BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE Article On the Links between Caricatures and Animated Films in Communist

ÜLO PIKKOV, Estonian Academy of Arts; email: [email protected]

28 DOI: 10.1515/bsmr-2017-0010 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE ABSTRACT This article analyses and maps the links between cari- cature and animated film, as well as their development during the post-World War II era, in communist Eastern Europe. The article also deals with the specific nature of production under the conditions of political censorship and the utilisation of Aesopian language as an Eastern European phenomenon for outmanoeuvring censorship.

Animated film has long been closely con- the post-World War II era, with the primary nected with caricatures; the pioneers of focus being on Eastern Europe, which is Western animation, such as Émile Cohl, defined here as a geographical area and James Stuart Blackton, Winsor McCay, John more importantly as a political space domi- Randolph Bray, Paul Terry, Max Fleischer nated by the after World War II. and many others, were known as carica- The area was generally called the com- turists before they turned to animation. munist sphere or . However, in In addition, several animated characters order to understand the specific circum- were born and won initial popularity on the stances related to the intertwined fields of humour pages of newspapers, and travelled caricature and animation in Eastern Europe on to the world of cinema with their authors. during the second half of the 20th century, In Animated Cartoons: How They Are an overview of prior key developments in Made, Their Origin and Development (1926) both the Western and Eastern hemispheres Edwin Georg Lutz observes that many needs to be provided first. trailblazers of animation launched their career as ‘comic graphic artists’ (Lutz 1926: THE NATURE OF CARICATURE 8–10). A number of other authors have also In the context of this article, I understand emphasised the importance of caricatures caricature to be a simplified graphic image in the development of animated film (e.g. that amplifies, for the purposes of comic Pikkov 2010: 31, Solomon 1987: 13, Wells or grotesque effect, certain distinctive 1998: 188). Yet, besides acknowledging the features of what is being represented. significance of these impulses, no exhaus- The essence of caricature lies in parody, i.e. tive studies have been written on the links drawing attention to human weaknesses between caricatures and animated film and or shortcomings of social and political life. this field remains largely unresearched. To The concept originates from the Italian word some extent, Donald Crafton has examined caricare, meaning ‘to charge’, ‘to load’, ‘to these issues in Before Mickey: The Animated exaggerate’. Film, 1908–1928 (1984) and Emile Cohl, The history of caricature runs in paral- Caricature, and Film (1990), but the scope of lel to art history; simplified and grotesque these books is limited to the pre-World graphic images can be traced back to the War II period. medieval period. Still, in the modern sense This article aims to map the connec- of the word, caricature took root in Germany tions between caricatures and animated of the Reformation Age, spreading, along film, as well as their development during with satirical literature, to the neighbouring

29 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE countries in the first half of the 16th cen- Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben tury. The proliferation of the caricature form, Sharpsteen, USA, 1937; Pinocchio, directed especially in terms of political and personal by Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, Bill caricatures, was facilitated by the develop- Roberts, Norman Ferguson, Jack Kinney, ment of graphic art and the invention of the Wilfred Jackson, T. Hee, USA, 1940; Bambi, printing press in the late Middle Ages, while directed by David Hand, James Algar, earlier the satirical songs of minstrels had Samuel Armstrong, Graham Heid, Bill Rob- performed the same function (Wright 1875: erts, Paul Satterfield, Norman Wright, USA, 347). When considering the ‘caricaturesque’ 1942). In a similar manner, early live- in a broader sense, I mean the depiction of filmmaking was heavily influenced by the something in a highly exaggerated or sim- circus and vaudeville and only later became plified manner, a grotesque abstraction. an art form for telling stories. From early on, the production of ani- CARICATURES START TO mated films in the developed MOVE AND TURN INTO FILMS as a collective, studio-based undertaking, The similarity between early animation rather than the enterprise of individu- and caricatures stems partly from techni- als. In America, the popularity of the first cal aspects, i.e. from the fact that drawing animated films and the rapidly growing (reproducing) a character had to be easy network of cinemas facilitated a constant and the figure itself sufficiently clear and demand for new animated films, which in highly contrasted, in order to stand out even turn created favourable conditions for set- if the film or printed page was of low qual- ting up the animation industry. ity. Other similarities include accentuating In contrast to the United States, where satiric aspects and simplification in the cre- major animation film studios flourished ation of memorable characters. Indeed, the before World War II, European animation earliest drawn films (and specifically those, relied on individual authors with diverse since animated film also employs many personal styles. Among them were film- other techniques) are characterised by a makers inspired mainly by caricatures strong emphasis on the caricaturesque. For (Émile Cohl, Robert Lortac, Cavé), directors instance, Walt Disney taught his striving to tell epic stories (Lotte Reiniger, that ‘the first duty of the cartoon is not to Ladislas Starevich, Berthold Bartosch), as picture or duplicate real action or things as well as artists experimenting with animated they actually happen – but to give a carica- images (Walter Ruttmann, Hans Richter, ture of life and action’ (Barrier 1999: 142). Viking Eggeling, Oskar Fischinger). The first films of Disney Studios were World War II halted the development of strikingly caricaturesque and consisted European cinema in its tracks, many film- mostly of sequences of moving caricatures. makers emigrated and the continuity of Disney’s early concept prescribed the crea- film production was disrupted. In addition tion of moving caricatures. In due course, to filmmakers, a large number of European as the field of animation developed and its artists also went to the United States, technical arsenal expanded, the produc- bringing with them the ‘spirit of modern- tion of Disney Studios, as well as other ism’. The strong American film industry was major studios, became more epical and the enriched by the creative investigations and initial cartoonish quality gradually disap- experimentations of various modernist art peared. In addition to the introduction of schools, exemplified by Disney’s collabo- more advanced techniques, the films also ration with Salvador Dalí or the American changed in terms of their content. Romantic works of Oskar Fischinger. With the influx screen adaptations of fairy tales became of European talent, ‘US took the lead role the norm for feature-length animated films in avant-garde film, as it did with painting (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, directed when New York replaced as the cul- by David Hand, William Cottrell, Wilfred tural capital of modernism’ (Rees 1999: 57).

30 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE During World War II, the United States portraying the confrontation between work- became the world’s leading film producing ers and peasants and a wealthy capital- country and the pioneer of technical inven- ist. Cinema, including animated film, was tions in the field of audiovisual culture. In mainly seen in Soviet as a propagan- the narratives of the world history of anima- distic tool. The best known Soviet animated tion, Western Europe is typically seen as film directors of the period are Vladimir ‘a fertile area for experimental and avant- Suteyev, sisters Valentina and Zinaida garde animation’ that, in particular, led the Broomberg, Ivan Ivanov-Vano, Olga Khoda- way in the early days of cinema, soon los- taeva and Nikolai Khodataev. ing its predominant position to the United For a while, Soviet Russian animation States, while Eastern European state- artists were relatively free to experiment, funded animation industry is recognised for just as the entire post-revolutionary society providing financial security and criticised was open to various forms of innovation. for curtailing creative freedom (Cavalier New forms of expression and approaches 2011: 13). were explored in cinema, literature and the- atre, as well as in visual art. Yet these artis- DEVELOPMENTS IN ANIMATED tic liberties did not last for long: ‘Initially FILM IN THE EASTERN BLOC avant-garde and satirical, Soviet animation Compared to the rest of the world, the changed in the middle of the 1930s with the development of animated film in Eastern establishment of socialist realism ... Control Europe took a different route. was tightened, and Stalin-era animation concentrated mostly on didactic animation Between 1945 and 1989 … the for children’ (Klots n.d.: 5). development of these countries Soviet animation and caricatures have was levelled to a significant often been regarded as a means of embel- extent and dictated by Soviet pol- lishing the state of affairs and concealing icies in the spheres of economics its true nature. This tendency of airbrushing, and culture. [---] Whatever hap- typical of Soviet visual culture in general, pened in the Soviet Union directly can be traced back to the satirical ‘Rosta influenced the cultural climate in (Российское телеграфное агентство or Rus- the countries of the Eastern Bloc, sian Telegraph Agency) windows’ – propa- and often events in the USSR ganda posters accompanied by texts in were replicated in the Eastern verse. At the same time, Soviet animation Bloc (such as the ‘Thaw’ that fol- is also characterised by the combination lowed the demystification of the of folkloristic elements with new, proletar- cult of Stalin’s personality in the ian imagery. Frequently, traditional folklore late 1950s or the stagnation of characters were represented in the current the Brezhnev period). (Iordanova Soviet setting, as in Valentina and Zinaida 2003: 20–21) Broomberg’s Ivashko and Baba-Yaga (Ивашко и Баба-Яга, Russia, 1938). This ten- After the of 1917, Soviet dency proved to be an enduring one, lasting Russian animated film was highly receptive for decades to come as testified, for exam- to creative experiments. For instance, Dziga ple, by Gennady Sokolsky’s 1981 Ivashko Vertov’s (1896–1954) avant-garde enter- from Pioneers’ Palace (Ивашка из Дворца prises, Kino-Glaz (Кино глаз or Cine-Eye) and пионеров, Russia). Kino-Pravda (Кино-Правда or Cine-Truth), With rare exceptions, Soviet animated employed several animators. The first films in the immediate post-war years Soviet animated film, Soviet Toys (Советские were didactic in nature and propagandis- игрушки, Russia, 1924), was made under tic in their message. Soviet animation was Vertov’s direction. This caricaturesque directly influenced by the officially estab- drawn animation depicted class struggle, lished tenets of socialist realism, and the

31 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE employment of caricaturesque imagery was another characteristic example of how the one of the few methods for circumnavigat- diminished political constraints and aes- ing those principles to a certain extent. The thetic diversification influenced Soviet ani- animated films produced in Eastern Europe mation. Featuring hybrids of humans and during the first decade and a half of the animals, as well as metaphorically loaded, post-war period emulated the Soviet pro- elongated perspectives, Glass Harmonica’s duction of the 1930s – ‘mainly created for distinctly surrealist content and form was children, oriented towards moral and civic heavily influenced by the surrealist per- teaching, and resistant to stylistic changes’ spective of one of its authors, Ülo Sooster, (Bendazzi 1994: 151). an Estonian surrealist artist who was work- Khrushchev’s Thaw, which commenced ing in . At the time of its release the after Stalin’s death in 1953, relaxed the pictorial language of the film came across political pressure to some extent, and this as highly innovative and modern – some- also changed Eastern European animation, thing that would have been quite impos- which became more varied in terms of sub- sible to achieve either before the liberating ject matter and scope of technical devices. breeze of Khrushchev’s Thaw or during the Although the communist society in general days of stagnation that followed the Prague remained insular, Khrushchev’s Thaw diver- Spring of 1968. Even though its production sified the means of expression available to began during the period of increased crea- communist cultural life, including anima- tive freedom, Glass Harmonica was still an tion. As Anatoliy Klots has observed, the extremely problematic film – it was well- ‘naturalistic cartoons that often employed known due to word of mouth, but had only ’ were gradually replaced with limited distribution as Leonid Brezhnev’s new methods, frequently inspired by the cultural policies ‘tightened the screws’ on avant-garde aesthetics of the 1920s, ‘caus- the art community. In addition, its produc- ing a more cartoonish, abstract, and even tion process was complicated by delays and surrealist appearance’ (Klots n.d.: 5). demands for re-editing.1 The Story of a Crime (История одного Giannalberto Bendazzi notes that преступления, Russia, 1962) by Fyodor the Iron Curtain dividing Western and Khitruk can be considered the first (and for Eastern Europe was much more visible in quite a few years the only) post-World War II animated film than in live-action cinema Soviet animated film that violated the strict or any other art form (Bendazzi 1994: 151). codes of socialist realism. Khitruk, who The Western European animation industry later became one of the most famous Soviet concentrated primarily on the production animation artists, launched his career dur- of feature-length films for children (that ing Khrushchev’s Thaw. Seeing animation as were frequently rather mediocre copies ‘a synthesis of caricature and poetry’ (Wells of Disney) and, as in the United States, 2012: 506), he intentionally, and consist- animated shorts remained the privilege or ently, employed a caricaturesque approach obsession of only a few authors. In West- to evade the limits of socialist realism. For ern Europe, the spread of television in the him, as well as for many other Soviet and 1950s created a certain demand for ani- Eastern European animation artists, the mated commercials, but even this did not caricature-like, comedic form of expres- lead to the establishment of a tradition or sion functioned like a ‘permissive filter’ that industrial infrastructure comparable to foregrounds the ‘joke’, presenting works of that of live-action cinema. By contrast, the these kind as ‘something that should not be Eastern European animation industry was taken overly seriously’ and concealing their subsidised by the state, which resulted status as acts of ‘orthodox authored art- in a solid production infrastructure and making’ (Wells 2012: 504–505). Andrei Khrzhanovsky’s Glass Harmon- 1 Author’s interview with Andrei Khrzanovsky, ica (Стеклянная гармоника, Russia, 1968) is 17 April 2015.

32 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE created a stable environment for produc- Limits were constantly challenged in the tion. Short forms dominated the field, but communist art system, and in this strug- feature-length were also made. gle, the script editor played a crucial part Animated films were just as widely distrib- as the mediator between the author and uted as live-action cinema on both large the authorities. Thus, the degree of film and small screens. Studios employed a directors’ creative freedom depended to a large number of people who were interested great extent on the script editors who were in a smooth production process and keep- responsible for overseeing their projects. ing subversion within acceptable limits. On And the filmmakers, operating under the the one hand, state funding ensured the constraints of censorship and the script stability of animated film production and editors, developed a distinctive language of established proper industrial conditions, expression, but on the other, it created the need to com- promise with the authorities. The position of where allegory became a certain script editor was established at the studios form of ‘straightforwardness’ to fulfil this task. The editors’ responsibili- and its decoding by the public ties included both artistic guidance and became the dominant means of control over political correctness; ‘thorough comprehension. Thus, a situa- editorial corrections … also partially func- tion emerged where an animated tioned as ideological cleansing methods’ film, for example, was not just a (Klimova 2013: 59–60). film, but also something else – a The censorship of the artistic domain cultural sign that was quite dan- has a long history in the Eastern Bloc, and it gerous and meaningful for the can be traced back to the pre-revolutionary existing power discourse. (Trossek . Although the 1917 revolu- 2006: 102) tion obliterated the imperial apparatus of censorship, in 1922 Soviet authorities set AESOPIAN LANGUAGE up a new body for censorship and protec- Artworks created in Soviet Union and East- tion of state secrets. Called Glavlit (Главное ern Europe were often filled with subtexts, управление по охране государственных тайн and the audience actively engaged in both в печати) it operated, together with its creating these subtexts and looking for sub-institutions, until the collapse of the what had been written ‘between the lines’. Soviet Union. Instead of communicating their ideas Jaan Ruus, a legendary Estonian film directly, the Soviet and Eastern European critic who also had a long career as a script authors were often forced to employ alle- editor, has described this role in Soviet gory and ambiguous references, or Aesop- as follows, ian language. Aesop (Aisōpos, c. 620–564 BCE) was a slave and storyteller in ancient In bureaucratic jargon, the edi- Greece whose fables often relied on alle- tor’s mission was to be the poli- gory. His simple tales, usually featuring truk (политрук, ‘political instruc- animals as characters, were highly critical tor’) and to ensure that the artist of the authorities. Based thereon, ‘critical would work ‘for the cause’ and commentar[ies] on the political regime in move in the right direction with- veiled form’ are termed ‘Aesopian language’ out aberrations. Yet, in Soviet (Goldstein 2000: 24, cited in Klimova 2013: Estonia’s cinematic system, the 25). Double-coded artworks created under editor paradoxically took the communist conditions are good examples of opposing role, by becoming lit- Aesopian language. erally the director’s advocate. The difference between allegory and (Trossek 2008: 40) Aesopian language lies in ‘the presence of a censoring organ, which affects the authors’

33 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE writing practices and the readers’ interpret- Eastern Europe due to state funding, and ing choices’ (Klimova 2013: 13). Lev Loseff they provided much-needed extra income adds that Aesopian language requires three for a considerable number of animation agents: an author, a reader and a censor. filmmakers. The ideas of the authors also Decoding Aesopian language is not only the moved between these two fields. Some- job of a reader; it also involves an author times the links between caricatures and and a censor. According to Loseff, the animated films were quite direct, and an expression ‘Aesopian language’ was devel- idea tested in caricature form would be oped by the writer Mikhail Saltykov-Shche- elaborated in animation. For instance, Avo drin in the 1860s, and has since been used Paistik, a prominent Estonian animation by critics and the intelligentsia. Originally artist, has recalled how a caricature of a a characteristic of Russian literature, the man being manipulated by machinery that term has gradually spread to other media, he saw in a cultural weekly provided the such as visual art, music and film (Loseff inspiration for the protagonist in his film 1984: 3–5). Sunday (Pühapäev, Estonia, 1977; see Kiik It is important to underscore that not 2006: 106). all authors intentionally created political In comparison to the rest of the world, subtexts, but as art was widely censored by post-war Eastern European animation the state, one can assume that all authors undoubtedly had more intimate connec- who were aware of this censorship also tions with caricature, and this was due, at carefully considered any political least partially, to the popularity of humour references in their works, and used Aesop- magazines and their state funding. ian language at least unconsciously. Along In 1956, the caricaturists of the these lines David Vseviov et al. argue that Yugoslavian humour magazine Kerempuh formed an at the Zagreb by the early 1930, in addition to Film studio (established in 1953). The cari- pervasive official censorship, caturesque style of animations produced Soviet artists had unconsciously at Zagreb Film started to serve as a much- adopted an even more effec- admired and often-emulated model for tive control mechanism – self- all of Eastern Europe. Technically rather censorship. This means that the simple, these caricaturesque, intellectual creative work of artists-caricatur- animated films became the main produc- ists, just like that of other publicly tion article of Zagreb Film and the critics acknowledged authors, followed started to refer to their authors collectively a principle that has been termed as the Zagreb School. Today, this term is ‘the three U principle’ – угадать used to define all Eastern European carica- (‘to guess’), угодить (‘to please’), turesque animated films with strong ‘politi- уцелеть (‘to survive’). (Vseviov et cal overtones and social-critical implica- al. 2013: 51) tions’ (Orosz 2017). In 1962, Dušan Vukotić’s Erzatz (Surogat, Yugoslavia, 1961), produced COMMUNIST CARICATURE AND at Zagreb Film, became the first non-US ANIMATION AS VISUALISED animated film to win an Oscar. AESOPIAN DIALECTICS The examples of Eastern European Many humour magazines were published caricaturesque animated films produced in post-war Eastern Europe – Szpilki in outside Zagreb Film, but which are still Poland, Eulenspiegel in , considered to ideologically belong to Zagreb Dikobraz in , Ludas Matyi in School, include…And Plays Tricks (...ja teeb Hungary, Jež and Kerempuh in Yugoslavia, trikke, Estonia, 1978) by Priit Pärn and Bar- Krokodil in Russia, Pikker in Estonia, etc. takiada (Czechoslovakia, 1985) by Oldřich Compared to Western Europe, the num- Haberle. ber of humour magazines was greater in

34 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE Tango (Poland, 1980) by Zbigniew newspapers and magazines (Sirp ja Vasar, Rybczyński, one of the most eminent prod- Edasi, Noorte Hääl, Noorus). Caricaturists ucts of Eastern European auteur animation, also participated in various specialised can also be regarded as a caricaturesque competitions. Yet an ideologically incor- work in the spirit of Zagreb Film. Although rect concept could create serious problems more complex in style than most examples for both its author and the periodical that of caricaturesque animation, Rybczyński’s published the caricature. For instance, film is strongly rooted in the tradition of in 1979, Heiki Ernits, a young animation so-called ‘communal’ humour, i.e. satire tar- director who had studied in Moscow at the geted at contemporary living arrangements, Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Direc- primarily in an urban setting. Parodies of tors, was expelled and received a ‘publica- this kind were common in both printed tion ban’ because his caricature in Pikker media and animated films, due partly to the was deemed inappropriate. The caricature fact that they provided ample opportunities resembled a famous photo of Lenin’s family for drawing attention to the shortcomings (Figures 2A and 2B). Another telling exam- of socialist society and criticising socialist ple is Priit Pärn’s caricature Sitta kah! (liter- life without the immediate fear of censor- ally Just Shit!, but roughly Whatever! or ship. Tango features a cramped apartment I Don’t Give a Shit!), published in the cul- in a typical ‘Soviet Bloc block’, a prefab resi- tural weekly newspaper Sirp ja Vasar in dential building. In the film, 36 characters 1987. The picture depicted a man in a pad- representing the full spectrum of social ded jacket (that could be read as a symbol stereotypes of the time move around in of Soviet mentality) standing on a broken a single small room without ever acknowl- horse-drawn wagon and throwing a piece edging each other’s existence (Figure 1). of manure in the shape of the map of Esto- In its absurdly realist mode, Tango provides nia (Figure 3) out of the wagon. It caused a claustrophobic, yet hilariously caricatur- a political scandal and the case was dis- esque, representation of everyday socialist cussed by the Central Committee of the life and its environment. of Estonia and resulted in The caricaturesque style of the Zagreb the dismissal of the newspaper’s editor-in- School was also a major source of inspira- chief. tion for Rein Raamat, an eminent Estonian animation artist. Although Raamat did not THE PECULIARITIES OF draw caricatures himself, his The Water EASTERN EUROPEAN HUMOUR Bearer (Veekandja, Estonia, 1972), the Compared to the contemporary democratic first Estonian post-war drawn animation, world, caricatures and humour in commu- relies heavily on ‘Zagrebian’ caricaturesque nist Eastern Europe generally had a rather absurdity and humour. Furthermore, the different content and meaning. Soviet jokes film’s visual style, created by Rein Raidme, were special is obviously influenced by Dušan Vukotić’s imagery. The Water Bearer was produced at because of the extremely repres- the Joonisfilm Studio at Tallinnfilm, which sive and intrusive nature of the was established by Raamat in 1971. The political and social system and film became a yardstick for a number of in particular the absence of free- subsequent Estonian animations, as well as dom of speech. The jokes were far for the directors-artists who joined the stu- more important to the people who dio. Many of them had previous experience told them than are the jokes told as caricaturists and continued this line of in democratic societies, where work while also making films. jokes are merely a laughing mat- In Soviet Estonia, the main platform for ter, sheer entertainment. (Davies publishing caricatures was Pikker maga- 2011: 217) zine, as well as the humour pages of several

35 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE This so-called ‘official humour’ also existed intended message. For instance, until the in the Soviet system and it was often collapse of the Soviet Union, capitalists (i.e. referred to as satire, but here I am speak- the bourgeoisie) were generally depicted ing about unofficial or ‘folkloric’ humour, i.e. wearing a top hat or bowler and smoking ‘many hundreds, quite possibly thousands, a cigar. Aside from the obviously distorted of political jokes told by the citizens of the political joke, this image also carried the former Soviet Union and satrapies of its message that Soviet caricaturists lived in empire’ that made fun of the social and such isolated conditions that they didn’t political system, as well as of its authorities, even know that no one in the ‘free world’ and which, according to several commenta- wore early 20th-century clothes any more. tors, ‘constitute one of the largest bodies of Official Soviet caricature gradually turned jokes ever invented’ (Davies 2011: 213–214; into a parody of its own visual clichés. see also Krikmann 2002: 840). Another peculiarity of Eastern Euro- Typically, communist caricatures infre- pean humour is the immense popularity of quently used words or speech bubbles. This political anecdotes, which spread by the is because a word tends to have a more word-of-mouth. This genre was practically specific meaning than an image and the non-existent in the capitalist world, or at use of the wrong word could not be as eas- least far less popular (Davies 2011: 300). ily excused as ‘artistic play’ with forms and The vast popularity of political anecdotes shapes. In the case of a visual image with- eloquently illustrates a situation where out any verbal addition, the author could jokes targeted at the authorities provided rely on the ‘safety net’ of ambiguity and a certain counterweight to the lack of free- thus minimise the risk of political liability. dom of speech. Thus, conversations in the Eastern European caricaturists often used Eastern Bloc often started with the ques- absurdity, self-irony and certain surrealist tion, ‘Have you heard the latest joke?’ And subject matter, which made it difficult to this usually meant a political or in some assign a clear message to a picture. Many way socially critical anecdote. caricaturists, as well as other artists, inten- In the Soviet sphere of influence, a uni- tionally created works that could be inter- fied field of folkloristic humour, or rather a preted in various ways. It was the editors, system of underground humour, was estab- not authors, who usually added a general lished that expressed a certain repressed caption or an explanatory text to the cari- collective identity. It formed in opposition to catures. At the same time, the communist the totalitarian propaganda and highlighted print media employed numerous politically the shortcomings and absurdities of the trustworthy caricaturists who produced surrounding social reality. Taboo topics and ‘correct’ caricatures, which were either threat of repressions only fuelled the popu- commissioned, or at least approved, by the larity of underground humour. political elite. For example, Boris Yefimov, Christie Davies suggests that the great one of the most prolific Soviet caricatur- popularity of jokes targeted at the authori- ists, recalled in his memoir that there were ties had a direct connection to the collapse occasions in his career, when commissions of the Soviet Union or, at the very least, came directly from Stalin who not only pre- these anecdotes undermined people’s loy- scribed a particular subject matter but also alty to the communist system (Davies 2010: interfered personally in the creative process 10). The massive spread of anecdotes has by correcting the captions and sometimes also been regarded as a form of resistance even the drawing (Vseviov et al. 2013: 51). (Obrdlik 1942: 712, Pi-Sunyer 1977: 182) or Typically, the editorial board of a par- as a kind of consolation (Cochran 1989: 272, ticular publication determined the sub- Hong 2010: 61). ject matter for the caricatures, and it also Eastern European literature has left provided general guidelines, sometimes an extensive legacy of humour classics, but going to extremes in terms of reversing the Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk

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FIGURE 1. Zbigniew Rybczyński, Tango (Poland, 1980). FIGURE 2A. A caricature by Heiki Ernits, published in Pikker in 1979, based on a famous photo of Lenin’s family. FIGURE 2B. The Ulyanov family. Author unknown. FIGURE 3. Priit Pärn, Sitta kah! (I Don’t Give a Shit!, 1987).

37 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE (Osudy dobrého vojaka Švejka za svétové The anarchy of the authorities was com- valky, 1923) deserves a special attention. pensated by jokes on them. In the commu- A number of scholars (e.g. Ajanović n.d., nist period, humour also became a certain Tőke 2008) consider this novel, and par- social code – an anecdote was enough ticularly its protagonist Švejk, the epitome to determine the interlocutor’s political of Eastern European humour. Just like attitudes and codes of behaviour. Humour several other folklore heroes (such as the turned into a certain cryptic text, or, as Czech Hloupy Honza [Dull Honza], Hungar- Priit Pärn observes in the filmPärnogra - ian Ludas Matyi [Mattie the Goose-boy] phy (Mees animatsioonist, Estonia, 2005), or Estonian Kaval Ants [Crafty Hans]) of ‘Laughter comforts the downcast.’ the region, Švejk’s cunning dexterity per- Surrounded by a society charged with mits him to succeed in any situation. The political jokes, artists reflected folkloric ‘ingenuously idiotic’ behaviour of Švejk, humour in their works, either intentionally who stands for the lower class in general, or unintentionally. In contrast to political provides the key to understand the pro- anecdotes that had no chance of ever being tagonists of Eastern European caricatures published in print, animation filmmakers and animated films. The typical Eastern succeeded in expressing critical stances European ‘hero’ is a rather passive charac- towards the dominant system and its ter with an ironic outlook, and instead of agents by means of artistic abstraction and initiating events, he just gets mixed up in Aesopian language. them against his will – ‘[u]nder occupation, In Soviet Estonia, one of the most during wars or revolutions, his only shel- widespread anecdotal formulas featured ter and shield is a special kind of humor, an Estonian, a German and a Russian as its full of pessimism, absurd and surrealism’ protagonists. These tales of ‘three nations’ (Ajanović n.d.). typically highlighted the resourcefulness of In the words of Paul Wells, ‘Eastern the subaltern Estonian, in contrast to the European humour like this may be viewed stupidity or misfortune of the representa- as black irony – the surreality is a philo- tives of the other two nations – the principal sophic and political statement as well as historic ‘masters’ of Estonian territory. Pais- the vehicle for humour’ (Wells 1998: 161). tik’s Three Jolly Fellows (Naksitrallid I–II, Furthermore, Midhat Ajanović argues that Estonia, 1984–1987) provides an eloquent surrealist irony and ironic black humour are example of how this originally anecdotal inscribed into the history of Eastern Europe. formula was reflected in animated film. This preference for dark humour can be In Three Jolly Fellows, the titular fellows traced back to the days of the Habsburg collectively represent the Estonians who Monarchy and Austro-Hungarian Empire, successfully triumph over the cats and which included many different small rats that take turns in attacking an idyllic nations. The latter were practically cut off provincial town (Figures 4–6). When mak- from the highest ranks of the authorities, ing the films, Paistik and Eno Raud, the which led to anecdotes and ironic black author of the book that served as the liter- humour targeted at them. In fact, Luigi ary source for the films, envisioned the rats Lombardi-Satriani even suggests that folk- as symbolising Russians and the cats as lore as a whole is a ‘culture of contestation’, standing for Germans (Tõnson 2013). Argu- which defined itself in opposition to the ably, the domestic audiences easily under- official culture of upper classes (Lombardi- stood these allusions to foreign aggressors. Satriani 1974, cited in Krikmann 2002: 840). The creative interaction between Similarly, in post-war Eastern Europe anecdotes and animated films also worked that was to a great extent under the domi- the other way around, with animation char- nance of the Soviet Union, the relationship acters sometimes crossing over into popu- of the common people with the central lar humour. It was precisely the immense authorities was distant and one-sided. popularity of their life in animation that

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FIGURE 4–6. Avo Paistik, Three Jolly Fellows (Naksitrallid II, Estonia, 1987).

39 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2017 / VOLUME 5 / ARTICLE gave enormous and lasting currency to such Although the political system has anecdotal figures as the Hedgehog in Fog changed, Eastern European animation (from Yuri Norshtein’s legendary animation continues to feature remarkably strong Hedgehog in Fog [Ёжик в тумане, Russia, caricaturesque elements, even if the popu- 1975]), and Gena the Crocodile and Che- larity of caricatures has waned and most burashka (from Roman Kachanov’s beloved of the humour magazines that published stop-motion short Gena the Crocodile them have fallen to the margins of the new [Крокодил Гена, Russia, 1969]). mediascape. Aesopian language has also retained SUMMARY AND THE some of its importance in Eastern European CONTEMPORARY SITUATION animation. Time and again, Švejk-like char- To a large extent, animated film is rooted acters reappear, and their misfortunes, as in caricatures and comic strips because well as the conflict between their human many pioneers of animation were working expectations and the random ways of the as caricaturists. Animated film in the United world, still provide inspiration for numerous States gradually abandoned this initial directors. In Cinema of the Other Europe, connection in favour of epic feature-length Dina Iordanova emphasises that, despite animations. Meanwhile, in European anima- the regime changes, Eastern and Central tion the short format, which is also char- European animation continues the tradition acteristic of caricaturesque humour, took of lyricism, surrealism, magical realism and root. Compared to feature films, shorts are avant-garde (Iordanova 2003: 150). cheaper and easier to produce, hence pro- At the same time, Eastern and West- viding more opportunities for taking artistic ern European animated films have become as well as economic risks. Concentrating on more similar because European cultural short films, European animation developed sphere is increasingly integrated – film into a diverse art form. Following Disney’s production and funding observe the same achievements, American mainstream ani- principles throughout the European Union, mation continues to tell epic stories and the films circulate in the same channels of flaunt its technical novelties, aiming to feat distribution and are screened at the same its competitors with technical excellence. festivals. Furthermore, since 1989, with the Since film production depends heavily fall of the Wall and the end of the on a distribution system that favours the Cold War, ‘[t]here was a massive emigration feature-length form, mainstream cinema of animation professionals [from Eastern focuses on making feature-length films. European countries], many of whom are The post-war division of Europe into now employed by companies across West- the communist East and the capitalist West ern Europe, Canada and the US’ (Iordanova also had an impact on animated film of 2003: 32). those regions. In Eastern Europe, animated Over the last decades, a number of film was funded by the state, but also strict- European and American art schools have ly censored, both in terms of content and introduced curricula for animation, which form. In a search for creative alternatives, have turned out a considerable number of Eastern European animations often relied auteurist animation filmmakers. In addition on double-coded Aesopian language. Doubt- to traditional channels and sources, mod- lessly, the great number of humour maga- ern digital solutions have opened up new zines, as well as the many animation film- opportunities for film distribution, as well makers that contributed to them, also fa- as for funding. In turn, digital channels have cilitated the prominence of caricaturesque created greater demand for animated films, animations. In addition, the enormous popu- especially shorts, which include many cari- larity of anecdotes and other ‘street jokes’ caturesque animations. caused the abundance of caricaturesque animated films in totalitarian society.

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