Growing up in the USSR I always been fascinated by how only a few of soviet writers/comedians/directors were allowed some level of freedom while the rest had to stay true to the party propaganda lines. Obviously, these few were most appreciated.
The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
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Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#62Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#63Strange 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.
A Soviet would probably reply with the claim that the party was the direct representative of the working class, and therefore not any more of an acceptable target than members of the working class themselves.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#64Could anyone recommend comedic Russian novels or short stories? Edited to add the following: Thanks for the recommendations!
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#65Among 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.
there are couple of aspects here:
- the movie was allowed by Khruschev who had [to a significant degree] dismantled the "Gulag regime" of Stalin, so one could make a case at the time that the movie was a metaphor of that dismantled regime
- there is a kind of political poker with censorship - who the first would associate the satire work with a sensitive political metaphor. If the artist doesn't do it directly themselves, then it is the censors who should declare that they see say a USSR in such a grotesque work, and that would expose the censors' own disrespect of the USSR. It is better described by the joke from the time:
Stalin (who had a prominent mustache) orders to the great [in USSR WWII history view] Marshal (4-star general) Zhukov an impossible task : "Take the city by tomorrow morning!". Marshal Zhukov leaving the meeting mutters in frustration: "F-king ass with a mustache!" The KGB chief Beria overhears it and reports about it to Stalin. Stalin calls Zhukov back and asks whom Zhukov had in mind when saying that. Zhukov answers : "I had Hitler in mind of course!". Stalin turns to Beria and asks "And whom did you have in mind?"
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Californian and Texan accents might be mutually incomprehensible, but they' re not completely different languages like Ukrainian, Russian, and Belorussian.
if you know one pf the three russian/ukraininan/belorus languages you will be able to understand 99% of what is said in the other two. Source: I grew up in Ukraine
Cool, canadians and australians understand each other quite well too, what's your point?
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#67Strange 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…
It hasn't shifted.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
There are infinitely less difference between Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians than, for example, between those Americans who live in California and Texas.
Actually, someone from San Francisco would have no trouble in moving to Austin. That same Californian moving to, say, Salinas (that’s in California) would be more of a culture shock
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#69Among 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…
Could you point to the IMDb link for Sayna Blues? Curious to see it but the name doesn’t match anything.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#70any more suggestions would be most welcome
Academy Award Winner “Burnt by the sun” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_by_the_Sun
I didn’t think that’s a comedy though.
There’s an abundance of serious, existential, often heavy Russian films. I just saw Beanpole and felt excited about a light, genuinely funny Russian comedy.
Any recommendations?