Page 4 - Bitter Icons

Due to time limitations, but also because of the lack of earlier fictive representations of the

Holodomor I will not include inter-medial aspects in the analysis. It would be possible to look
at related works of academic character and documentaries on the topic and how it relates to the

film, but I think that would be suitable for a bigger project.

Finally, after having looked through these different lenses at the study objects we can see if we
gained more knowledge and understanding of the Holodomor memory construction in film and

on a global level.

Methodology for this paper includes literature searches in Google Scholar and Oria with terms

“cultural memory”, “collective memory”, “Holodomor”, “global icon” and “international icon”
in different combinations and variations. I have looked through the journal Memory Studies to

find relevant articles. It has also been useful to study the reference lists of the articles I have

chosen from the course literature and in various books covering memory and media to find
connected literature on the subjects of memory, genocide and global icons.

As the size of this paper is limited and time as well, I shall only go in depth on the film and

skim the surface of related reviews and articles on the film.

Analysis and discussion

Terms in Memory Studies

Since I have said to focus on memory and film I will define the various terms within the field.
First of all, what is a memory and what is it in the context of media and film? Is memory only

something that is inside our minds, something that establishes who we are and our identity?

When I think of memories as often very elusive and dim, but sometimes you have a very crisp
and clear memory that stays and then again, some memories just vanish, we forget. But in our

increasingly digitalized world we have all these technologies and forms of media that can help
us remember. A. Assmann (2008:97) points to the significance of forgetting of memories and

how memory is a selective process where some of them are deleted. But can memories be stored

externally? J. Assmann (2011) takes up this point as he discusses collective, communicative
and cultural memory. He stresses that “things” or “groups” cannot inhabit memory, but they

can remind us, trigger memories and so groups can create monuments to preserve and resist the

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