Unmask the Russian Image: Focused on Animation

Abstract

As of Jun 14, 2016, the Moscow Times reported that Russia debuted on ‘soft power’ top 30 rankings. Finally, Russia has made its first appearance on the world’s “soft power” rankings at 27th place. In 2012, Russian president Vladimir Putin emphasized Russia’s foreign policy should be based on ‘soft power’. In the same vein, Russian animation “Masha and the Bear” gained world reputation and reveals a potential as a means of soft power. “Masha and the Bear” took advantage of the followings: 1) Abundant cultural contents to attract foreign audience, based on the traditional Russian stories, 2) the unique technology to render delicate and vivid images, such as hair, fur, water, snow, etc., 3) Short duration time compatible with TV programs for kids and with portable devices, 4) Active merchandising, which produces profits. Most of all, “Masha and the Bear” has enormous potential to attract and secure its future audience. Furthermore, it proves that Russian animation can play a role of locomotive in improving Russia’s distorted bear image and increase profits and benefits by producing high value-added products. The term “debearization” is the process of unmasking the negative image of Russia. That is, debearization is a kind of nation branding that makes the degraded image of Russia ameliorated both at home and abroad. As mentioned so far, term “debearization” seems not suitable for the Russian case, since the Russian bear image seems to be a symbol of Russia. I humbly suggest that the term “debearization de LAZARI, A., & RIABOV, O. The “Russian Bear” in Polish Caricature of the Interwar Period (1919–1939). ” could be replaced by “rebearization.”