title: Legends of the “Black Cat” Gang as a Reflection on the Phenomenon of Criminal Myths in Russian Public Consciousness
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Popova, A. D.
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2019-06-07T12:17:40Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2019-06-07T12:17:40Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2019-03
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.citation
metadata.value: Popova A. D. ‘Legends of the “Black Cat” Gang as a Reflection on the Phenomenon of Criminal Myths in Russian Public Consciousness’, Modern History of Russia, vol. 9, no. 1, 2019, pp. 233– 251.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu24.2019.114
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/15730
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: This article discusses criminal myths in the Russian public consciousness as an element of social mythology that arises and evolves in the process of society’s historical development and reflects social reality and changes. Using Soviet propaganda literature, archival materials, Soviet films, and memoirs of Soviet citizens and law enforcement officials, the author showes how the evolution of these myths reflected the course of Russian history. Much attention is paid to the appearance in the post-war years of the legend of the dangerous "Black Cat" gang in Russian mass art books and films. Using archival materials and memoirs of Soviet citizens and analyzing causes of this criminal myth, the author showed the symbolic side of this myth and the degree of its reliability. The image of the "Black Cat" gang can be interpreted in two ways in addition to being a symbol of criminal activity: as the personification of evil, self-interest, and cruelty; and as the Soviet police, who made great efforts and showed great personal courage to catch the gang. Images of employees of the criminal investigation department in relevant films—David Gotsman, Volodya Sharapova, and Gleb Zheglov—became models for imitation and admiration. This can be called a well-deserved tribute to the police officers who, under the most difficult conditions, were able to restore order in the country and ensure a quiet life for the Soviet people.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.description.sponsorship
metadata.value: This research was supported by “Russian Foundation for Basic Research”, no. 18-09-00130\18 “Evolution of values and ideas of civil society in the mental attitudes of the Russian public consciousness project”.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: ru
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: Modern History of Russia;Volume 9; Issue 1
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: public consciousness
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: social myths
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: legends
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: crime
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: criminal investigation
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: banditism
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: mass art
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: Legends of the “Black Cat” Gang as a Reflection on the Phenomenon of Criminal Myths in Russian Public Consciousness
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: popova_1.pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/15730/4/popova_1.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 4,93 MB