Information Space as a Source and Result of Creating Myths

The article deals with the analysis of the semantic content of the myth, which captures the perception and evaluation of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the spatial and temporal aspects. It investigates how a myth is created, what components it consists of, how it interacts with the information space. The mechanisms of the myth emergence are fundamentally different. Their features are determined by the measure of artificiality or naturalness of creating myths. From the point of view of studying the specifics of global propaganda, artificially constructed myths are of special interest. The material for the study was the literary and journalistic texts created from different ideological positions, which document the nature of perceiving the city at various times of its existence. The article proposes a technique for analyzing and reconstructing a myth that can be used to work with different myths. It reveals the nature of the connection between mythological characteristics and reality. The content of the myth is described as a text consisting of five semantic complexes, formulated as statements. The first is the boundless breadth of space and its isolation from Russia. The second is that this space is not only uninhabited before the construction of the city, but completely deserted, lifeless. The third is that the space is inhabited by people who came here as hosts to build their city and settle there forever. The fourth is that the space was built by the Komsomol members, engaged in free prospective creative work and overcoming obstacles by their own will. The fifth is it is a space with no present. On the basis of the material presented in the paper, it is concluded that although its semantics differ significantly from the real characteristics of a particular space, the durability of the myth’s existence is determined by the effectiveness of its promotion methods.