“Hero of the British empire” in the propaganda of English colonial policy

The transformation of the propaganda image of the so-called “hero” of the British Empire and its impact on public consciousness are considered. The author uses theories from historical science and art history, which made it possible to present an interdisciplinary research. It was revealed that British art cinematography contains a rather impressive set of diverse information. Of particular importance is the reflection of the main postulates of the imperial ideology on the screen and the transformations they underwent under the influence of historical circumstances. Almost all the films on imperial issue filmed in different years contained a plot about the “hero of the empire”. Therefore, the problem of cinematic transformation of the image of the empire, through the example of the image of the “hero”, is relevant both for investigating the evolution of public consciousness, in particular the influence of propaganda on mass perception of imperial policy, and for understanding the very phenomenon of the British Empire. The study is based on British films of colonial and postcolonial periods, which made it possible to trace the evolution of views on the image of an English officer, colonialist, missionary in the “imperial” cinema of England, and to reveal what influenced this change in views. It is suggested that the existence of a heroic character in films about the empire provides an instrument to study more deeply the features of the formation of public opinion regarding British colonial policy. The article justifies the thesis that the study of video interpretation of objective and artificially directed processes, provided a complex and critical approach, helps to form a more multidimensional representation of reality and can contribute to the reconstruction of a historically authentic picture of the past.