The Construction and Reception of Montand’s Public Image

Oiva, Mila; Salmi, Hannu; Johnson, Bruce

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_6

Mila Oiva⁴,
Hannu Salmi⁵ &
Bruce Johnson^6,7

78 Accesses

Abstract

The Soviet mass media created the image of Montand as an admired celebrity in the Soviet Union. It constructed his fame by importing, domesticating and promoting his films, recordings and photographs, and translating books from the West, along with their own domestic production of radio programmes, newsreels, and newspaper and journal articles. A variety of media, which reached nearly all Soviet citizens, succeeded in promoting the idea of Montand as a progressive, pro-Soviet, world-class artist whose viewpoints supported the newly launched policy of peaceful coexistence. Although the Soviet media succeeded in creating a coherent image of Montand’s Soviet tour, it could not fully control its public reception. In general, Montand appealed to a variety of social groups, but along with feverish enthusiasm, the tour also generated indifference and opposition. The widespread Montand mania and the overtly positive treatment of Montand in the official media, together with a sense of social inequality, elicited ironic and negative responses among many members of the public. The reactions of the Soviet people reveal tensions arising from different expectations between the visitors and the hosts during the tour.

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Notes

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30.
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37.
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38.
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39.
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40.
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41.
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42.
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43.
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72.
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75.
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76.
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77.
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78.
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79.
Interview with Natalia Isaakovna Muchinskaya (b. 1945).
80.
Interview with Elena Dellanoy (b. 1966); Gordienko, Iv Montan, 197–198.
81.
Interview with Elena Dellanoy (b. 1966); Interview with Alexey Veshkin (b. 1961); Krasnikova, ’Kogda poet dalekii drug …’, 92; Gordienko, Iv Montan, 198.
82.
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83.
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84.
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85.
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86.
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87.
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88.
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89.
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90.
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91.
Fyodor Abramov’s diary, 1 February 1957.
92.
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93.
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94.
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95.
Comments by Anonymous on 12 January 2017 at https://oldporuchik.livejournal.com/14963.html.
96.
Poema pro Iva Montana; Username ‘oldporuchik’ at Livejournal; Coollib.
97.
Group interview with Tatyana Chaykovskaya, Alexandr Zotov, Nadezhda Musina, Ekaterina Korenko and Galina Zotova, 23 October 2019, Moscow. Interview by Maria Korenko.
98.
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99.
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CUDAN Open Lab, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
Mila Oiva
Department of Cultural History, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
Hannu Salmi
Department of Communications, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Bruce Johnson
Department of Cultural History, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
Bruce Johnson

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Mila Oiva
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Oiva, M., Salmi, H., Johnson, B. (2021). The Construction and Reception of Montand’s Public Image. In: Yves Montand in the USSR. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_6

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_6
Published: 30 April 2021
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