KAZYUCHITS M.F., SPUTNITSKAIA N.Yu. Images of the Symbolic Other in Cultural Communication Between the USSR and the USA During the Cold War: A Case Study of “Seven Days in May”
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2026.2.16
Maksim F. Kazyuchits,
Candidate of Science (Philosophy), Associate Professor, Leading Researcher, Analytical Department, Russian State University of Cinematography named after S. Gerasimov, Wilgelma Pika St, 3, 129226 Moscow, Russian Federation; Grant Contractor, Saint Petersburg Higher School of Economics, Soyuza Pechatnikov St, 16, 190121 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation,
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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3015-3046
Nina Yu. Sputnitskaia, Candidate of Sciences (Art History), Associate Professor, Leading Researcher, Analytical Department, Russian State University of Cinematography named after S. Gerasimov, Wilgelma Pika St, 3, 129226 Moscow, Russian Federation; Grant Contractor, Saint Petersburg Higher School of Economics, Soyuza Pechatnikov St, 16, 190121 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation,
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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1989-4182
Abstract. Introduction. The article examines cultural communication between the USSR and the USA from the 1960s to the 1980s. The case selected for the study includes criticism of the most significant aspects of the socio-political life of the USA – specifically, the political system, the institution of the presidency, and civic values – during the Cold War period. Methods and materials. The analysis uses historical constructivism and a range of supporting methods: descriptive analysis, discourse analysis, and semiotics. In addition to publicly available versions of the novel, plays, and films, the authors use unpublished archival sources. Analysis. The study focuses on the Soviet media campaign around the novel Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II, which includes literary translations, plays, and films. The experience of “symmetric” film adaptations in the USSR and the USA has been studied. Particular attention is paid to the technique of on-screen modelling, which enabled the authors to offer a critical reflection on contemporary realities in the rival powers. Results. The analysed approaches to interpreting the novel, despite the variety of channels through which its content was disseminated, reveal commonalities and patterns in the construction of the symbolic Other. The criticism of the ambiguity surrounding political processes in the USA by the authors of the novel largely corresponded with established propaganda techniques employed by the Soviet media. The reflection of real processes in the relations between the two states is traced in the dynamic development of the images of the colonel, general, and president in the various versions of the novel. Authors’ contribution. Maksim Kaziuchits analysed a range of literary and media sources – the original novel Seven Days in May by Knebel and Bailey and its translations into Russian. He compared the translated versions with the source text and identified omissions in the 1966 and 1990 editions. His research also encompassed the radio play and the television production The Last Argument of Kings, as well as archival materials from the Russian State Archive of Cinema and Photo Documents and the Archive of the State Television and Radio Company. Nina Sputnitskaia worked at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, where she collected and analysed documents related to theatrical productions, studied the personal archives of the creators of media products, and examined both the television film The Conspiracy and the script Hello, Comrade President!
Funding. The study was funded by RSF, Grant № 22-18-00305-P, “The images of enemy in Cold War popular culture: their content, contemporary reception and usage in Russian and U.S. symbolic politics”.
Key words: images of enemy, constitutive Other, Cold War, media campaign in the USSR, criticism of the institution of the presidency, Seven Days in May.
Citation. Kazyuchits M.F., Sputnitskaia N.Yu. Images of the Symbolic Other in Cultural Communication Between the USSR and the USA During the Cold War: A Case Study of “Seven Days in May”. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 4. Istoriya. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. History. Area Studies. International Relations], 2026, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 190-200. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2026.2.16
Images of the Symbolic Other in Cultural Communication Between the USSR and the USA During the Cold War: A Case Study of “Seven Days in May” © 2026 by Kazyuchits M.F., Sputnitskaia N.Yu. is licensed under CC BY 4.0 
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