Hegemony of Tradition: Part 1. Masculinity in Popular Russian Cinema and Music Charts

Abstract

This study aims to compare popular representations of masculinity in Russian-language mass culture with the online user queries related to masculinity. The research focuses on the images of masculinity presented in contemporary Russian media content. Employing a comprehensive approach combining document analysis and discourse analysis, the authors examine the prevalence of traditional and new forms of masculinity in popular films and song lyrics. A custom-designed classifier was developed to analyze and categorize the empirical data. The analysis revealed that traditional masculinity remains dominant in the examined media content. Mass culture, for the most part, reinforces traditional gender roles, portraying men whose identities are constructed around violence and emotional restraint. Future research perspectives include assessing the impact of traditional and new masculinities on interpersonal relationships and testing the hypothesis of a link between traditional masculinity and tolerance for violence in various forms.