Actualization of the warrior maiden archetype in Ukrainian cinema of the beginning of the 21st century

Abstract

The article focuses on the screen incarnations of female characters, whose images, being contemporary with the challenges of today, associated with the archetype of the Warrior, destroy the stereotypical notions of the feminine as weak and passive characteristic of traditional (that is, phallocentric/patriarchal) culture. Nowadays, such an essentialist view seems not just debatable, but finds an alternative interpretation, both in material realities and in artistic practices. In particular, the cinematography of Ukraine at the beginning of the 21st century convincingly testifies to the expansion of the body of representations of the feminine. The film material of the early 2020s convincingly testifies to the actualization of the screen incarnations of the image-concept of the warrior woman, which is symptomatic of the military and political contexts of today. New Ukrainian cinema seeks to understand the little-studied experience of women’s participation in hostilities and the peculiarities of their stay in military captivity, implementing modern feminist approaches to the study of the topic “woman and war”. In an effort to go beyond the stereotypical vision of women within the dipole “heroine-victim”, the screen demonstrates the transformation of gender patterns and at the same time is a continuation of a tradition with deep historical roots.