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Representations of the Chernobyl catastrophe in Soviet and post-Soviet cinema : the narratives of apocalypse

Lindbladh, Johanna LU orcid (2019) In Studies in Eastern European Cinema 10(3). p.240-256
Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore how the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986 has been represented in seven feature films from the three countries mostly affected by the nuclear disaster: Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The narratological analysis indicates that the films from all of these three countries represent Chernobyl as an apocalyptic event making personal rebirth possible. Although the context of this rebirth is diverse–it could be political, emotional/sexual, religious or existential–the narrative of these films is similarly structured, namely according to a temporal pattern of kairos rather than chronos, thus defining the end (apocalypse) in terms of the supreme time to act (kairos), rather than the final end in a historical chain... (More)

The aim of this article is to explore how the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986 has been represented in seven feature films from the three countries mostly affected by the nuclear disaster: Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The narratological analysis indicates that the films from all of these three countries represent Chernobyl as an apocalyptic event making personal rebirth possible. Although the context of this rebirth is diverse–it could be political, emotional/sexual, religious or existential–the narrative of these films is similarly structured, namely according to a temporal pattern of kairos rather than chronos, thus defining the end (apocalypse) in terms of the supreme time to act (kairos), rather than the final end in a historical chain of events (chronos).

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Apocalyptic narrative, Chernobyl, chronos, exclusion zone, kairos
in
Studies in Eastern European Cinema
volume
10
issue
3
pages
17 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85073192958
ISSN
2040-350X
DOI
10.1080/2040350X.2019.1608628
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
89230e39-693f-4971-a7f0-c804cbc0c17b
date added to LUP
2019-10-23 13:00:28
date last changed
2023-09-23 15:47:11
@article{89230e39-693f-4971-a7f0-c804cbc0c17b,
  abstract     = {{<p>The aim of this article is to explore how the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986 has been represented in seven feature films from the three countries mostly affected by the nuclear disaster: Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The narratological analysis indicates that the films from all of these three countries represent Chernobyl as an apocalyptic event making personal rebirth possible. Although the context of this rebirth is diverse–it could be political, emotional/sexual, religious or existential–the narrative of these films is similarly structured, namely according to a temporal pattern of kairos rather than chronos, thus defining the end (apocalypse) in terms of the supreme time to act (kairos), rather than the final end in a historical chain of events (chronos).</p>}},
  author       = {{Lindbladh, Johanna}},
  issn         = {{2040-350X}},
  keywords     = {{Apocalyptic narrative; Chernobyl; chronos; exclusion zone; kairos}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{240--256}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Studies in Eastern European Cinema}},
  title        = {{Representations of the Chernobyl catastrophe in Soviet and post-Soviet cinema : the narratives of apocalypse}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2040350X.2019.1608628}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/2040350X.2019.1608628}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}