Could anyone recommend comedic Russian novels or short stories?
Edited to add the following:
Thanks for the recommendations!
The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
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Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#42Among 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.
It fits the US pretty good too.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#43Most of us who lived in the soviet union, watched a couple of those at least a few times:
- Кавказская пленница https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style
- Операция „Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Oth...
- Джентльмены удачи https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentlemen_of_Fortune
- Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate
Last one is something you'd see every new years eve. (spoiler here) It uncovers a stupidity of cities in the USSR, when those were identical up to a street name.
My mom and dad would probably come up with a slightly different list of their favorites, nonetheless they would agree these can be called "true" classics.
The important bit to remember here is that all of that production was going through "checks" to make sure there are no anti-communist ideas in the movies. Creators had to either be very careful to disguise some of the sentiment or not to have it.
At the end of the day people were not idiots and understood the role of the government. We all had someone close who was a survivor from gulag or a returning labor camp prisoner or a displaced individual with no right to get back to his village. So our lives were kind of similar to everybody elses in the west, provided you eliminate those awful bits. And maybe because those terrible parts were absent in these movies, we were able to have a good laugh.
Honestly watch those and have a laugh. If it seems not funny then try learning some russian and watch them again :D I know it is a terrible dad joke.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#44Most of us who lived in the soviet union, watched a couple of those at least a few times: - Кавказская пленница https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style - Операция „Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Oth... - Джентльмены удачи https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentlemen_of_Fortune - Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_I…
As a non russia speaker years ago, I walked into a russian bar in nyc with those movies on tvs behind the bar.
i was hooked and watch them many times. i started to learn russian from duolingo.
years later, i laughed when i heard the dialogue. i am also happy that those movies got me to learn another language.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#45Comrade Detective - my favorite old Soviet series. On YouTube now.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#46Comrade Detective - my favorite old Soviet series. On YouTube now.
It's not real. They filmed it with modern actors and wrote a script that was supposedly "in the theme of" Soviet-era crime dramas.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#47> 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.
Facebook/Instagram effect in old cinema. You don't post grey misery unless you can make it meaningful. The same applies to movies. Nobody would watch their own life either. There's a lot of grey misery available in a sarcastic take though. Polish cinema of the time has lots of that as well.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#48Among 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
There are infinitely less difference between Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians than, for example, between those Americans who live in California and Texas.
Re: The blissful political incorrectness of Soviet comedies
#49Could 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
#50Most of us who lived in the soviet union, watched a couple of those at least a few times: - Кавказская пленница https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style - Операция „Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Oth... - Джентльмены удачи https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentlemen_of_Fortune - Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_I…
Classics to the point that current music videos gender-swap famous scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6amCG2KHlRg&t=90s
compare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aFimeu-4DM
(also, the song "5 minutes", a kind of soviet "it's time to start the music, it's time to light the lights", from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_Night gets plenty of contemporary reprises. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5viIzp4rxC0 )