Long live the friendship between the Soviet Union and Finland!’ Irony, nostalgia, and melodrama in Finnish historical television drama and documentary series

Bibliographic Data

ID12599079
AuthorsMari Pajala (0000-0002-2651-7994, University of Minnesota, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume20
Issue3
Pages271-284
Publication date2017-01-16
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1367-5494 • E-ISSN: 1460-3551
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1367549416682244
OpenAlexW2572802145
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited15

In critical studies on historical television programmes, the affective qualities of televisual memory have been discussed mainly in terms of nostalgia. This article argues that conceptualizing the affective modes of relating to the past in more varied ways can help us to better understand the politics of memory on television. As a case study, the article analyses Finnish Broadcasting Company Yleisradio’s historical drama and documentary series that deal with the relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union. The article identifies three affective modes in the programmes: irony, nostalgia and melodrama. Each of these modes offers different possibilities for critiquing, understanding and justifying the past. By studying televisual memories of the Soviet Union in a non-socialist country with important political, economic and cultural ties with the socialist bloc, the article moreover questions a clear East–West binary in studies on post-socialist memory

Aesthetics · Art · Drama · Friendship · Historical memory · Humanities · Irony · Literature · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Gender Studies · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior

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