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The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

thecritic.co.uk

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Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#2

Post by ben_w »

I find it curious how the phrase “politically correct” entered western political language as as self-critical satire by the left (presumably in reference to Soviet political officers), before being transformed into criticism by right-wing commentators, to the situation of being surprised that the Soviets didn’t care about power imbalances and what we would now regard as inappropriate behaviour.

Such linguistic shifts happen a lot (title of this forum included), but nonetheless tickles my mind whenever I see it.

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#4

Post by uniqueid »

rektide wrote: post #3

any more suggestions would be most welcome

Well, if you're into 'politically incorrect' movies, virtually anything before 1980 will fit the bill. You could start with Birth of Nation which celebrates the KKK. Then move on to the Jazz Singer which prominently features black face. Breakfast at Tiffany's is famous for Mickey Rooney's 'ching chong' routine. There's really no shortage.

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#5

Post by cortesoft »

uniqueid wrote: post #4
rektide wrote: post #3

any more suggestions would be most welcome

Well, if you're into 'politically incorrect' movies, virtually anything before 1980 will fit the bill. You could start with Birth of Nation which celebrates the KKK. Then move on to the Jazz Singer which prominently features black face. Breakfast at Tiffany's is famous for Mickey Rooney's 'ching chong' routine. There's really no shortage.

I am guessing they are asking for more Russian media... weird to focus on the political correctness part.

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#6

Post by riffraff »

> What’s interesting about Afonya is its picture of Soviet life at a time when we were told all was grey, unsmiling misery there. Instead it’s a world with palpable similarities to the West: pop music, glamour photos, consumerism and (undeniably) a class-system.

I had a similar feeling watching the 1969 hungarian movie "A tanú" ("The Witness")[0].

While the movie is about communist Hungary, it is interesting how some of the themes are common to satire of any disfunctional organization (incompetents that get promoted because of politicking, clueless people in power, nepotism, unjust punishment etc).

It's a pretty funny movie, and there's a recently restored version so it should be possible to find it if you try a bit.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witness_(1969_Hungarian_fi...

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#8

Post by drewcoo »

uniqueid wrote: post #4
rektide wrote: post #3

any more suggestions would be most welcome

Well, if you're into 'politically incorrect' movies, virtually anything before 1980 will fit the bill. You could start with Birth of Nation which celebrates the KKK. Then move on to the Jazz Singer which prominently features black face. Breakfast at Tiffany's is famous for Mickey Rooney's 'ching chong' routine. There's really no shortage.

Mickey. Mickey Rooney. Who when he was younger did a lot of movies as a character named "Andy Hardy."

Andy Rooney "played" a curmudgeon on 60 Minutes.

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#10

Post by pjc50 »

Strange how the meaning of "political correctness" has shifted, since it was coined to cover the deployment of "political officers" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_commissar ) enforcing adherence to communism within the Soviet military and wider society. All of these films were made under a strict political censorship system.

(Russian cinema is legitimately great, though; why not watch the traditional pre-launch Soyuz quarantine film, "White Sun of Desert"; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066565/ It's rather like a more cynical, more Russian "Dollars Trilogy" film)

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