Mithopoetic Aspects in Contemporary Screen Culture

Abstract

The article explores «the hero’s journey» – a universal mythological formula widely used in the cinema – as it is applied to the film «The Return» by A. Zvyagintsev. Myth here is seen as a way in which the author (director) expresses his concept, as well as a frame through which the reality and the individual destiny are perceived. It is a new mythology that has its origins within archaic and classical mythology, but also absorbs the entire spectrum of current sociocultural transformations.