Image of a Soviet Pilot in Russian Documentaries of 1941—1945
Dar’ya S. Chernyshova, Postgraduate Student
Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia, darya.chernyshova@inbox.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4121-2149
Abstract
Based on published and archival documents, as well as on the issues of “Soyuzkinozhurnal”, “Novosti dnya” and Russian full-length documentaries shot and released during the Great Patriotic War, the article describes the image of a Soviet pilot, analyzes the causes and the mechanism of its creation. It is established that, thanks to the common traits identified during the study, the image in question becomes a symbolic on-screen embodiment of a Soviet soldier, one of the opposing sides of the binary concept of “friend or foe”. The study also reveals the individual characteristics of the image, expressed through the theme of the “heavenly” as the pilot’s primary space of action. It concludes that the image of a Soviet pilot, created onscreen through artistic techniques and means, allowed documentary genre to fulfil the tasks assigned to it during the war.
Keywords
Pilot image, imagology, aviation, Great Patriotic War, Soviet documentary films.
For citation:
Chernyshova D. S. Image of a Soviet Pilot in Russian Documentaries of 1941—1945. Vestnik of Orenburg State Pedagogical University. Electronic Scientific Journal, 2026, no. 1 (57), pp. 222—235. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32516/2303-9922.2026.57.15.
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