At the Forefront of Russian Propaganda: A Psycho-Rhetorical Analysis of Margarita Simonyan’s Russia

• In Event: Instruments and Influences of Russian Propaganda II: Text as a Weapon

Abstract

The paper offers an analysis of Russian propaganda through the prism of Kenneth Burke’s rhetorical frames and Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic discourses. With the focus on social media posts by Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the state-funded RT international television channel, the paper shows how Simonyan promotes an image of Russia as the world leader alternative to the U.S. in particular and the “collective West” in general. By engaging the discourse of the hysteric as a discourse of radical uncertainty, Simonyan reformulates aspirations for democracy and fairness as the "essence" of Russianness. This rhetorical move is accomplished through the grotesque tension of the tragically marked epic and elegiac national fantasy-frames. The epic frame allows seeing Russia as the god-like hero, while the elegiac frame emphasizes the nation’s redemptive suffering. The frames together contribute to a messianic apocalyptic understanding of Russia’s destiny and a radically obscene view of Russianness as the transcendental truth supposedly jeopardized by the sinful enjoyment of the national Other.

Author

• Hanna Baranchuk, Curry College