Autostereotypes and heterostereotypes in the visual propaganda of wartime: the dynamic aspect

Perm National Research Polytechnic University, 614990, 29 Komsomolsky ave., Perm, Russia

^* Corresponding author: shlyahova@mail.ru

Abstract

The article considers autostereotypes (representations about oneself) and heterostereotypes (representations about the enemy) of the conflicting parties in the wartime propaganda in the dynamic aspect. The material of the study is the propaganda materials of Great Britain, the USA, Germany and the USSR during the Second World War, as well as Ukraine, including the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Syria of the modern period. It is established that autoand heterostereotypes of perception of the belligerent countries in wartime materials are presented in general cognitive models with the opposite sign for the belligerents. It was revealed that these stereotypes are independent on time, since the image of the enemy under different time and socio-political conditions is translated by the common mental schemes: standard behaviors, zoo symbols and ornitosymbols, political doctrine, political and ethnic symbols, nationality, etc., built on archetypes and basic cultural models Analysis of gender stereotypes has shown that masculine gender image of Germany, Britain and the US demonstrates the archetypal “gender order”. Ukraine and the Donetsk People’s Republic are represented in feminine images. The USSR (Russia) is represented in a female image endowed with masculine features. The cognitive gender map shows Russia’s special position in gender space. Stereotypes based on archetypes are most easily assimilated and effectively act on mass consciousness. It is promising to conduct an experimental study of the nature and extent of the impact of propaganda materials on the representatives of the conflicting parties, as well as to consider stereotypes in a more distant historical retrospective.