RUSSIAN BEAR: CULTURAL STEREOTYPES OF RUSSIA AS A RHETORICAL DEVICE OF FOREIGN POLICY

• Main Author: N. G. Trenina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MGIMO University Press 2017-06-01
• Series: Концепт: философия, религия, культура
• Subjects: cultural stereotypes; russian bear; political rhetoric; globalization; animalistic metaphore; national symbol; negative image; political discourse; political propaganda
• Online Access: https://concept.mgimo.ru/jour/article/view/114

The stereotype of the Russian bear, very strong, aggressive and impossible to control, has gained new popularity in the West after the Ukrainian crisis of 2014. It traces its origins back to the 16th century's Europe and even earlier, but nowadays it is being actively imported into Russia and occurs not only in daily use, but also in political rhetoric, including President Vladimir Putin's public speeches. The negative connotations of the image are not typical for Russia itself though. In Russian folk tales and jokes, a bear is most of the time slow and even dumb - or cute and harmless, like the Olympic mascot of 1980, or Winnie-the-Poor from the famous Soviet cartoon. Over the last two and a half decades, a new "bear brand" has emerged to cover various spheres of life - from names of food and drinks to a political party. Within Russia, the negative image of the bear promoted in the West is taken with a grain of salt and has grown to become a powerful device of political rhetoric, which is successfully exploited by President Putin to make Russia's position clear to the public. The moment the image of the Russian bear is introduced into a political text, immediately suggests a certain set of connotations to the listeners or readers. For western politicians, it is the image of the worst enemy, strong, wild, unpredictable and dangerous. In the Russian political rhetoric, however, it conveys the message that we are fully confident of our strength and righteousness, and eager to fight back any villain.