By JOHN BONAZZO
STAFF WRITER
Viktor Cherevin, the villain in Jack Ryan, was written as a Russian stereotype. (Photo Courtesy of Flikr Commons)
“They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said, ‘Is it warm?’”
That was the reworked version of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” that Olya Povlatsky sang on the Jan. 25 episode of “Saturday Night Live.”
Povlatsky, played by Kate McKinnon, is a recurring character on the “Weekend Update” segment of “SNL.” She is a put-upon old woman bemoaning her life in the “barren wasteland” of Russia.
When the conversation during her last appearance turned to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Povlatsky maintained her sour demeanor. “I have been to Sochi one time,” she said. “It was to throw myself into the sea, but I could not do it because the line was too long.”
This miserable characterization of Russian citizens is hilarious satire, but at a time when the world’s eyes are on Russia and good impressions are paramount, it certainly is not positive. Sadly, though, when looking at representations of Russians in the media, good role models are nowhere to be found.
The situation on the big screen is no different than on the small screen. The most visible representative of Russia at the movies so far in 2014 is Viktor Cherevin, the villain of the recent film Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Played by the film’s director, Kenneth Branagh, Cherevin is a Russian financier intent on blowing up Wall Street.
Making a Russian the antagonist of a spy thriller may make perfect sense to American audiences. After all, as Stephanie Zacharek wrote in her review of Jack Ryan in the Village Voice, “Russians still make the best movie villains.” This is because of their “tragic, poetic souls and political ruthlessness.” Viktor is no exception, with his accent “thick, like borscht” and his eyes “cold, like vodka,” according to Zacharek.
To his credit, Branagh did try to ensure his character would be less of a stereotype. He told Metro that he attempted to make Viktor a more subtly evil character. “I loved…his tragic, melancholic quality and this romantic Russian thing that gets him into trouble,” Branagh said.
Branagh’s attempt to upend the stereotype of the cigar-chomping Russian baddie is admirable. However, having a Russian villain in the first place hearkens back to the Cold War paranoia in which the character of Jack Ryan was born.
Russia has gotten plenty of bad publicity lately, with the country’s anti-LGBT policies causing controversy in the lead-up to the Olympics. However, while some of Russia’s laws may be unjust, that does not mean everyone in the country should be vilified.
Christopher Dietrich, an assistant professor of history at Fordham, said that Americans should not confuse the rhetoric of politicians with popular opinion. “U.S. citizens shouldn’t conflate the Russian citizenry with the policies of their government,” Dietrich said in an email. “How would you feel if every time you met someone abroad, they immediately brought up Guantanamo Bay or drone assassinations?”
The vast majority of Russian citizens are undoubtedly good people who do not deserve the stereotypical representations they receive in the American media. These personifications, whether satirical or despicable, are unhealthy in that they give Americans a false view of an entire country and its people.
One solution is to take the tools once used to bring Russians down and instead use them to build them up. American culture holds sway all over the world, and if one of our movies or television shows featured a good-hearted Russian character, it would counteract all the negativity and do a lot of good.
Lighthearted Olya Povlatsky and sinister Viktor Cherevin are two sides of the same coin. Both show that the current depiction of Russians on TV and in movies is unhealthy and should be changed.
John Bonazzo, FCRH ’15, is an English major from Trumbull, Conn.
