******
Vinni Pukh Rules! American Cartoons are Turning Our Kids’ Brains to Mush!
______________________________
When most people think of Russian culture, the heavyweights of literature and classical music, such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Pyotr Tchaikovsky, usually spring to mind. However, Russia can also boast some major achievements in the field of children’s cartoons. Read and click on for a short… and by no means exhaustive… guide. The heyday of Soviet children’s cartoons was the late 1960s, when Soyuzmultfilm produced a host of warm and genuinely witty cartoons. Watching them before or after a Western-produced cartoon of the same period, Tom and Jerry for example, it’s striking and unarguable how much more manic and violent the “capitalist” cartoons are…
******
Matroskin the Cat
******
_____________________________
Troe iz Prostokvashino, or as some translations have it Three from Buttermilk Village, was the first cartoon I ever got into in Russia. Made in 1978, and based on a book by Soviet writer Eduard Uspensky, it tells the tale of a young lad who goes by the nickname of Uncle Fyodor. The ginger-haired kid leaves home with a vagrant cat, Matroskin, after his mother tells his father, “It’s either me or that cat… choose!” His father replies, “I choose you… I’ve known you for a long time and I’ve only just set eyes on that cat”. Along with a friendly, if dim, dog called Sharik they end up living in the aforementioned Buttermilk Village. Much of the cartoon’s sharp dialogue appeals as much to adults as to children and many phrases have become everyday expressions, such as:
- “If I’d had a cat like that, I might not have got married”.
- “You go out of your mind alone. It’s only the flu you suffer together”.
******
Gena and Cheburashka on a greeting card for the 8 March (International Women’s Day) holiday
******
______________________________
Cheburashka is another cartoon based on an Eduard Uspensky book. First released in 1969, it tells the story of the eponymous hero… a strange and exotic creature that ends up in Moscow after falling asleep in a crate of oranges due for shipment to Russia. Once there, he makes the acquaintance of a crocodile called Gena who has been searching for friends by sticking notes around town saying, “Young crocodile looking for friends”. They have many adventures, a lot of which involve battles of wits with one Old Lady Shapoklyak, whose motto is, “You’ll never get famous by doing good”. Cheburashka is perhaps the most famous of all Soviet cartoons and enjoys cult status in Japan. He’s also been the symbol of the Russian Olympic team on three occasions.
******
Vinni Pukh and Piglet
******
******
Maugli
******
_____________________________
Soviet cartoon makers were also keen on adapting foreign children’s tales, with A A Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book being turned into Vinni Pukh and Maugli (Mowgli). The Soviet Vinni Pukh (also from 1969) bears little resemblance to the Disney version much better known in the West, being a darkish little bear with an oddly strident tone. Of course, he also loves honey and has a number of animal friends. The Soviet version lacks a Christopher Robin, though. Then again, its source was the books by Eduard Zakhoder, who insisted his Russian version of the Pooh stories were a retelling, rather than a mere translation. Check out the English language version in the above link. Maugli (1967-71) also differs wildly from the Disney animated musical and is, by far, a much darker affair, a lot closer to the original Kipling books. President-elect Vladimir Putin recently showed a fondness for Kipling when he described protesters against his rule as “Bandar-log”. “Come to me, Bandar-log”, he joked, taking on for a second the persona of the evil snake Kaa. Unlike in the West, no one in Russia needed an explanation of the origin of the phrase.
******
Karlson
******
******
Masha and the Bear
******
******
******
_____________________________
Karlson (1968 and 1970) was a cartoon adaptation of the books by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and it told the story of a jam-loving chubby guy who lived on the roof and made friends with a thoughtful kid who really wanted a puppy. Again, the cartoon appealed as much to adults as children. Modern-day Russia hasn’t seen quite the success of the 1960s and 1970s Soviet Union as far as cartoons go. Nevertheless, the recent Masha and the Bear series has proven popular with kids all across Russia and supplied perhaps the first genuinely-strong cartoon character here for years. The cartoons tell the story of an incredibly mischievous little girl and her friend, the Bear.
19 March 2012
Marc Bennetts
RIA-Novosti
Voices from Russia 
The White Man’s Burden… the West Truly Believes that it Doesn’t Have Double Standards
Tags: moral stance, morals, political commentary, politics, Rudyard Kipling, Russia, Russian, Russian culture, Russian history, Soviet Union, Ukraine, United States, USA, USSR, West, Western Europe
The White (?) Man’s Burden
Life
16 March 1899
As the above cartoon illustrates, the smarmy and condescending Western hypocrisy and arrogance we see today isn’t of recent provenance. They truly think themselves superior to us… and that they have the right to shit on us if we disobey their superior orders. After all, they only have our good at heart, and we’re too stupid to realise it.
Oppose the ravening Western monster at all costs… their evil is contrary to everything good and decent held by both God and man…
______________________________
Take up the White Man’s burden, Send forth the best ye breed
Go bind your sons to exile, to serve your captives’ need;
To wait in heavy harness, On fluttered folk and wild–
Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man’s burden, In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain
To seek another’s profit, And work another’s gain.
Take up the White Man’s burden, The savage wars of peace–
Fill full the mouth of Famine And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly Bring all your hopes to nought.
The White Man’s Burden
Rudyard Kipling
1899
******
Editor:
The below is from a Russian Evangelical Lutheran author. Note the similarities to Russian Orthodox thought… the standards and ethos of Holy Rus influences everyone on its territory… Christian… non-Christian… secularist.
BMD
******
When I read these lines from Rudyard Kipling, I recalled an American film of the 90s about the events in the Balkans, where a terrified mother held out her children, handing them to the brave focused, hard-faced Marines coming out of the plane with the plea, “For the sake of our Lord, milk, our children are dying”. They say that history isn’t in the subjunctive, but imagine that Viktor Yanukovich took courage and gave the order to disperse to disperse the mob on the Maidan. I’m not saying that would be right, but I’m sure that the West wouldn’t have considered it a legitimate action, they would’ve immediately condemned it, and imposed economic and political sanctions against the Ukraine, indeed, much more severe ones than it now lays against Russia. Most likely, the Western Ukraine, without a referendum, would’ve seceded from the Ukraine. I don’t know if they’d declare themselves an independent state or ask someone else to take them in. However, have no doubt, all the West, in unison, would recognise this “free choice of the people”, and wouldn’t even bring up international law. The people’s choice is sacred. The most interesting thing is that they’re not dissembling, they really do think that way.
Today, we often accuse the West of double standards, but in fact, for them, they’re not double standards. Western Europe has been very tolerant in recognising universal human values. The main thing is not to violate human rights, and we, of course, are savages; we’ve always been such for them, and that’s what we’ll always be. Over the past 20 years I’ve been many times in Western Europe, I even lived there a little, and I have friends there with whom I have good relations. However, they like to tell me about Christmas, about the tree, and every time I have to listen, and, by definition, I have to look amazed at it all. They’re sure that all nations and peoples will come to share their dreams, for them, it’s axiomatic, it doesn’t require proof, and whoever says the opposite is lying. The fact that the Crimea voted to rejoin Russia seems impossible for them, so, they dangled the hope to join the EU before them, and they… this could not be! It had to be that someone intimidated them, forced them to do this; a disguised Russian sat under every bush and forced them to vote for Russia. They can’t even imagine how someone could dare to be different, how someone could not wish to be like them.
The Western/European world, despite all its flashy humanism, is a very cruel world; it destroyed and destroys all alternative civilisations, it requires all other countries to conform to their moral standards. For Russia, it’s always been a dilemma, shall we be like Western Europe or be its colony? How do we keep a balance between native originality and pragmatism? Pyotr Veliki chose pragmatism; he realised that a better place in the world needed better guns and good ships. Well, Europe didn’t let any other distinctive civilisation develop… it captured all of them, such as the great civilisations of India and China. What became of the indigenous civilisation of South America? Generally, the European razed them to the ground, and they did the same in Africa. One can only answer force with force. Without European science, technology, and industry one just can’t do it. You answer bullets with bullets, shells with shells, and rockets with rockets. Only in the last 50 years did they gain some humanity, and that was largely due to the USSR. That’s the whole question of how to preserve one’s identity and not lose independence. Although the USSR succeeded in it, it threw it away when it decided to take on the “standards” of European civilisation.
Therefore, they’re very surprised when we accuse them of double standards. Why, their standards are the only ones, and all others must meet these standards, even if they don’t want to. This, then, is the “white man’s burden”, and they’re willing to bear it, despite our resistance. Moreover, they really do wish us well, but they treat us like little kids (this is the most benevolent interpretation of their attitude), whom they have the right to teach… and if we disobey them, they have the right to punish us for our own good.
Editor:
By the way, the term “Evangelical” only applies to Lutherans… it doesn’t apply to American Radical Sectarians. The Southern Baptist Convention, Pentecostalists, JWs, Mormons, “megachurches”, and other such posturing flotsam (the whole “happy-clappy” “Born Again” crowd) aren’t part of historic Christianity at all. You can see this if you go to a Lutheran service and then attend a Fundie meeting (I wouldn’t dignify them with the term service). Who looks closer to Catholics and Orthodox? Why, the Lutherans do! That’s because they’re Christian and “Evangelicals” aren’t (remember what Our Lord said, Not all who say, “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Keep a sane head about you… Christians do certain things… and “Evangelicals” spit on most of them.
Let’s keep it simple… Russia adopted Christianity in 988… American Radical Sectarianism only dates from the early 19th century. That means that Russia had a millennium of Christianity before the so-called “American Evangelicals” even started. One can see who’s mature and who’s juvenile (and who has the “right” to teach whom!)! America (and the EU) has NOTHING to teach us… NOTHING. We have our own standards, and you may keep yours in your own house, thank you very much. We’ll live in peace with you, but we won’t take on your ways, no way, no how.
That’s the only recipe for sure peace…
BMD
2 April 2014
Vladimir Pudov
Luther.ru
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession in Russia Official Website
http://www.luther.ru/society/creativity/2235-2014-04-02-14-19-36.html