Ekaterina Kalinina

Mediated Post-Soviet Nostalgia Ekaterina Kalinina

In the early 1990s, after the collapse of communism in Russia, Soviet material and visual culture had been forced into obscurity by the allconquering Western media and pop culture. The excitement and hopes connected with President Yeltsin’s reforms gave way to disappointment, melancholia and a desire for stability and security. Nostalgic voices became more prominent, and the old Soviet sign system slowly started to seep back into the fabric of Russian culture. Around this time, Soviet-nostalgia-themed restaurants opened their doors. Television channels in the same vein began showing reruns of old Soviet films, children’s cartoons and broadcasting documentaries and talk shows where the presenters and guests discussed various aspects of life in the USSR. In the 2000s, nostalgia for the Soviet past was exploited first for commercial and then for political purposes. Many voices began to speak of a return to the USSR.