Friends among strangers: Russians in "The Sopranos" TV series

The subject of the study is the representation of Russians and Russia in the influential and extremely important for the development of American television series "The Sopranos Clan" (The Sopranos, 1997–2005), taking into account both the ways of presenting information embedded in the media text and the ambiguity of interpretations of this information. The series' innovation in the representation of Russian characters is proved: These are heroes whose behavior and actions are largely determined by the Soviet/Russian past; they are not just present in the story space, but their actions (and worldview) influence the fate of the main characters. The stereotypes used in the representation of Russian characters and the motivation for this use are considered. The presence of Russian characters in the series about the life of Americans at the end of the 20th century is a marker of significant socio-political processes: migration from the territory of the former Soviet Union, the complication of migration flows to the United States, the crisis of American identity. An interdisciplinary study examining the work of mass culture in the context of socio-political history of the late XX – early XXI centuries. The research methodology is based on an integrated approach to the analysis of media products, generalizing the methodology of such research branches as cultural studies, political history, and art criticism. The work also uses methods of system analysis, comparative analysis, and factor analysis. Russian Russian presence The novelty of the research lies both in the comprehensive identification of the main "Russian presence" in the series (based on the analysis of the first four seasons of the series, that is, 52 episodes), and in the identification of the main topics related to the "Russian presence" (including cultural specifics), their interpretation by the characters of the series, the authors and external commentators. The authors of the series address the topics of migration, xenophobia, intercultural communication, etc. based on the material of the "Russian segment" of the series. Using the example of "Russian" characters and storylines, a fundamentally deeper level of disclosure of the psychological and social background of the characters is proved as one of the reasons for the general innovation of the "Soprano Clan" in the context of the development of modern television/genre cinema. A direct parallel is drawn between the personal qualities of the Russian characters and the "strong silent ideal", the search for which is obsessed with the main character of the series, who has largely lost ties with his historical homeland. Cultural stereotypes associated with Russians have been identified, and some theses found in American literature have been challenged.