Fierce Russian Women on TV

Essays and Drawings
by Katharina Wiedlack

What we knew as TV changed completely, according to critics and academics alike, with the emergence of The Sopranos. Whether it was the script, the characters, the plot or the theme, The Sopranos set new standards for seriality. While they heralded the new era of television, Netflix and other online providers completed the revolution, elevating not only the visual style and quality of production, but our way of watching. Not less importantly, the democratization of TV opened new possibilities for the marginalized. Although there is still much room for improvement, Women, racial and sexual minorities are now able to participate in TV productions on a previously unseen level. In this humble collection of essays and drawings, I feature 11 female Russian characters that emerged in this new era of TV: Svetlana (Shamless US), Red (Orange is the New Black), Mother Russia (Kick-Ass), the Drag Queen Katya and six more. Understanding them as a reflection of the new seeming openness of a more democratic TV landscape, my essays muse about their position towards yet another new era that the new millennium brought about, and that arguably shapes American culture to a great extend – the New Cold War between Russia and the US.

Svetlana

Svetlana, plaid by the unforgettable Isidora Goreshter in the comedy-drama Shameless US (Showtime 2011-2022) is the unscrupulous femme fatale that motivates the narrative arch and makes the story interesting.

Galina ‚Red‘ Reznikov

The figure ‚Red‘ in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019), played by Kate Mulgrew, is feared and respected by the prisoners and prison employees alike.

Mother Russia

Katarina Dombrovski (played by Olga Kurkulina), also known as Mother Russia from the comic book series and film adaptations of Kick-Ass,is ‚technicaly‘ not a TV character, but a comic figure and film antagonist. But since she is seriously amazing, I include her here nevertheless.

Katya

Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova or short Katya is a Russian drag character created by Brian McCook in 2006.

Dasha Fedorova

played by Svetlana Efremova in the Netflix show Spinning Out.

Elisabetha

The undercover KGB agent Elizabeth (Keri Russell) in the hit series The Americans was most likely inspired through the real life spy, Anna Chapman, a beautiful 28 year old “ ‘bombshell,’ ‘femme fatale,’ or the ‘red under the bed’” (Hemment).

Villanelle

Villanelle, previously known as Oksana Astankova, is a psychopathic and skilled Russian assassin in the BBC spy thriller series Killing Eve. Villanelle, played by the British actress Jodie Comer crosses paths with the MI6 officer Eve Polastri, played by the wonderful Canadian actress Sandra Oh, and becomes obsessed with her (but really – who wouldn’t).

HELENA

from Orphan Black.

Svetlana, Lady of the Night

The Sex worker, madam and intrepreneur is performed by Iris Bahr. She is seriously offensive and hilarious.

Svetlana Kirilenkot

Caretaker and lover of Tony in The Sopranos, her most impressive act: beating Tony with her leg prothesis.

Black Widow

Villain, Avanger and so much more.

2023 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “In/Visibility and the (post-soviet) ‘queer closet’.” Journal of Gender Studies. 24.05.2023. DOI: 10.1080/09589236.2023.2214886.
2023 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “The Abduction of Anna Petrovna Bulygin in 1808. Female Agency and the Russian Colonial Gaze in Early to Mid-19th Century Popular Culture.” Clio-online – Historisches Fachinformationssystem e.V. https://www.europa.clio-online.de/essay/id/fdae-116632.
2023 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “The Beast from the East”: Mental Dis/Ability and the Fears of Post-Socialist Mobility in North American Popular Culture.” Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies (JAAAS) 3, 1, pp. 55-75.
2023 – Wiedlack, Katharina, Iain Zabolotny, Masha Godovannaya and Ruthia Jenrbekova. ““THE MAGIC CLOSET AND THE DREAM MACHINE”: post-Soviet queer knowledge production in times of increased trans* and homophobia.” Connections. A Journal for Historians and Area Specialists. http://www.connections.clio-online.net/article/id/fda-133562.
2023 – Wiedlack, Katharina and Iain Zabolotny. “Race, whiteness, Russianness and the discourses on the ‚Black Lives Matter‘ movement and Manizha.” In: Andreassen, R., Lundström, C., Keskinen, S. & Tate, S. A. (eds.). The Routledge International Handbook of New Critical Race and Whiteness Studies (1 ed.). Routledge, Taylor & Francis, p. 251-264.
2023 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “Queer-feminist Hardcore/Punk: academic research and community support in the age of the Pandemic.” In: Butz, Konstantin and Robert A. Winkler (Eds.): HARDCORE ‘21 – Forty Years of Punk and Research Berlin: Transcript.
2023 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “‘We’re Punk as Fuck and Fuck like Punks’: Queer-Feminist Punk Rock’s Liminal Histories and Refusing Canonization.” In: Elfi Vomberg and Kathrin Dreckmann (eds): Fringe of the Fringe: Queering Punk Media History. München: Hatje Cantz, 94-107.
2022 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “Decentering the West in the History of Feminism: Reclaiming Russian Influence on U.S. Feminism and Black Women Radicals in the Early 20th Century.” WiN: The EAAS Women’s Network Journal 3. http://women.eaas.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Wiedlack.pdf
2022 – Wiedlack, Katharina: Ver/Kvir(t)e Opazität. Migration und Un_Sichtbarkeit in Masha Godovannayas Film „Countryless and Queer“. Open Gender Journal 6. doi: 10.17169/ogj.2022.181
2022 – Wiedlack, Katharina, Olenka Pivnice, Syaivo. “Fucking Solidarity: Western hegemonies and the post-soviet queer critique.” Feminist Critique 5, 10-28. https://doi.org/10.52323/567892
2022 – Zabolotnaya, Tania and Katharina Wiedlack. “Recognition or Othering? Trans*representation in Russian media.” In: Marianne Blidon and Stan Brunn (eds.): Handbook of the Changing World LGBTQ Map. New York: Springer, 481-497.
Review of Anna T. Opacity – Minority – Improvisation: An Exploration of the Closet Through Queer Slangs and Postcolonial Theory, Bielefeld: Transcript, 2020. JoAE 3(2).
2021 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “Ballerina with PTSD: imagining Russia in contemporary Black Widow comics.” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 12 (5). Peer-reviewed journal article, open access. https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2020.1811741
2021. Review of Tanja Thomas, Ulla Wischermann (Hrsg.): Feministische Theorie und Kritische Medienkulturanalyse: Ausgangspunkte und Perspektiven. Bielefeld: transcript 2020. Feministische Studien 2.21: 377-380. DOI: 10.1515/fs-2021-0038
2020 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “A Feminist Becoming? Louise Thompson Patterson’s and Dorothy West’s Sojourn in the Soviet Union.” Feminismo/s 36, 103-128. Peer-reviewed journal article, open access. https://doi.org/10.14198/fem.2020.36.05
2020 – Wiedlack, Katharina, Saltanat Shoshanova and Masha Godovannaya. “Introduction.” In: Katharina Wiedlack et al. Queering Paradigms VIII: queer-feminist Solidarity and the East/West Divide. London: Peter Lang, 1-20.
2020 – Wiedlack, Katharina, Masha Godovannaya, Ruthia Jenrbekova, and Tania Zabolotnaya. “Glissant’s opacity and the post-soviet queer.” IDEA: Art + Society 56. Open access. https://www.idea.ro/revista/en/article/X9-bnhMAANX-5gVh/glissants-opacity-and-the-post-soviet-queer
2020 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “Fucking Solidarity: Working together through (un)pleasant feelings.” In: Katharina Wiedlack et al. Queering Paradigms VIII: queer-feminist Solidarity and the East/West Divide. London: Peter Lang, 21-50.
2020. Review of Turoma, Sanna, Kaarina Aitamurto, and Slobodanka Vladiv-Glover, eds. Religion, Expression and Patriotism in Russia: Essays on Post-Soviet Society and the State. Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society 213. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2019. ISBN 978-3-8382-1346-0. The Russian Review 79.4: 683-684. https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.12292
2020. Review of Gender in 20th Century Eastern Europe and the USSR, edited by Catherine Baker. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Wagadu, A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies 21. http://sites.cortland.edu/wagadu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/11/v21-Review-Wiedlack.pdf
2019 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “Enemy Number One, or Gay Clown: The Russian President, Masculinity and Populist Tendencies in US media.” NORMA, 15(1), 59-75. Peer-reviewed journal article, open access. https://doi.org/10.1080/18902138.2019.1707459
2019 – Neufeld, Masha and Katharina Wiedlack. “Visibility, violence and vulnerability: Russian lesbians between the closet and the Western media spectacle.” In: Buyantueva, Radzhana and Maryna Shevtsova (Eds.): LGBTQ+ Activism in Central Eastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, 51-72.
2019. Review of The Economies of Queer Inclusion: Transnational Organizing for LGBTI Rights in Uganda, by S.M. Rodriguez. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books, 2018. Wagadu, A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies 20: 155-158. http://sites.cortland.edu/wagadu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/12/v20-Wiedlack_Review.pdf
2018 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “In/visibly Different–Melania Trump and the Othering of Eastern European women.” Feminist Media Studies, 19(8), 1063-1078, Peer-reviewed journal article, open access. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1546205
2018 – Neufeld, Masha, and M. Katharina Wiedlack. “Wir sind Conchita“, nicht Russland—oder Homonationalismus auf gut Österreichisch.” Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften / Austrian Journal of Historical Studies, 29(2), 153-175.
2018 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Visibly Invisible: US-American LGBTIQ+-Issues and/in Mainstream Media.” In: Bee Scherer (Ed.): Queering Paradigms VII. New York/London: Peter Lang, 11-35.
2018 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “The spectacle of Russian feminism: questioning visibility and the western Gaze.” In: Hollander, Samantha (Ed.): Subcultures, Bodies and Spaces: Essays on Alternativity and Maginalization. Bingley: Emerald, 131–149.
2018 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Conchita.” In: Monika Sommer-Sieghart, Heidemarie Uhl, Klaus Zeyringer (Ed.): Österreich neu vermessen: Ein essayistisches Glossar, 50-53.
2018 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “‘American Boy, American Joy’ (Kombinaciya 1990)—Gendered National Imaginations between Russia and The USA.” In Astrid M. Fellner, Bärbel Schlimbach, Tetyana Ostapchuk (Eds.): (Pop) Cultures on the Move: Transnational Identifications and Cultural Exchange Between East and West. Saravi Pontes Volume 6, Saarbrücken: Universaar, 151-164.
2018. Pussy Riot in Deutschland: Patricia Goletz “Das Russlandbild in den deutschen Medien: Der Fall Pussy Riot und seine Aufarbeitung in Deutschland.” Ibidem, Hannover 2016. Weiberdiwan (Sommer 2018), 13.
2018. Eine kritische Liebeserklärung an Yael Dayan: Viktoria Pötzl „Nation, Narration und Geschlecht. Eine feministische Literaturanalyse der Werke Yael Dayans.“ Neofelis, Berlin 2018. Weiberdiwan (Sommer 2018), 14.
2017 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Gays vs. Russia: Media Representations, Liberal Values, and the Construction of a (Post)Modern West.” EJES, Feminist Interventions in Intermedial Studies, 21(3), 241-257, Peer-reviewed journal article, open access. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13825577.2017.1369271
2017 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Quantum Leap 2.0 or the Western Gaze on Russian homophobia.” Adeptus, 2018(11). Peer-reviewed journal article, open access. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11649/a.1662
2017 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Loud, rude, and with an attitude. Queer-Feminist Punk Form, Meaning and Affect.” In: Beyer, Ina, Barbara Paul and Josh Hoehnes (Ed.). Perverse Assemblages. Oldenburg: Revolver Publishing, 124-138.
2017 – Wiedlack, Maria Katharina. “‘both married, both moms, both determined to keep getting their message out’ – The Russian Pussy Riot and US popular culture.” In: Astrid M. Fellner, Marta Fernández and Martina Martausová (Eds.): Marlboro Men and California Gurls: Rethinking Gender in Popular Culture in the 21st Century. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 131-159.
2016 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “Warum dieses Buch?” Trans Studies: Historische, begriffliche und aktivistische Aspekte by Person Perry Baumgartinger. Wien: Zaglossus, 17-21.
2016 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Seeing ‘Red’ (Orange Is the New Black) – Russian Women, US Homonationalism and New Cold War Cultures.” Gender, rovné příležitosti, výzkum. 17(1), 29-40, Peer-reviewed journal article, open access. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13060/12130028.2016.17.1.253
2016 – Kolářová, Kateřina and M. Katharina Wiedlack. “Crip Notes on the Idea of Development.” Cripping Development. Somatechnics 6(2), 125-141, Peer-reviewed journal article, open access. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/soma.2016.0187
2016 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina and Neufeld, Masha. “Dangerous and Moving? Disability, Russian Popular Culture and North/Western Hegemony.” Cripping Development. Somatechnics 6(2), 216-234, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/soma.2016.0192
2016 – Neufeld , Masha and Wiedlack M. Katharina. “Lynchpin for Value Negotiation: Lesbians, Gays and Transgender between Russia and ‘the West’.” In: Bee Scherer (Ed.): Queering Paradigms VI. New York/London: Peter Lang, 173-194.
2015 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Pussy Riot and the Western Gaze—Punk Music, Solidarity and the Production of Similarity and Difference.” Popular Music and Society. 39(4), 410-422, DOI: 10.1080/03007766.2015.1088281
2015 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina and Neufeld, Masha. Not Rockers, Not Punks, We’re Lesbian Chicks: Staging Female Same Sex Desires in Russian Rock and Pop. In: Brown, Katherine and Eduarda Ferreira (Ed.) Lesbian Geographies: Gender, Sexualities and Space. Ashgate, 153-176.
2015 – Marty Huber, Dean Vuletic, Maria Katharina Wiedlack. “Wie der nationalen Subjektwerdung widerstehen?” DerDieDas Bildende: Akademiezeitung 3.
2015 – Wiedlack, Katharina. “Punk Noise, Social Criticism, and Queer-feminist Decolonial Politics, Or ‘The Promise of No Future.’” In: Greve, Julius, Sascha Pöhlmann (Eds.): America and the Musical Unconscious. New York/Dresden: ATROPOS PRESS, 248-270.
2015 – Wiedlack, Maria Katharina. “Gender and Disability in Between Continents: the Mobility of Knowledge and Theory.” In: Зиневич, О.В. and Е.А. Рузанкина (Eds.): Гендерные исследования и гендерное образование в России, в странах Востока и Запада (региональные аспекты): материалы научно-практической конференции молодых ученых с международным участием (г. Новосибирск, 24–26 июня 2015 г.). – Новосибирск: Изд-во НГТУ, 13-17.
2015 – Wiedlack, Maria Katharina. “Teaching Global Disability Studies from a Post-Colonial and Post-Socialist Perspective.” In: Зиневич, О.В. and Е.А. Рузанкина (Eds.): Гендерные исследования и гендерное образование в России, в странах Востока и Запада (региональные аспекты): материалы научно-практической конференции молодых ученых с международным участием (г. Новосибирск, 24–26 июня 2015 г.). – Новосибирск : Изд-во НГТУ, 264-289.
2015 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. „Riot Grrrls, Punk Rock und Pussy Riot: Von internationalem Aktivismus, Missverständnissen und nord/westlichen Hegemonien.“ In: Reitsamer Rosa / Katharina Liebsch (Ed.): Musik. Gender. Differenz. Intersektionale Perspektiven auf musikkulturelle Felder und Aktivitäten. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, 248-264.
2015 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina and Neufeld, Masha. “Танцуй Европа и плачь Россия? Der Eurovision Song Contest 2014 – Krieg der Kulturen zwischen Ost und West?“ In: Ehardt, Christine, Georg Vogt und Florian Wagner (Ed.): Eurovision Song Contest: Eine kleine Geschichte zwischen Körper, Geschlecht und Nation. Vienna: Zaglossus, 149-168.
2015. Review: Marty Huber: Queering Gay Pride. Zwischen Assimilation und Widerstand. Femina Politica 24.1: 147-150.
2015. Review: Francesca Stella: Lesbian lives in soviet and post-soviet russia: post/socialism and gendered sexualities. Femina Politica 24.2.
2014 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina and Neufeld, Masha. “Lost in Translation? Pussy Riot solidarity activism and the danger of perpetuating North/Western Hegemonies.” Religion and Gender. 4(2), 145-165, DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/rg.9215
2014 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Free Pussy Riot!” & Riot Grrrlsm: International Solidarity, or the Incorporation of the ‘Eastern Other’ into North/Western Discourses? LES Online. 6 (1), 79-94. https://lesonlinesite.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/free-pussy-riot.pdf
2014 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Do We Scare Ya’ Cuz, We’re Not Afraid To Fuck?” (Agatha): Queer-feminist Punk countercultures, theory, art and action. Graduate Journal of Social Science. 10 (3), 15-37. http://gjss.org/sites/default/files/issues/chapters/papers/Journal-10-03–01-Wiedlack.pdf
2014 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “‘My Anger Is a Legacy:’ queer-feminist politics of negativity within contemporary social movements.” In: Lewis, Elisabeth Sara, Rodrigo Borba, Branca Falabella Fabricio, and Diana de Souza Pinto (eds.) Queering Paradigms IV: South-North Dialogues on Queer Epistemologies, Embodiments and Activities. New York/London: Peter Lang, 165-186.
2013 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “‘A Race Riot Did Happen!’ (Shotgunseamstress 2009) Queer Punks of Color Raising Their Voices.” In: O’Mara, Kathleen and Liz Morrish (eds.): Queering Paradigms III: Queer Impact and Pracitices. New York/London: Peter Lang, 157-176.
2013 – Wiedlack, Maria Katharina. “‘I don’t give a shit where I spit my phlegm’ (Tribe 8). Rejection and Anger in Queer-Feminist Punk Rock.” transposition. musique et sciences sociales. 3 (2013), 1-19, DOI: 10.4000/transposition.280
2012 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina and Susanne Kimm. “No Time for Tea Parties! Wie feministisch sind die Occupy-Bewegungen in den USA?” In: Inforgruppe Bankrott (Hg.): Occupy Anarchy! Libertäre Interventionen in eine neue Bewegung. Münster: Edition Assemblage, 94-99.
2012 – Wiedlack, Maria Katharina. »… es ist Zeit der geschichte selbst eine gestalt zu geben …« In: Babka, Anna: Dritte Räume. Homi K. Bhabhas Kulturtheorie. Anwendung. Kritik. Reflexion. Wien/Berlin: Turia + Kant, 273-278.
2012 – Mesquita, Sushila, Katrin Lasthofer and Maria Katharina Wiedlack. Introduction. In: idem. Import-Export-Transport. Queer Theory, Queer Critique and Activism. Wien: Zaglossus, 17-27.
2011 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “‘LOL – Lick it Out Loud^’(Inner Princess). Queer Punk Rock: Music as a Form of Queer Activism.” In: Scherer, Burkhard/Ball, Matthew: Queering Paradigms II. New York/London: Peter Lang, 209-224.
2010 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “‘We’re punk as fuck and fuck like punks.’ Ästhetik der Provokation im Queercore am Beispiel der Bands Tribe 8 und den Skinjobs.” In: Brunner, Anja/Parzer, Michael (Hg.): pop:aesthetiken. Beiträge zum Schönen in der populären Musik. Studienverlag: Innsbruck/Wien/Bozen, 69-90.
2010 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Transgressing Genders – A Queer Reading of German Literature. Judith Hermann’s ‘Sonja’ and Annemarie Schwarzenbach’s ‘Lyric Novella.’” In: Scherer, Burkhard: Queering Paradigms. New York/London: Peter Lang, 315-328.
2008 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. Respondenz zu Dagmar Finks Vortrag: Lese ich Cyborg, lese ich queer? In: Babka, Anna/Hochreiter, Susanne (Hg.): Queer Reading in den Philologien. Modelle und Anwendungen. Vienna University Press by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 171-178.
2007 – Heinrich, Elisa and Wiedlack, M. Katharina. “Acting queer – von queerer Theorie zu politischer Praxis.” In: Wuch, Brigitte (Hg. et all): TROTZ.DEM.IMMER WIEDER. Ansprüche, Widersprüche und Wirklichkeiten der FrauenFrühlingsUniversität 2007. Einblicke und Ausblicke.
2007 – Wiedlack, M. Katharina. Geschlecht als Maskerade – Cross-Identitäten in Gerhard Fritschs „Fasching“. In: Krammer, Stefan: MannsBilder. Literarische Konstruktionen von Männlichkeiten. Wien: Facultas, 150–160.