AustLit

'How are Russians portrayed in Australian cinema? In contrast to their proportionally small population and minor, non -cohesive multicultural grouping, there hove been numerous representations of Russians in Australian Films and television serials. These are exoticized images that use Russians as catalysts of narrative conflict and cultural excess. Russia occupies on ambivalent space in the Australian cinematic imagination: romantic, mysterious, dangerous, emotional and dramatic. It is imagery informed by literary classics, especially the psychological lavishness of Leo To!stay and the spiritual inordinateness of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. While there is a long history of Russian migration, there is a relatively recent record of the representation of Russians on Australian screens. Russians are not cast as villains in the same way that we come to expect from American cinema during the Cold War, nor are Russians portrayed as 'normal', assimilated members of a brood multi -ethnic nation. They are more often cast as exotic, passionate and radical, dangerous and excessive.' (Publication abstract)