Nikol Pashinyan’s groans as he eats lavash are not due to gluttony or any aesthetic pleasure, because no matter how much lavash makes up the Armenian national bread, it’s still not the kind of food that necessarily makes one groan.
In short, neither the feathers, nor the corn, nor the apple serving as decoration during the summit, nor the consumption of ordinary, sour lavash are accidental. With this move, Pashinyan invades the home of every citizen, becoming “their son” and “one of them.”
The viewer of this scene imagines themselves equal to the head of state; the gap that actually exists between the government’s sworn voter, who lacks a high intellectual level, and Nikol Pashinyan disappears. They both eat the same perashki, cooked in the same oil for days, and both suffer from heartburn for hours. They become one, and subconsciously, Nikolyan, the sworn voter, gets the impression that he is truly involved in governing the country, that he is the one making the decisions, that he is the one wielding power, that he is “one of our own,” that Nikol Pashinyan was sent to the government only to fulfill its purpose and implement the program he “formulated.”
The poor guy can’t even imagine that he is, in fact, merely fodder for government propaganda, that he is the very same decorative apple, not intended for consumption, placed on the table at the Paris summit and eaten by Nikol Pashinyan. In other words, both this apple and the citizen of the Republic of Armenia have the same meaning for Nikol Pashinyan; both can be used if it benefits his reproduction.
The second purpose of filming Nikol Pashinyan eating is driven by the ideology of the “real Armenia” that he has invented or imposed on himself. This ideology is completely devoid of national values and national goals, based entirely on the logic of “bread here, stay here.” Therefore, for this ideology to take hold in the minds of Armenian citizens, they must be constantly shown scenes of gluttony.
Therefore, we should not call Nikol Pashinyan a glutton and assume that our labels will produce the desired result, but should constantly accuse Armenian citizens of being just another “food” in the process of realizing Nikol Pashinyan’s goals.