Political images taking stage. A narrative analysis of Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Abstract: Ever since it was created, the Eurovision Song Contest has functioned as an arena for nation branding and nation building. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the field of cultural diplomacy and political storytelling through studying how participation in the Eurovision Song Contest can contribute to a country’s international image. This thesis has studied how the Russian entries between the years of 2013 and 2017 were perceived and how this could contribute to the general image of Russia. Cultural diplomacy formed the basis of the theoretical framework and the theory of fantasmatic logic was used in addition. To conduct the case study, the lyrics, performances and context surrounding the entries were studied through a multimodal narrative analysis. Three main narratives were identified when studying the Russian entries, those were of Russia as a peaceful, innocent and progressive country. The main conclusion drawn from the study was that Russia was perceived positively in the contest, which could contribute to their general international image.