War film / series in the space of historical memory

The article considers genre war cinema as a practice of commemoration. Through comparative analysis, the main characteristics and distinctive features of the film and series as actors in the space of historical memory are revealed. The study was carried out in an interdisciplinary field, using the methods of both historical analysis and visual stadies (theoretical, structural-functional and semiotic analysis of films; method of "competent observer"; comparison, generalization, synthesis). A comparative analysis of the film adaptation of Joseph Heller's novel "Catch 22" in the versions of the movie (1970) and the series (2019) is carried out. A review of approaches to the study of a military film / series in its relation to history is given. Specific visual material illustrates such features of the series as: innovativeness of social viewing practices that correspond to the “behavioral map” of a person in the information society; the novelty of technical and economic solutions of the film industry; the specific narrative strategy (a combination of horizontal and vertical construction of the episode system, a variety of plot lines, complex spatio-temporal connections between the series and their parts); elaborate psycho-dramatic effect; the viewer's sympathetic "everyday" protagonist with situational behavior and a hypothetical moral imperative; a variety of audiovisual solutions, as a rule, focused on the "human-sized" perception of both individual episodes and the picture as a whole. The conclusion is made about the importance of war cinema in the space of historical memory due to its media and intertextuality.

historical memory, commemoration, military cinema, series, film, film adaptation, narrative, plot, episode, audiovisual means