Watch Friends, you'll see: Putin propagandist on difference between Russia, West
Russia-Ukraine War: Russian president Vladimir Putin has cast his war in Ukraine as a battle with the West and Western ideals.
Friends was one of the earliest signs of Russia’s permanent break with Western culture, head of Russia’s RT network has said. In a video widely shared on social media Margarita Simonyan, the influential propagandist who leads the state-funded television service RT network, said that Friends' portrayal of homosexuality marked a fundamental divide with Russian culture.
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Russian president Vladimir Putin has cast his war in Ukraine as a battle with the West and Western ideals.
Margarita Simonayan said that when she studied in the United States almost 30 years ago she thought Russians and Americans were “so alike” but then signs of the difference started showing.
“Things were just coming to the surface with the first gurgles of this boiling ultra-liberal borscht,” Margarita Simonayan said while referencing the pilot episode of Friends in which Ross arrives at a coffee shop to meet his future flatmates.
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“Why did he look confused and sad? Because he discovered his wife left him for a woman. All of this is depicted with sympathy - good for her, and too bad for him! It was impossible then to recognise this as blatant propaganda because it was so rare, so fresh, so interesting," Margarita Simonayan said.
“This war is about our right to raise our children to be just like us and not like them. There is a chasm between us and our children and them and their children," Margarita Simonayan added.
