Authors

Discussion

This paper foregrounds the role of female macro-celebrity as a mediator of public views during the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. This study claims that the figures, previously known as cultural elites, constitute an exceptional type of post-Soviet cultural intermediary whose role is indispensable in the context of the stringent media regulation and state-supported misinformation. It argues that the role of celebrities needs to be revised considering the current Russian context in which both online and offline spaces are becoming increasingly unsafe. The key personality here is the 75-year-old cult pop artist Alla Pugacheva, one of the few high-profile Russian celebrities who declared her anti-war stance. By using digital ethnography and the multimodal discourse analysis of the mediated public stance of Alla Pugacheva over two years (2022- 2024), the paper explores the actress’ modulated dissent in an increasingly authoritarian Russian context.

The paper argues that Pugacheva constitutes a unique case of cultural intermediary (Maguire and Matthews, 2012) due to her positionality and communication patterns. Firstly, she bridges the realm of celebrities, dissidents and cultural elites becoming a distinct post-Soviet phenomenon. Secondly, the case highlights ‘feminisation of resistance’ in wartime Russia. Thirdly, the study shows that Pugacheva’s communication strategy is dramatically different from the standard celebrities’ communicative toolkit, as the popstar employs one idea, uses one platform (Instagram), and is hardly interested in monetization. 

Finally, Pugacheva’s case illuminates an unusual mode of celebrity advocacy in authoritarian wartime contexts. As dissenting campaigns in such contexts are virtually impossible, the celebrities’ mere presence as figures of moral authority might be sufficient as it anchors and mediates a highly polarised society. This instance explicates the potentiality of the contentious public sphere (Lei 2017) in seemingly monolith authoritarian regimes (Chen and Moss 2018). Above all, it adds a new angle to our understanding of fame (Dyer 1979) and visibility in authoritarian contexts, as the state media’s negative publicity directed towards Pugacheva might be transformed into a productive social capital boosting further her legacy and fame.