Visual frames of the Russian-Ukrainian war in Ukrainian culture

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is a formalization of the visual frames of the russian-Ukrainian war as the parts of a truly multiplex of its vision. Every of its frames must be produced as a complex socio-cultural construction where the stereotypes of war coverage intersected with the mental features of Ukrainian culture, formed by the previous historical and cultural tradition, and the consequences of the modernization transformations in Ukraine during last 30 years. The materials of the publication cover the first year (from February 24, 2022 to March 15, 2023) of the russian invasion of Ukraine. They are based on content analysis and semantic-semiotic analysis of the visual content of social media platforms, which are popular in Ukraine – YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram. The research had been conducted in the broad context of Ukrainian culture as a hybrid phenomena with a coexistence in the uniques configurations of premodern, modern, postmodern components. An integral index of Ukrainianization and social relevance of the top 10 Ukrainian profiles on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok have been calculated. The impact of the globalized media culture on this index and the ineffectiveness of socio-economic transformations of Ukraine over the past 30 years have been shown. Based on the analysis of the official Facebook pages of the infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the frame "war through the eyes of the military" have been established. This frame has been differed from the typical image of war and reflected certain features of the Ukrainian national character. On the example of a frame of the "female military" before and after the start of the full-scale russian invasion, the contradiction of the progress of feminism in Ukrainian culture has been analyzed. The "war ruins" frame in Telegram channels has been formalized. It has been defined, that it is gradually replacing the popular from the end of the 19th the image of Ukraine as a "picturesque village". All the results have been obtained for the first time. They develop the author's concept of diversity and borderline of Ukrainian culture and his project of "visual culturology". The materials of this paper can be used in the scientific and public discussion about the russian-Ukrainian war, and іn the educational process.