Mass Culture as a Factor in the Formation of Collective Historical Memory

Abstract

The aim of the article is to identify the interrelations between mass culture and the processes of forming collective historical memory within a mediatized communicative space. The study examines the processes of constructing collective historical memory in the contemporary Ukrainian socio‑communicative environment, using the preservation of memory about the Holodomor in contemporary Ukrainian mass culture as a case study. To achieve this aim, a set of general scientific and specialized methods was employed. In particular, analysis and synthesis were used to summarize theoretical approaches to collective memory and mediatization; the comparative method was applied to juxtapose different forms of representing historical memory in mass culture; narrative analysis was used to interpret modes of constructing images of traumatic pasts; and the descriptive method served to record contemporary media practices of memory. The empirical basis of the research comprises media products of domestic mass culture about the Holodomor identified through monitoring – cinema, fiction, social advertising, animation, television projects, etc. (a total of 54 items as of 2025) – as well as an online survey titled “Mass Culture and the Formation of Collective Historical Memory,” conducted on the Facebook social network using Google Forms (91 respondents). The novelty of the study lies in the systematic description of media practices within the mass cultural environment related to the Holodomor, which attests to processes of mediatization of historical memory and the formation of collective historical memory. The findings demonstrate that within mass culture as a mediatized environment there occurs the construction, actualization, and emotional interpretation of historical pasts, combining rational (factual knowledge), emotional, and symbolic levels of understanding historical events. This is realized through the use of recognizable images, repetition of narratives and memory rituals. Analysis of media practices shows that processes of the formation of collective historical memory in the mass cultural sphere manifest through narrativity (journalistic, cinematic, and literary forms), symbolism (the formation of recognizable visual and semantic codes), simplification of complex historical events (short videos on social networks), ritualization, and viral dissemination of content. In mass culture, understood in the broadest sense to include media, these actors play a key role as repositories and sites where memory rituals occur, and as a medium of collective historical memory that ensures an emotional connection between generations.