Post-Soviet Girl, or the Sad Girl Trope

In the fifth episode of Thinking Face Emoji, Margarita Osipian from The Hmm and Anielek Niemyjski from the Institute of Network Cultures are joined by writer and independent researcher Salome Berdzenishvili, to discuss the online aesthetic of the post-Soviet sad girl. Together they dissect the sad girl industrial complex to explore how this aesthetic emerged, and how it shapes and reflects the visual and emotional archives of Soviet and post-Soviet eras.

Mentioned in this episode:

Лана Дель Рей - Летняя Печалька - Lana del Ray Summertime Sadness with voiceover

Girl Online - Symposihmm playback

Preliminary Materials For a Theory of the Young-Girl by Tiqqun

Becoming and Unbecoming – Eastern European Girlhood Online by Salome Berdzenishvili

Moy Marmeladny trend on TikTok

#Slavic Core - TikTok

Clean girl in a post soviet country TikTok by Sh.Sayadze

How to Become as Intimidating Yet Visually Striking as Brutalist Architecture by Sumayya Bisseret Martinez

Mental health walk in Eastern Europe TikTok trend

Eastern European girlhood on Instagram, bikini in puddles compilation

Find The Hmm at: thehmm.nl linkin.bio

Find Salome at: networkcultures.org/blog/author/salome/

Thinking Face Emoji is a podcast by The Hmm, in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, and financially supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.

Jingle and sound design by Jochem van der Hoek.

Editing by Salome Berdzenishvili.

Cover art by Aspirin.