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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

#31

Post by cema »

pjc50 wrote: post #10

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-l…

To add a little background, the "White Sun of the Desert" belongs to the genre which is sometimes called the "eastern", in the footsteps of the American "western". It describes what was known in the Soviet historiography as "the establishment of the Soviet power in Central Asia".

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#32

Post by kome »

idoubtit wrote: post #22

Among the Russian films with a strong political innuendo I've seen, "Welcome, no trespassing" was the sharpest and one of the most enjoyable. It's about a scout camp where the the director oppresses the children with stupid formal procedures, patriotic ceremonies, and abuses of power. I could not understand why this film was allowed, since the camp is an obvious metaphor of the USSR. I'm also surprised one of the mos…

> I could not understand why this film was allowed, since the camp is an obvious metaphor of the USSR.

Just like today, you are allowed to make fun of power, but you are not allowed to take it seriously.

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#33

Post by selimthegrim »

rsj_hn wrote: post #19
riffraff wrote: post #6

> 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…

The Firemen's Ball (1967) is a czech comedy directed by Milos Forman, also worth a watch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Firemen%27s_Ball

Criterion's streaming channel is currently pairing this with the Georgian short 'Fatherland' about a resurrected Stalin.

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#34

Post by rkantbe »

idoubtit wrote: post #22

Among the Russian films with a strong political innuendo I've seen, "Welcome, no trespassing" was the sharpest and one of the most enjoyable. It's about a scout camp where the the director oppresses the children with stupid formal procedures, patriotic ceremonies, and abuses of power. I could not understand why this film was allowed, since the camp is an obvious metaphor of the USSR. I'm also surprised one of the mos…

Soviets != Russia, yes the USSR was sort of a new iteration of The Russian Empire, but you can't call armenians, ukrainians, georgians and so on russians this simply wrong

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#35

Post by tjalfi »

ojnabieoot wrote: post #12

The “political incorrectness” angle is really an unnecessary and very stupid aside that tarnishes an otherwise decent piece: > Nor could [Office Romance] be much less politically correct. One can only imagine what a modern HR-manager would make of Office Romance, of its “power-imbalances”, “problematic” attitudes and “inappropriate” behaviour. That said, the same HR-manager should at least pause to wonder what, in do…

Miller v. Dept of Corrections[0] is a good example of this type of toxic work environment.

[0] https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/miller-v-dept-correction...

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#36

Post by trhway »

cosmodisk wrote: post #30

I never quite understood how the Soviet system permitted some of these films that quickly becam e classics of their genre: The Twelve Chairs

you couldn't openly and clearly critique/satirize the whole System nor the Party nor the Leader (with all 3 being basically equivalent). You were allowed (and to some degree and in some shape encouraged) to critique and have a laugh at supposedly small and separate defects/impurities on the shining body of the System, the defects which were still present as supposedly exceptions and not the rule ("otdelnye nedostatki") thus your work would supposedly be improving the System instead of weakening it. The great talent of some of those writers, directors, actors, etc. was to show those supposedly small separate defects in the formally allowed way while really making it a deep and profound satire of the whole System.

The approach of course isn't unique to USSR, it has been the forced choice of artists through the history of ideological oppression in human civilization, and giving the rise of ideological intolerance everywhere today i expect to see again that approach more and more.

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#37

Post by klyrs »

pjc50 wrote: post #10

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-l…

Words can have multiple meanings. From a US perspective, this does seem weird, as "political correctness" is largely about not punching down on people who face adversity in our culture. The Russian definition seems to mean punching up; criticizing the government.

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#38

Post by gumby »

paganel wrote: post #28
gumby wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d be interested in pointers to Soviet equivalents of the James Bond books or films.

> James Bond books or films. I've just read an interview with a Russian book editor that mentioned Lev Ovalov [1], which is I think the closest thing to what you wanted (in terms of books, anyway): > Soviet writer, author of detective stories about the Chekist-counterintelligence officer Major Pronin . (...) > It was for this magazine that the story "Blue Swords" was written - the first in a cycle about Major Pronin,…

Thanks! I’ll check it out.

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#39

Post by gumby »

pjc50 wrote: post #14
gumby wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d be interested in pointers to Soviet equivalents of the James Bond books or films.

It doesn't seem to have been a big genre, probably because of the difficulty of talking about secret agents in a country where secrecy was brutally enforced and the KGB were deeply feared. I can however reccomend the Italian bond knockoff genre, including the ridiculous OK Connery: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062078/?ref_=nm_knf_t1 Starring Neil Connery . Music by Ennio Morricone.

OK, now I have to see that!

Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies

#40

Post by gumby »

versale wrote: post #18
gumby wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d be interested in pointers to Soviet equivalents of the James Bond books or films.

I believe you’ll like it: “Passion of Spies” (Шпионские страсти) 1967

Great, thanks!
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