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ABSTRACT
In TV fiction, over the past years, it has been possible to detect the recuperation of specific themes linked to a particular sociopolitical context: the Cold War. The Russians and the Soviet era are becoming gradually more commonplace in highly popular television serial narratives like the miniseries Chernobyl. Accordingly, the main aim of this paper is to determine how its discourse is constructed and its relationship with the television industry and the current socio-political reality. The ultimate intention is to reflect on how TV fiction has become a valuable benchmark for gauging the situation of a specific society and how it has contributed to constructing its collective imaginaries.
Notes
1. Connecting with Semati’s analysis about ‘September 11 attacks’, it is relevant to mention the book The Gulf War Did Not Take Place (Baudrillard, Citation1995). In this work, Jean Baudrillard develops an analysis about this war conflict (1990–1991) from the theory of the simulacra. According to Baudrillard, this was a ‘virtual war’ carefully scripted by the media.
2. This passage is quoted from Don C. Smith (Citation2016). Mikhail Gorbachev direct reference, ‘Turning Point at Chernobyl’ (14 April 2006), has been consulted in the online media Project Syndicate. Accessed 13 December 2019. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/turning-point-at-chernobyl/spanish?barrier=accesspaylog. However, one of the phrases in the passage had been slightly modified: instead of ‘the real cause’, the online text reads ‘the main cause.’
3. This miniseries has not only obtained a record-breaking score on the Western website IMDb (9.7) but has also been given a high rating on its Russian counterpart KinoPoisk (9.1) by Russians and Ukrainians who have watched it on the Internet (BBC News Mundo, Citation2019).
4. Concerning this observation, it is also recommended to consult Braithwaite (Citation2019, p. 156).
5. It should be noted that the new digital audiovisual market, despite the apparent diversification of channels, ultimately adheres to the old rules of the cultural industry. Castells (Citation2011) defines the new paradigm as ‘informationalism’, where oligopolies are still in place and where they are often the carriers and builders of the hegemonic discourse, prioritising some issues over others and creating standardised practices.
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Mayte Donstrup
Mayte Donstrup is working as a predoctoral fellow at the University of Seville. She is currently in the process of writing her doctoral thesis, which focuses on the study of ideological reception of fiction series with political content. Her lines of research are directed toward the ideological analysis of media discourses and propaganda. Mayte Donstrup is a member of the research group IDECO, Grupo de Investigación en Comunicación Política, Ideología y Propaganda (Universidad de Sevilla, SEJ-539).
Cristina Algaba
Cristina Algaba is a Ph.D. student in the ‘Interuniversity Doctoral Program in Communication’ jointly with the Universities of Seville, Malaga, Huelva and Cádiz. She is a member of the research group IDECO, Grupo de Investigación en Comunicación Política, Ideología y Propaganda (SEJ-539) at the University of Seville, where she has also been an honorary assistant and lecturer. She has worked as a research assistant in the Department of Communication and Education at Universidad Loyola Andalucía and as a lecturer in Centro Universitario EUSA. Her main lines of research revolve around television fiction, religious and political ideologies, social media and cultural studies, areas in which she has several communications and publications.