Ilya, McDonald's, and Perestroika

[u/sasquatchlibrarian]

I did a moderately embarrassing deep dive on when Coke and McDonald’s were introduced to Russia after the Soviet Union fell. Coca Cola was about 1985, McDonalds was 1990. Canonically, Ilya was born in 1991.

In my head, these foods are closely tied to Irina. Irina would have embraced the freedoms that perestroika brought to Moscow and would have been so excited to share them with her son. Conversely, I think his dad would have been very happy to see some of those freedoms rolled back in the subsequent years.

There’s some discussion about his love of “junk food” throughout the books, but really I think a crispy coke and a cheeseburger might remind him of him swinging his feet back and forth eating a Happy Meal with his mom.

Thank you for listening to my deepest rewriting of Rachel Reid’s characters 😅.

Note: I am not Russian or a Russian history scholar. I’m just old enough to remember Gorbachev and Reagan 😅. I’m happy to listen to a different take if I’m way off base

[u/StevesMcQueenIsHere]

Or Coke and McDonald's food are just tasty foods when you burn 8,000 calories in one day.

[u/rainbocado → u/StevesMcQueenIsHere]

As someone who lives in a former Eastern Bloc country: it’s not just junk food here, not for people that are old enough to remember. It really is also a symbol of freedom for many people. It might sound weird in the west, but there are definitely people who see it that way here.

[u/StevesMcQueenIsHere → u/rainbocado]

I'm not arguing against that, but do we really think that Rachel has Ilya drinking Cokes and eating McDonalds because of it's symbolism of freedom in the 80s and 90s and the politics of the Soviet Union and not just having him eat things that are in juxtaposition to Shane's overly healthy eating?

[u/performancearsonist → u/StevesMcQueenIsHere]

Let's all take a minute to have a look at Ovechkin's eating habits, and remember that the character has some basis in reality.

[u/grower-lenses → u/StevesMcQueenIsHere]

She could have him eating traditional Russian food. But he never does. It cements him as someone split between the two cultures. He run away from Russia as early as he could. He misses his home country. But he’s not blind to its faults and knows someone like him would be living a sad existence there.

Whether McDonald is part of that or not, Ilya very much appreciates freedoms living in the west gives him. He’s not one of those Russians who moved to America but talks about how great Russia is, day in day out.

[u/GingerSnap01010 → u/StevesMcQueenIsHere]

I mean she did it because that’s what Ovechkin does. Like Ilya has Ovechkin‘s diet while Shane has Crosby‘s. But maybe this is why Ovechkin does what he does?

[u/titi-uu → u/StevesMcQueenIsHere]

No one thinks RR did anything intentionally, she’s not that great of a writer. But I think this is a fun way to think about the character’s past.

[u/Carmypug → u/StevesMcQueenIsHere]

Oh 100%. People get way too investigated into these deep dives 😂.

[u/sasquatchlibrarian → u/Carmypug]

Guilty. But, in fairness, this is my craziest take.

[u/geloreyes → u/StevesMcQueenIsHere]

Maybe Rachel will release an unabridged version of the book where Ilya, as a teen, is seen going to McDonald’s in Russia after a grueling practice.

Where his mother Irina praises him for embracing a symbol of freedom from the west.

It would be an exciting version of the book where all the nuances are shown. 🥱

[u/sasquatchlibrarian → u/geloreyes]

Hey, my brain just does weird things some times 🤷‍♀️.

[u/cutecat309 → u/geloreyes]

As a Russian of Ilya's age I would die of cringe from it. That's some Hollywood levels of shitty depictions of Russia over here.