A new TV series was aired in Russia, a series about the famous Russian tsar, who has been so much defamed both abroad and then domestically. I was critical in anticipating this series, and it seems my fears were well-founded to a point where watching it would be inadvisable. In a way the vibe of “Grozny” series appears to be somewhat akin to HBO’s “Chernobyl” angle.
As I wrote in the article with the translation of the documentary Black myths about Rus – From Ivan the Formidable until our time, “Grozny” actually translates as “Formidable”, while from the set go a mis-translation of his by-name was adopted in England, implying something terrible. We see the same pattern with every Russian leader throughout history, who did something great for Russia (and, often, the world) – they’d be maligned, while a weak leader, who worked towards destruction of Russia, would be celebrated in the West. Sadly, the tune, started in the West would later get foothold in the Russian minds, thus weakening Russian self-perception.
Alexander Rodgers is a journalist and blogger with many astute analytical articles in the economic and political spheres. Below is my translation of his review of “Grozny” TV series, titled “Hard tsar or hard times. A truthful lie. The analysis of ‘Grozny’ series”. His analysis echoes my own perception based on the documented accounts. The original Russian version can be found at Cont and at the author’s LiveJournal page.