Is Punk Dead? The Ordeal of Pussy Riot and
Western Ideals of Dissent and Activism
Abstract:
In the Winter of 2012, news broke around the world that three members of the Russian feminist, all-women, performance art collective Pussy Riot were arrested for protesting the reelection of Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral. Charged with “hooliganism,” the three women were each sentenced to seventeen months in prison, with one of them being released on appeal just one month into her sentence and the others being granted release under an amnesty law sixteen months later. The ordeal of Pussy Riot was continuously covered by the Western news media throughout their trial, imprisonment, and release over a period from mid-2012 to late-2013. In this project, I will argue that the Western news media’s coverage of the Pussy Riot ordeal from July 30, 2012 to December 23, 2013 reveals numerous facets of Western ideologies and historical perceptions about dissent and activism. Specifically, I focus my analysis on ideologies surrounding what constitutes “rights,” femininity, and a worthwhile protest. The West’s historical memory of the Cold War, relationship with Russia, and past and current relationships with subcultures also plays a key role in proving the argument for this project. This project aims to show how the rhetorical discourse around social movements and historical periods shifts ideologies and social norms, and how rhetorical discourse plays a pivotal role in calling ideologies and social norms into question.