-era decrees), but about the applied use of this discipline, plus the same use of folklore. Historians and folklorists have been given clear tasks: to promote the so-called "invented" in the depths of the propaganda machine of the Russian Federation. "traditional values" (this is such a replacement for "braces").

In November, they were announced to the people by a special decree (On the Approval of the Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values), and work is underway to introduce them to the masses in every possible way.

The same decree officially affirmed that all other "humanity has fallen into a spiritual crisis and is moving in a direct course towards the loss of moral principles and spiritual and moral guidelines".

So listen, gentlemen, and don’t say that you haven’t heard: and the historians take Peresvet, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Potemkin, Suvorov, Kutuzov, Ostrovsky (Nikolai), “heroes of Magnitka and Kuznetsstroy” and in general all those who have embodied in their deeds "service to the Fatherland" and "priority of the spiritual over the material" and are being introduced. In books, lectures, etc.

Folklorists - respectively - take Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka, Ivanushka the Fool, Ivan Tsarevich, Tsarevna the Frog, Prince Guidon, Baba Yaga, Uncle Chernomor, Masha and bears, and everyone who in folk tales, his behavior is "humanism", "collectivism", "mutual assistance" and "unity of the peoples of Russia", and, therefore, they promote them. And no Koshcheev! I have not seen anything more absurd in this area for a long time - since the time of those very braces. But, obviously, the masters of sawing got the budget for this business. It remains only, like a bear in a well-known fairy tale, to sit on a stump - to eat a pie..."

I must say that this point of view has found the largest number of fans. Here are just a few replies:

- Poor youth ... What a blessing that my teenage years fell on the end of the 90s!

- Healthy cynicism is the only way to maintain mental health while living in Russia.

- Culture is what people really live by, and not what uncles in their offices decide. If Ivan Tsarevich is not interesting to anyone, but Batman is interesting, then at least hurt yourself into a cake. And Russian culture does not need to be revived, it has not died ...

The snake did not want to give up her niece, and Dobrynya cut off her head

The publicist Tatyana Mei demonstrated by her own example how the forced introduction of Russian folklore will look like in practice:

“Poor Mishustin is ordered to popularize the heroes of Russian folklore who meet traditional values.

I don’t know how he will cope there and how much he will drink. But I instantly remembered how Mitka in the third grade, perhaps, wrote an essay at home on the topic “Russian heroes as an expression of the national idea of \u200b\u200bheroes.”

The theme fell on our hitherto carefree heads with a heroic mace.

I took out a collection of epics and opened the Internet. The information obtained was extremely embarrassing. The bogatyrs, as if by choice, were some kind of redneck, boorish and did not amaze with their minds. It was not possible to write in such a vein. But the son brilliantly got out of the situation, putting pressure on the artistry of the text.

He wrote for about three hours, covering the free surface of the table with wet seeds from plums, and five pages of a notebook with neat scribbles. Everyone walked on tiptoe.

Finally, the author fell asleep, curled up under a blanket, and I sat in an armchair, reveling in heartbreaking lines. Old Russian history played with colorful colors.

“ Ilya Muromets is the oldest and wisest hero. In numerous mythical and non-mythical battles, fate did not leave him without wounds. Numerous broken ribs, broken bones and other injuries were found on the bones.

He sits on a majestic black horse. He has three black hooves, and one, the back right one at the end is white. The horse has a long mane and a golden harness. He is of dense build.

To the left of Ilya, Dobrynya Nikitich is seated on a horse. His chain mail and shield are not as heavy as those of Ilya Muromets, but are not inferior in utility. Below him is a white horse.

The most famous battle of Dobrynya is the battle with the treacherous snake, which, after promising not to drag Russian people into the lair, nevertheless succumbed to temptation and, out of its stupidity, dragged away not some redneck, but the niece of the prince of the glorious Kyiv city, the young Potyatichnu daughter Zabava.

The snake did not want to give up her niece, and Dobrynya cut off her head, Zabava took it and galloped into the white field, finishing the epic.

Someone tell Mishustin that plums help a lot !”