photo Зеркало недели
In the third season of the spy thriller Lioness, released in 2026 on Paramount+, a plot unusual for Western mainstream cinema appears. American intelligence agencies suspect Ukraine of organizing the kidnapping of a CIA officer on US territory. The main suspect is Alexandra Balakina, a Ukrainian foreign intelligence officer who has been working undercover in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service since 2018..
Subsequently, the suspicion turns out to be false, and the CIA makes a fatal mistake by giving the order to eliminate the Ukrainian agent. What is important here is not only the final plot twist, but also the frame itself: Ukraine is temporarily placed in the position of a player whom Washington considers capable of a complex multi-level intelligence operation. Just a few decades ago, such an image in the Hollywood mainstream would have been difficult to imagine.
It is also indicative how Balakina herself was created.. Elizaveta Neretin, who played the Ukrainian intelligence officer, said that the author of the series, Taylor Sheridan, gave her significant freedom in shaping the character’s backstory. According to the actress, Alexandra’s loyalty clearly belongs to Ukraine, and her sharp reaction to attempts to perceive her as a Russian is a fundamental character trait.
To reach this point, the Ukrainian screen image took more than 30 years of fighting stereotypes.
From caricatured mafiosi and “post-Soviet exotica” to intelligence officers and independent participants in global politics - ZN. UA analyzed how the perception of Ukrainians in world cinema has evolved.
Ukrainian voice at the Oscars: five producers were invited to the American Film Academy.
The era of “nested orientalism”: weapons, crime and Chernobyl.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Ukraine was often deprived of its voice in Western cinema. This logic can be described through the concept of “nested Orientalism,” proposed by researcher Milica Bakic-Hayden: in the symbolic hierarchy of “West” and “East,” Eastern Europe was often labeled as less modern and more “backward,” and new levels of such division appeared within the region itself.. Ukrainians on screen often merged into a single post-Soviet mass associated with poverty, crime and danger.
The video shows an iconic episode from the American sitcom Seinfeld (1995), in which the characters (Kraymer and Newman) call Ukraine “weak” and a “dead end” while playing the board game “Risk” on the New York subway.. The situation ends in a comical conflict with a random Ukrainian passenger, but at the same time, this scene perfectly reflects the view of Western cinema of the 1990s. Back then, people talked about Ukraine casually, condescendingly, and often used a disparaging form with the article - the Ukraine.
In 1995, in the popular American sitcom Seinfeld, one of the characters calls Ukraine “weak” during a board game.. The scene evokes a comic conflict in the metro, but at the same time it well captures the optics of that time: a distant post-Soviet country, which can be talked about casually and condescendingly. Even the form the Ukraine was still widely used in the English-speaking space, although after independence it increasingly gave way to the name Ukraine without the article.
It is significant that after 2010, the form “the Ukraine” begins to rapidly disappear from English-language films and TV series: the linguistic marker of the territory gradually gives way to the name of an independent state - Ukraine.
Exact numbers are provided by Texty corpus research. org. ua. Analysts processed more than 62 GB of English-language subtitles until 2023 and found more than 5 thousand references to Ukraine and Ukrainians in 1,500 unique films and television shows. Among the persistent motives are the Ukrainian mafia, illegal weapons, nuclear threats, sexualized images of women, cybercrime and Ukraine in general as a source of danger..
This picture is confirmed by academic research. An analysis of Hollywood films and TV series from 1991–2021 identified the three most common imagotypes of Ukrainians - “enemy”, “seducer” and “immigrant”. Ukrainian origin was often mixed with Russian or Soviet origin in general.
A classic example is the Hollywood hit “Baron of Arms” (2005). The main character Yuri Orlov, played by Nicolas Cage, is an American of Ukrainian origin and an international arms dealer who, after the collapse of the USSR, comes to Ukraine and illegally buys arsenals.. Ukraine here is a convenient space of impunity, corruption and weapons.
The same year, in the film All Clear (2005), the American hero travels through Ukraine in search of his family past. The film is much more humane, but the country still remains primarily an exotic setting for the spiritual quest of a Western hero.
The Chernobyl zone became a separate on-screen symbol. In the horror film Chernobyl Diaries (2012), a group of tourists goes on an extreme excursion to Pripyat, and the Ukrainian space turns into a post-apocalyptic attraction. Catastrophe, abandoned city, radiation and danger again work as a ready-made set of visual markers of the country.
Hollywood Riot: Jack Pelance's Manifesto.
Anti-cultural appropriation began long before the modern decolonial turn. His vivid personification was Jack Pelance (real name - Vladimir Palagnyuk). The son of Ukrainian emigrants - his father was from the Ternopil region, his mother was from the Lviv region - received an Oscar in 1992, supported the Ukrainian-American community and was the head of the board of the Hollywood Trident Foundation ("
In April 2004, at the Russian Nights Russian Film Festival in Los Angeles, Pelans was offered a Russian state award - the title of People's Artist of Russia. The actor publicly refused, emphasizing: “I am Ukrainian, not Russian.”. After this, Pelans left the hall with his family..
This gesture was a significant public rejection of attempts to integrate Ukrainian origins into a broader “Russian” cultural framework. In commercial cinema, a similar distinction also gradually became noticeable.. In the action movie “Transporter 3” (2008), the heroine sharply corrects her interlocutor: “I’m not Russian. I’m Ukrainian,” and to a request for forgiveness he answers: “I don’t forgive. We are different people"
But systemic changes began after the Revolution of Dignity.
Sean Penn played in the Ukrainian film "
Geopolitical buffer: manipulations from weakness (2014–2021).
With the onset of Russian aggression, Ukraine entered Western scenarios as a separate political entity, but largely remained a territory around which stronger states competed.
In the 2015 political TV series Madam Secretary, fictional Ukrainian President Mykhailo Bozek organizes a cyberattack on Air Force One and sets up an attack on his plane to blame Russia and drag the United States into a confrontation with Moscow.. Ukraine is already acting independently here, but its subjectivity is built on despair: the state manipulates its ally because it believes that it will not survive without external intervention.
At the same time, old cliches about migrants continued to exist in popular culture. In 2021, the second season of Emily in Paris caused a loud reaction in Ukraine: Kiev resident Petra was shown as uneducated, prone to theft and frightened by the possibility of deportation. The then Minister of Culture Alexander Tkachenko addressed Netflix, calling the image caricatured and offensive.
Netflix thanked for the feedback, said that it had heard the concerns of Ukrainian viewers, and agreed on closer contact in the future. This story showed an important change: Ukraine is no longer just the subject of someone else's image, but a party that publicly reacts to how it is presented to a global audience.
The turning point of 2022: military subjectivity and the triumph of documentary.
A full-scale invasion dramatically changed the optics. One of the strongest evidence was documentary footage. The film “20 Days in Mariupol” directed by Mstislav Chernov in 2024 brought the first Oscar in the history of Ukraine - in the category “Best Feature Documentary Film”. She documented the siege of Mariupol through the eyes of Ukrainian journalists and created an internationally recognized document of reality, fundamentally opposed to Russian propaganda optics - in particular, the mini-series “20/22”, which was filmed, among other things, in occupied Mariupol.
“Porcelain War” offered a different intonation.. Its co-director Slava Leontyev explained that the authors deliberately did not want to show Ukrainians as pitiful victims: Ukraine and Ukrainians had to inspire admiration and respect. This is an important change in focus - from empathy to respect, from a passive victim to someone defending their culture and way of life.
Fiction series also change the scale of Ukrainian characters. In the spy thriller “The Agency” (The Agency, 2024), Ukrainian actor Alexander Rudinsky plays military man Sasha Butenko, who, under the guise of a doctor, carries out tasks in the controlled and occupied territory of Ukraine. This is no longer an “Eastern European type”, but a specific Ukrainian professional within the framework of a major international espionage plot. In NCIS Season 22, Ukrainian forces manage to destroy Belarusian mobile missile launchers before the US can retaliate.. Ukraine is not waiting for salvation here, but acts first.
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At the same time, the broader international context is changing. According to Reputation Lab's 2025 study, Ukraine ranked 26th among the world's 60 largest economies in terms of reputation, up 5 positions compared to 2024. The ranking was based on the estimates of respondents from the G7 countries. Among Ukraine's strongest characteristics, respondents cited respect for human rights, educated and reliable people, respected leaders, friendliness and dedication to the international community..
These data, of course, do not prove a direct connection with Hollywood’s script decisions, but they do show a public background where the image of Ukraine as a competent and independent player no longer looks exotic.
Icebreakers: how international friends of Ukraine promote our subjectivity in cinema.
To stop thinking in stereotypes about Ukrainians, you should at least find out who they really are. Many Hollywood stars have stepped forward to support and understand us since 2022. This year, Richard Gere recorded a video message in which he recited a poem by Yuri Izdrik on Independence Day, and Sean Penn came to Ukraine to give Vladimir Zelensky his Oscar statuette for safekeeping until victory.
However, support from foreign celebrities also has a deeper practical effect.. For example, recently in the sensational film “Couture” with Angelina Jolie, Ukrainian Yulia Ratner played not a victim or a soldier, but a successful model. In real life, Julia is a recognizable model, having walked the catwalks of Prada, Dior, Fendi and Celine. The heroine Ratner is also Ukrainian, who moved from Zaporozhye to Kyiv, and in between shows and photo sessions she worries about her boyfriend - he remains in Kyiv, where he has to wait out the air raids, and the girl asks him not to neglect them. It is important that the refugee in the film is shown not as a defenseless victim who fled to France, but as a strong girl who, despite her career in the West, constantly remembers the war.
Ratner's colleague on the set, Angelina Jolie, by the way, regularly travels to Ukraine on humanitarian missions - recently, for example, she was seen in Kharkov. The director of the film, Alis Vinokur, has Ukrainian roots through his grandfather from Berdichev. When so many people familiar with the Russian-Ukrainian war come together on the site, talking about it becomes much easier and more necessary.
It is also important that Hollywood stars wear things from Ukrainian designers every day. Ruslan Baginsky's hats appear on Madonna, Beyonce and the Hadid sisters, and Ivan Frolov's FROLOV brand was worn by the same Beyonce and Sabrina Carpenter during her tour with Taylor Swift. Therefore, it is not at all difficult to show that Ukraine is involved in the world of fashion - the main thing is to successfully suggest this idea to those who create films.
A film about Ukrainian youth took second place at the Toronto Film Festival.
Another example of the Ukrainian presence in cinema is just waiting to be released. Until recently, it would have been difficult for us to imagine that The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith director Doug Liman would direct a film called Serpent Island.. And yes, the title really refers us to the legendary Ukrainian island, although the film is dedicated to the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, in which Ukrainian saboteurs are suspected.
The main roles are played by Sean Penn and Adrien Brody - two actors who can be called great friends of Ukraine: both have repeatedly collaborated with the United24 platform and publicly expressed their support for the Ukrainian people. By the way, instead of participating in the ceremony of presenting his third Oscar, Penn went to Kyiv to meet with Zelensky, and subsequently visited the Ukrainian military in the Donbass.
The film may become one of the most notable cases when a major Hollywood film with a star-studded cast puts Ukrainian heroes at the center of its plot. And the more Hollywood talks about us as equals, the further we will become from Russia’s distorted perception of Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, reality has caught up with the Hollywood scenario.. In August, Ukrainian professional diver Vladimir Zhuravlev, whom German prosecutors suspect of involvement in the Nord Stream bombing, was detained in Croatian Pula.. In Croatia, he worked as a consultant during the filming of “Snake Island”. Zhuravlev’s guilt has not been proven by the court.
The risk of militarization: what the screen is missing today.
Getting rid of old cliches about the mafia, illegal immigrants and the post-Soviet periphery, Ukraine faces a new challenge. Its screen image risks becoming one-dimensional - the image of a country that exists only in the context of war and mortal danger. There is a huge difference in status and subjectivity between the arms dealer from “The Weapon Baron” and the intelligence officer from “Lioness,” but both still appear through the prism of weapons.
Five don’t expect one thing: how “Slidy” became a Ukrainian contender for an Oscar and why this choice caused controversy.
It is still more difficult for world cinema to show ordinary Ukrainian life. Alternative images appear pointwise. In the Korean adaptation of Money Heist, the Professor talks about Kherson as a port city, where his father dreamed of moving his family all his life. For international viewers, this is a rare image of Ukraine not as a front, but as a desirable place to live. The American show Taste the Nation dedicated an episode to Ukrainian cuisine and explained why the dispute over the origins of borscht became part of a broader struggle over Ukrainian identity.
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Over the course of 35 years, the Ukrainian hero on the Western screen has gone from a nameless shadow of the post-Soviet space to a character who is given a profession, a voice, political will and the ability to act.. Meanwhile, Ukrainian documentary films received the highest international award. The next barrier is for world cinema to see in Ukrainians not only soldiers, victims or spies, but in Ukraine as a modern country where war is a reality, but not the only possible story; where major geopolitical shifts occur alongside ordinary human life.
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