and His Heroes

by

Jason Dickens

A SENIOR THESIS

for the

UNIVERSITY HONORS COLLEGE

Submitted to the University Honors College at Texas Tech University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree designation of

HIGHEST HONORS

May 2005

Approved by: I

-~-- 4- Joo 5 0 Dr. Q'8-cum l 1 Date Department of Classical and Modem Languages and Literatures s/to/or DR. G~Y M. BELL Date Dean, ~versity Honors College L/^** Acknowledgement s r^^ First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Qualin for his f ^L patience. He provided me with the initial idea for my thesis and a lot of help throughout the entire project. I would like to thank Dr. Collopy, Dr. Fisher and Dr. Sunseri for building my interest in the and culture. Next, I want to thank Kelton Thomas and the University Writing Center for proofreading my rough drafts. I want to thank my family, Claude, Donna, Jim, John, Jessie, Molly, and Jennifer for all of their help. Most importantly, I want to thank my wife Julie and my daughter Whitney for their loving support. They encouraged me to work when I did not want to. Table of Contents

Acknowledgements i

Table of Contents ii

Abstract 1

Leonid Gaidai 2

F iImography 5

Carl Jung's Archetypes 6

Persona 9

Shadow 10

Joseph Campbell's Hero Cycle 12

The Hero's Call to Action 15

Crossing the Threshold 25

Road of Trials 3 0

Crossing the Return Threshold 38

Conclusion ^^

References 43

u Abstract

Leonid Gaidai's films contain Jungian archetypes and patterns of Campbell's '^hero cycle." Stories that contain these elements inspire their audiences to live valiantly. The objective of this paper is to support this claim by examining Gaidai's films, specifically his series in which "Shurik" is the hero, using the theories of Jung and Campbell. First, it briefly introduces the life of

Leonid Gaidai and his filmography. Next, it introduces Carl

Jung's theory on archetypes and the collective unconscious.

This paper then explains the two Jungian archetypes found in Gaidai's Shurik series. The bulk of this paper explains

Joseph Campbell's "hero cycle" and how it applies to

Shurik's adventures. Leonid Gaidai

Leonid Gaidai was bom January 30, 1923 in Svobodny

Russia. He fought in World War II. In 1947, he graduated

from the theater studio at Irkutsk Drama Theater where he acted on stage. In 1955, he graduated from the directing department of the All-Russian State Institute of

Cinematography. Also known as the VGIK, The All-Russian

State Institute of Cinematography was founded in 1919, making it the world's oldest school in cinematography. Upon

graduating, he joined Studio. His first artistic position was assistant director for B. Barnett's comedy,

Lyana. The first comedy, in which he was head director, debuted in 1958 (Kindapping... DVD Bonus Features) .

Nothing had a bigger impact on Leonid Gaidai's writing and directing style than early silent films. ,

the Keystone Kops, and , in particular, shaped Gaidai's tastes in comedy. His widow, Nina

Grebeshkova, said that as a boy Gaidai would watch the early silent films of Charlie Chaplin and decided that this type of comedy was what Soviet audiences needed. She said that Gaidai, "always remained a child, just a big baby. He could watch Chaplin endlessly" (Michaels 62) . Borrowing from the visual comedy of Buster Keaton and

Charlie Chaplin, Gaidai was able to create hilarious

sketches that had modern twists. Slipping on a banana peel

is one of the classic scenes found in almost every

slapstick comedy. Gaidai incorporates this in interesting

ways. Sometimes it is with variations such as a character

tripping over something, but at other times he practically

mimics his predecessors directly, such as in The Diamond

Arm when the hero slips inadvertently in the street in

front of the pharmacy. The same scene repeats itself when

the smuggler slips intentionally in the same spot hoping to

trigger a rendezvous.

Leonid Gaidai incorporates common recurring themes in

Russian culture into his films. One of the recurring themes he utilizes is that of being the center of

communism. Sergei Eisenstein helped to visualize

this idea with his film Jvan Grozny by suggesting that

Stalin is to Soviet what Ivan the Terrible was to

Pre-revolutionary Russia. Gaidai disrupts the customaary solemnity of the Soviet capital as seen in other films by having Ivan the Terrible look out across his empire while a

fat woman yells at him. She thinks he is her no good husband, and Ivan thinks that the woman is a witch

(Prokhorov 471). The romanticism of the Caucasus is a common backdrop

to many adventure tales by Russian authors. Both Pushkin

and Tolstoy made the area legendary for being a land filled

with exotic foods and peoples. Gaidai builds on the

romantic mood, but strays from previous tales of the

Caucasus by making a comedy about the region.

Crime is another common theme found in Russian

literature and in Gaidai's films. The villains in many of

his movies are enemies of the state that form the criminal

elements of society. They can smugglers and bootleggers, as

in . Sometimes they are burglars, as in

Operation "Y", or kidnappers, as in Kidnapping Caucasian

Style. Gaidai's criminals infiltrate a peaceful and law-

abiding Russia in order to turn a profit at the expense of

the common person. Attempts to cheat, steal or smuggle

frequently turn into comedic episodes. In most of these scenes, their criminal activity is thwarted by chance and the would-be criminals experience a loss of dignity because of the unintentional interference of the hero.

Gaidai died November 19, 1993 in Moscow, Russia. His films are now available on DVD and sold in several languages including, Russian, English, and French. He remains one of the greatest comedy directors of Russian history ("Kidnapping..." DVD Bonus Features). Filmography

Unless specified, Gaidai directed and wrote the script. 1955- Lyana actor

1958- The Wind actor

1958- Fiance From the Next World director

1960- The Dog Barbos and the Unusual Race

1961- Moonshiners

1962- Business People

1965- Impression

1965- Partner

1965- Operation "Y"

1965- The Long Road

1966- Kidnapping Caucasian Style or Shurik's New Adventures

1968- The Diamond Arm

1971- The Twelve Chairs

1973- Ivan Vassilievich Changes Professions

1975- Unbelievable

1977- An Incognito From St. Petersburg

1980- Going For Matches

1982- Sportlotto-82

1985- Life Danger!

1989- Private Detective or Operation Cooperation

1992- It's Fine Weather on Deribassovskaya Street or It's

Raining Again in Brighton Beach

(Kidnapping-. DVD Bonus Features) Carl Jung's Archetypes

Carl Gustav Jung studied Sigmund Freud's theories on the unconscious. Freud preferred to focus on a person's childhood, while Jung focused on the process of maturation.

Jung called this process "individuation" (Connolly 255).

Building on Freud's theories, Jung developed his own ideas about the collective unconscious (Dry 190) . He is the founder of analytical psychology. Jung theorized that the unconscious mind determines our actions as much as the conscious mind does. His theories are based on data he collected while studying myths, dreams, and psychopathic behavior of patients in the hospital where he worked

(Douglas 26) . Jung concluded that the collective unconscious is experiences shared by each individual and then passed on from parent to offspring. The personality traits we express externally determine whether we have control over our inner self (Salman 63) .

Models of the struggle for domination of self abound in Gaidai's films. The Shurik series, in particular, illustrates Gaidai's use of archetypes in his comedies. Of the archetypes outlined by Jung, Gaidai utilizes "Persona" and "Shadow" more than the other archetypes. Persona is how we know we should interact publicly. It is the part of the collective unconscious that is inherited. Society determines what behavior is acceptable.

Our persona fulfills of our inner desires and still allows us to maintain social acceptance (Trousdell 748). Societal deviants, such as the villains in Gaidai's films do not balance their desires with what society allows. Their personas are subdued while their shadows are allowed to be

free.

Shadow is the expression of our inner desires. It is not inherited, but is formed in the individual. Failure to keep one's appetites and desires within allowable limits

allows shadow to overcome persona (Trousdell 748).

Leonid Gaidai uses these opposing archetypes to portray good and evil. He gives the hero of his films the

traits towards which society should aspire and gives the antagonists those traits that society should avoid.

The Shurik series demonstrates these personality

conflicts well because the characters are consistent, while

the situations change. Shurik is always the hero. Gaidai portrays Shurik as an ordinary man with good qualities and

the desire to avoid any evil behavior. Alexander

Demyanenko, as Shurik, superbly depicts honesty, bravery and sincerity. To oppose Shurik's traits, Gaidai uses personality

traits such as greed, dishonesty, gluttony, cowardice,

drunkenness, and lust. Gaidai seems to have created arch- nemeses for Shurik because he introduced the same three villains in many of his films. These villains are Georgy

Vitsin, commonly known as the "Coward", as the

"Booby", and Yevgeny Morgunov as the "Experienced"

("Kidnapping..." DVD Bonus Features).

In addition to the usual three villains, Gaidai uses

Vladimir Etush, who plays the part of the evil government

official and mastermind of the plot in Kidnapping Caucasian

Style, to depict the lustful and dishonest side of society.

Another evil character trait is laziness.

as the bully, Fedya, in Gaidai's Partner, epitomizes this destructive evil.

Applying Jungian psychoanalysis of personality traits

to Gaidai's characters uncovers a connection between the protagonists and the antagonists. On the conscious level, the conflicts in Gaidai's movies are external struggles between the heroes and the villains. On the unconscious level, however, the conflict between characters is actually an internal struggle of the self. The outer conflicts found in Gaidai's films reflect the internal struggles for the self that everyone fights. Gaidai's characters can be seen to represent the effort that everyone unconsciously makes

to aspire towards good or evil (Dry 209). Shurik's

represents people whose positive traits overcome their

negative traits. The characters "Coward", "Booby",

"Experienced", and Gaidai's other villains represent people

whose negative traits succeed at dominating the self. As a

rule, Gaidai makes it very clear which archetype is

dominant in each of his characters. Persona usually

dominates the hero, while Shadow dominates the antagonists.

Persona

"Society expects, and indeed must expect, every

individual to play the part assigned to him as perfectly as possible..." (Dry 260) . Shurik interacts with others in a manner acceptable to society and thus can be seen to represent Persona. For example. Impression begins with

Shurik acting like a gentleman by allowing each woman to enter the bus before him. If Shadow had dominated, then

Shurik would quickly have pushed his way onto the bus regardless of who was in line. We see this shift in archetypes, from persona to shadow, in the man standing behind Shurik. At first, he also acts like a gentleman, allowing the women to enter the bus in front of him, but after a few busses leave without him, he gets mad and Shadow overcomes Persona. With Shadow driving the man, he pushes Shurik aside and selfishly enters the bus.

Shadow

The shadow, in Gaidai's work, is always the outer expression of his characters' selfishness. In the Shurik series, the villains fit the Shadow archetype because their actions are driven by selfishness. Greed drives "Coward",

"Booby", and "Experienced" to thievery. In Kidnapping Caucasian Style, lust drives the evil Saakhov to attempt to force a young woman to marry him. In "Partner," Fedya, the bully, is lazy. He is an example of shadow by selfishly staying seated on the bus instead of relinquishing his seat to a pregnant passenger and refuses to work on the construction site.

Applying Jungian psychology, beyond his archetypes, to analyze Gaidai's characters does not explain the significance of his heroes' actions. Jungian archetypes make clear who the hero is and what the desires of the villains are. Jungian archetypes, however, do not explain

10 the motivations of the hero, apart from his or her desire to be accepted by society.

11 Joseph Caiig)bell's Hero Cycle

Joseph Campbell studied Carl Jung and relied on his writings to unify theories about the unconscious. Symbolism

and archetypes, according to Campbell, help explain psychological phenomena (Campbell 229). His focus on heroes

is important because he theorized that societies have heroes in order to exemplify good morals and values. A hero must fit a particular archetype before he can be the symbol

of what is right, good and true. The "hero cycle" is a universal pattern that each legendary, mythic and folkloric hero follows in his quest for truth and understanding

(Campbell 38).

According to Joseph Campbell, every culture's legends,

fairy tales, and myths fit a pattern that he calls the hero cycle. The hero cycle is comprised of three phases, which correspond to the three parts of an adventure.

The first is the departure. During the departure, the hero receives a "call to adventure." The call to adventure or the call to action can occur in two ways. First, an event can take place causing the hero to make a decision.

Second, a messenger can come to the hero and inform him of a great deed that the hero must perfomi (Campbell 49). The hero cycle is manifested following a specific pattern in

12 Gaidai's Shurik series. The heroes receive the call to

adventure only after they have had to endure unpleasant

events. For Shurik, this is usually after he has made a mistake in his life. The call to action for Shurik is

always a call to rectify the wrongs he has done. The final part of the departure is when the hero must cross a

threshold. By crossing the threshold, the hero enters a new

life for which he is often unprepared (Campbell 77). Shurik

usually does this without knowing that he has crossed over.

An example of this is in the film Operation "Y" when Shurik

enters the storage building without knowing the thieves are

inside as well.

The second phase of the hero cycle is the initiation.

"Once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials" (Campbell 97).

Shurik faces various trials, some of which he overcomes by accident, which illustrates his innocence and naivete.

The final phase of the hero cycle is the return trip.

The hero must cross over the return threshold and come back into the world of light. This is a rebirth for the hero. It is synonymous with leaving darkness. "The two worlds, the divine and the hioman, can be pictured only as distinct from each other-different as life and death, as day and night.

13 The hero adventures out of the land we know into darkness; there he accoitplishes his adventure; or again is simply lost to us, imprisoned, or in danger; and his return is described as a coming back out of that yonder zone"

(Campbell 217) . Shurik is not the same person after crossing the return threshold as he was before he left. He has earned the title of hero with his experience. Shurik realizes the confidence he has gained, during the road of

trials, when he crosses the return threshold. By completing

the quest, the hero becomes the master of both worlds

(Campbell 229).

14 The Hero's Call to Action

Shurik begins each adventure the same way. At the start of every film, he finds himself in a bad situation. A

few unfortunate events take place. Each of these events builds upon the previous one until the load is almost too much to tolerate and then Shurik finds himself at the start

of an adventure.

Ivan Vassilievich Changes Professions

Shurik is working on his time machine when he decides

to test it, but it draws too much power and blows the fuses

in his apartment complex. All the lights go out and the residents of the apartment building complain. He goes downstairs to fix the problem and runs into the manager of his apartment complex. The manager rebukes Shurik and tells him that these repeat occurrences need to stop. Shurik goes back upstairs and decides to increase the amount of voltage to the machine. Unfortunately, for Shurik, a spark shoots out and the machine blows up. Shurik is thrown to the ground and knocked unconscious for a few minutes. His wife comes home, as he is cleaning up the mess. She informs him that she is leaving him for the director of movie in which

15 she acts. Shurik disregards his wife completely and resumes

the experiments. The manager shows up on Shurik's doorstep and sees the invention. He asks if Shurik has the proper documentation to perform such experiments. Shurik answers

that he does not and the director tells him that he is

going to report Shurik to the authorities unless he obtains

the proper documentation. Shurik desperately tries to

convince his director that nothing harmful is going on, and

offers to demonstrate his machine. He turns it on, and this

time it works. A portal opens up into the apartment next

door. A thief who had broken into the apartment next door

sees Shurik and the director and steps into Shurik's

apartment. The director is amazed, but still insists that

this type of experimentation requires proper documentation.

The thief on the other hand, sees Shurik's machine as a very useful tool for his trade. After some persuasion,

Shurik turns the machine on so that it will open a portal

into the past. It works once again, and a portal opens up

to the time of Ivan the Terrible. The apartment manager and the thief step through the portal to the past while Ivan the Terrible steps through the portal to the future. A poled weapon flies through the portal from the past and strikes Shurik's time machine. The time machine explodes, trapping the thief and apartiment director in the past and

16 Ivan the Terrible in the future. Shurik's call to action is to correct the wrongs that have occurred because of his

time machine. His call to action comes only after he has endured the previous trials and only after Gaidai has placed him in a dismal situation.

Kidnapping Caucasian Style

Shurik is traveling along a country road in the

Caucasus region. His first unfortunate occurrence is the

fact that his mode of transportation happens to be a

donkey. Shurik does not look very comfortable, nor does he

seem to have any control of his ass. He travels up the road where a truck is broken down and the driver is attempting

to fix the engine. Shurik's donkey decides that it is time

for a break and refuses to go any further. Shurik encourages his donkey to continue. The driver is trying to start the engine in the ambulance. Shurik trades positions with the driver and tries to start the ambulance while the driver tries to move the donkey. A beautiful woman arrives.

She seems as though she is gliding along the path. The donkey and the truck begin to follow her. Shurik runs and jumps on his donkey, while the driver runs and jumps into the truck. The next unfortunate event is when the woman

17 thinks Shurik is following her and she darts off the road into the bushes. Shurik's donkey goes after her. The brush scratches Shurik. He informs the woman that it is not he, but his donkey that is following her. She believes him and agrees to travel only on the road. He arrives at his destination and meets a hotel employee. This is the next unlucky event for Shurik. Shurik tells the hotel employee his reason for traveling to the caucuses, which is to record local tales and toasts. The hotel employee obliges by fetching some wine and sitting Shurik down so that he

can listen to the employee's toasts. Shurik drinks the

toasts with the employee and the employee offers another one. In the next scene, a different hotel employee offers a

toast and Shurik drinks to that one as well. Outside, the

locals are celebrating and one of the food vendors offers a toast that Shurik drinks to from a horn. By this time,

Shurik is very inebriated. A wedding palace is being inaugurated and the master of ceremonies is quoting a line

from Raikin. Shurik blurts out for the master of ceremonies to slow down so that he can write down all of his words.

Shurik, being drunk, decides that this would be a fine time for a toast. Shurik is beside a cow and he sees the horns.

He thinks it is his drinking horn and tries to grab it.

Chaos breaks out and the next scene finds Shurik talking to

18 the police. All of these unfortunate events place Shurik in a terrible situation, and add to the sympathy that the audience is building for Shurik. He begins to fall in love with Nina and thinks that she returns his love. An evil plot is brewing however, as one of the town's leaders also wants Nina to marry him. Shurik has foiled several attempts at kidnapping Nina, so the group of conspirators decides to

dupe Shurik into kidnapping Nina himself by convincing him

that an old tradition of the region is for friends of the

groom to kidnap the bride and take her away. They tell

Shurik that the girls hope for this and see it as a mark of

honor. This is the final step before Shurik recieves the

call to action. Shurik kidnaps Nina and delivers her to the

criminals. When he finds out what he has done, he must

decide to correct his mistake or to flee the area. As it is

often the case, Shurik receives the call to action or the

invitation to adventure only after he makes a mistake.

Shurik's adventure consists of his attempts to right all

the wrongs he has done, to make restitution to Nina, and

seek revenge against the criminals.

19 Partner

In the first short comedy in the operation "Y" compilation, Shurik is standing at a bus stop in the rain.

The first unfortunate characteristic about this opening scene is the fact that Shurik does not have an umbrella.

Shurik allows women to board the bus before him, but by the

time the final woman has boarded the bus, the bus leaves and Shurik is stuck at the bus stop. This is repeated with another bus until the man beside Shurik gets annoyed at having to wait and pushes Shurik aside leaving him stranded

once again in the rain. On the bus, a bully is taking up both seats reserved for handicapped people, children, or pregnant women. People on the bus try to get the bully to move. The call to action arrives when Shurik acts as though he is blind in order for the bully to move. When the bully

finds out that Shurik played him for the fool a fight breaks out and both Shurik and the bully find themselves at

the police station. The court sentences the bully to serve time working as a laborer. Shurik is surprised to find that the bully is assigned to labor at his job site. The supervisor assigns the bully to work directly with Shurik.

Shurik must now decide to be brave and stand up to the bully or to flee. Shurik's call to action comes only after

20 a series of unfortunate events and only after Shurik makes the mistake of upsetting the bully on the bus.

Impression

This is the second short film included in the

Operation "Y" compilation. Impression begins as Shurik arrives to campus desperate because he has not studied for his exam. He asks a friend for his notes, but the friend has already let others borrow them. He searches for the notes everywhere. This is the first problem that Shurik must overcome before joining the adventure. Shurik tries to join a crowd that is reading a set of notes, but they shut him out. He then tries to join a couple of girls reading the textbook, but they do not notice him. He follows them onto the bus, not even paying attention to what he is doing. By chance, one of the girls leaves the bus while the other one stays on. Thinking that Shurik is her friend, the girl leaving the bus grabs him and they both exit together. Shurik is reading over the girl's shoulder the entire time and as a result does not notice his surroundings. Once they arrive at her apartment, reading the textbook the entire time, they sit down at the desk. The girl grabs some snacks without taking her eyes from the book. The next unfortunate

21 event for Shurik occurs as he reaches for the snacks, and

the girl takes them before Shurik has a chance to eat them.

At one point, he even spreads mustard on some bread, but

then the girl eats it before he is able to. Shurik and the

girl return to the university to take their test. Shurik is

leaving his exam when he sees a friend. They begin talking

and then Shurik notices the girl, but does not recognize her as the same girl from before. He asks his friend who

she is, and his friend introduces them. This presents the

opportunity for the call to action. Shurik tries to talk to

the girl. His great mistake is tripping over his words and

acting as a fool. The girl laughs, but is interested in

Shurik. His call to action is to accept the girl's offer of walking with her. He can accept and have the possibility of

romance, or he can flee. Although this film does not

incorporate the entire hero cycle, it does continue

Gaidai's pattern of presenting the hero with a call to action.

Operation "Y"

Gaidai's pattern for the call to action begins when

Shurik appears to gives payment for the month of January to an old lady. She informs him that the manager of the

22 apartment has asked her to stand guard at the last minute.

She cannot leave because of her granddaughter who is too young to stay home alone. The old lady is also making dough

in the kitchen that must be tended to in order for her to

leave. Shurik offers to help. This will be the beginning of his misfortune. When the grandmother leaves, the

granddaughter wakes up and cries out for Shurik. He is not

accustomed to children and has a hard time babysitting the young girl. The next unfortunate step is when Shurik is helping in the kitchen. He goes to add a pinch of one

ingredient and when he turns around the little girl adds a

lot more yeast to it. She then grabs dough out of the pot.

Shurik has to keep her out of trouble while at the same

time not let the dough get ruined. Nothing is going right

for Shurik. This is a common motif for Shurik whenever an adventure draws near. He gives up at last and goes outside to meet the grandmother. She is frustrated with Shurik, but he offers to switch places with her and to act as the guard instead. Now Shurik is stuck outside in a blizzard watching over the storage building. The plotting thieves arrive, mistake Shurik for the grandmother, and decide to proceed with their plans. The first thief approaches Shurik carefully and starts a conversation thinking that he is talking to the grandmother. Shurik wheels aroiind. The thief

23 faints as soon as he sees that Shurik is not the grandmother. Shurik drags the stranger to the doors of the storage building, but sees that they are already open. The call to action comes as Shurik disregards the evidence and proceeds to enter the building without first attempting to

call for the authorities. This is his mistake and the start

of the adventure. When Shurik realizes that there has been

a break in, he must decide to catch the thief, or to flee

for help. Once again, Shurik has had to endure a series of

misfortunes before accepting the call to adventure.

24 Crossing the Threshold

Leonid Gaidai's films do not contain the archetype of a threshold guardian as described by Campbell in his book on the hero cycle (Campbell 77). Gaidai instead employs a prop, or some kind of significant event to mark the

crossing of the threshold. In his Shurik series, the hero

crosses over the threshold without ever knowing its

significance. Ignorance and naivete blind the hero to the

danger that lurks ahead. Shurik crosses each threshold and

faces many trials before becoming aware of the changes that

have taken place.

Ivan Vassilievich Changes Professions

Once the call to adventure has been accepted, Shurik must now cross the threshold into the world beyond what he

has known all his life. Shurik has not trained for living

with a Tsar from the past. Ivan the Terrible is very

demanding as shown in the scene where Shurik offers Ivan

the Terrible some vodka. Ivan is offended when Shurik does

not accept his offer to drink with him. Ivan is used to

having his way. It is normal to him for all people to obey

his every word and whim. When Shurik realizes the

25 perspective of the Tsar, he changes his attitude. Shurik is

in a new world now. His ideals of communism and the philosophy of equality must now be defended against

tyranny. The threshold is crossed as soon as Shurik

addresses Ivan the Terrible as an equal. When Shurik

declines Ivan's offer to drink with him, Shurik realizes

that he must either fight against tyranny or succumb to it.

His world is no longer as peaceful as it once was.

Kidnapping Caucasian Style

Shurik crosses the threshold in this adventure when he

goes to inform the evil town official of what has happened.

This is the point in the adventure when Shurik is in danger. Abuse of the law imprisons him in a mental hospital. His life before this event was one of very few cares, but now his very existence depends upon escaping

from the hands of evil. Shurik can no longer correct his simple mistakes with paperwork or an apology. He has crossed the threshold into a new world. The only way he can hope to return to the old one is to vanquish the group of conspirators. The exit from the new world is locked. His only key is to succeed at rescuing Nina.

26 Partner

The threshold for Shurik in this short film is the moment when he and the bully leave the supervisor and begin their chores for the day. Shurik is now alone with the enemy. He is in the clutches of the demon. It is too late

to flee from the adventure. Shurik is once again in a new world. His old familiar world was one without danger. It did not have the constant fear that violence was imminent.

Now he has to contend with an evil presence, which

threatens his way of life. His crossing of the threshold

signifies his departure from innocence and his arrival in a world filled with sloth, vulgarity, and crudeness. The bully not only threatens him physically, but also tempts him to violate his work ethic with thoughts of idleness.

The first of these instances occurs, when the bully lies down to rest after lunch. Shurik chooses not to sleep.

After lunch, they must transport cement with a wheelbarrow.

The next temptation for Shurik is to follow the bully's example and scoop very little cement so that they do not have to work as hard. The third temptation at laziness is when the wooden floors are being shaved. Shurik is busy shoveling up the wood shavings while the bully sleeps. If

Shurik followed the example of his enemy and let his work

27 ethic slip by being idle on the job, he would have joined

the new world and lost sight of his old home. Shurik cannot

cross into his old world and the world of innocence until

this evil being and his temptations have been mastered.

Impression

In this quest for love, Shurik leaves a realm, which was devoid of any lust, love, or intimacy. He enters a world, which is governed by these emotions. His lack of

love must be inferred because the film does not mention

that Shurik has been in any relationships. After he accepts

the call to adventure, which in this story is the call to

love, Shurik crosses the threshold as he takes the first

few steps with the girl towards her home. He has attached himself to her. Currently, he is no longer single in his

travels through life. For the time, he is joined with woman. Shurik cannot release himself from her now without a struggle. This situation is different from Shurik's other adventures because there is no real enemy. Shurik is in a new world now that seems brighter than the old one.

Although the new world is often synonymous with death, in this case it represents heaven and not hell. In time, he may be forced to leave for various reasons. If he fulfills

28 his quest however, he will gain the ability to cross back over the threshold many times. He will become the master of both worlds as discussed by Campbell. (229)

Operation "Y"

Unlike Shurik's other adventures, an actual doorway distinguishes the threshold he must cross in this comedic short. It is the doorway into the storage building. He

finds it open and crosses into it in search of possible burglars. Outside the storage building, Shurik was a common citizen with the ability to call for help. Once he crosses

the threshold, he must become a vigilante and bring the criminals to justice. He is not a police officer by trade.

He is a student. It is not his role to fight evil. Shurik spends his time studying and working part time in construction. The hero finds himself in a new world. He now plays a new role in life, a role that requires bravery, wit, and strength. He cannot cross the threshold into his old life without also becoming a coward and a failure, unless he captures the thieves. There is only one way to become master of both worlds and pass freely from one to the other, and that is to fight the enemies that are found on this side of the threshold.

29 Road of Trials

The road of trials is the essence of an adventure.

This is the time when the hero must overcome obstacles before he can claim victory. Usually, the obstacles become increasingly difficult. Once the hero begins the road of trials, it is too late to turn back.

Ivan Vassilievich Changes Professions

Shurik has crossed over the threshold and must now journey along the road of trials before his adventure can end. His first trial is to convince Ivan the Terrible to stay in the apartment while Shurik leaves to buy some transistors. After a little discussion, Shurik succeeds in completing his first task. The second trial is to find resistors that will work with his invention before it is too late. He goes to several stores, but all of them are closed or do not have the parts he needs. To fulfill his quest, Shurik must buy transistors illegally on the black market. Shurik is desperate and decides to purchase them in this manner. With the second trial out of the way, Shurik must now return and get his time machine working. The third obstacle arises when the dentist, whose name is Shpak, and

30 Ivan the Terrible are arguing out in the hallway of the apartment building. Shurik tries to convince Shpak that

Ivan the Terrible is not his superintendent, but the real

Tsar. Shpak lies to Shurik and promises not to call the police. He breaks his promise and calls the police. Shpak tells them that there is a real live Tsar in the apartment building. Shurik's third trial is to repair the time machine before the thief and the superintendent are killed

in the past. Shurik manages to get the time machine running at the last moment, narrowly saving both of the time

travelers from an early demise. The fourth and final trial

for Shurik is to return Ivan the Terrible to his proper place and time. Shurik gets his time machine working once again. By completing this final trial, Shurik has corrected the mistakes made at the beginning. In this adventure, there are no other tests or obstacles for Shurik to overcome.

Kidnapping Caucasian Style

Shurik is now aware of his plight and must now wade through the trials that have been set before him. The first of these is to escape from the mental hospital. The evil town official calls the hospital and reports to them that

31 Shurik is suffering from delirium tremens. Shurik is tricked into drinking at a party while searching for the prosecutor. When the officials from the hospital arrive to take Shurik away, he is passed out from alcohol. Shurik is treated as a common crazy person and is placed in restraints when he tries to cause chaos in the office of the head doctor. It is at this moment that Shurik learns who the culprit is. The head doctor tells Shurik that it was the evil town official who called the hospital. Shurik now has to find a way to escape. Shurik overcomes this first trial by convincing some patients to help him catapult over the fence. Shurik's plan almost fails until aid arrives. This would be comparable to the supernatural aid discussed by Campbell because it is unexpected and arrives in the direst of circumstances (Campbell 69) . For

Shurik, this aid arrives in the form of an ambulance. It is the same truck that was broke down in the beginning of the story. The driver of the ambulance recognizes Shurik and offers to give him a lift into town. On the way, Shurik apprises the driver of the situation and the driver agrees to assist Shurik in his next trial. The second trial for

Shurik on this adventure is to infiltrate the Saakhov residence and rescue Nina from her captors. Shurik and the ambulance driver disguise themselves as doctors who are in

32 the area to vaccinate all the citizens of the region from hoof and mouth disease. While the driver keeps the captors occupied by injecting them with an anesthetic, Shurik rushes to the aid of Nina. Unfortunately, Nina still thinks that Shurik is an enemy and flees from the house without her rescuers. She takes the ambulance and drives away. The captors hear what has happened and rush after her in their car. The only vehicle left is a barrel wagon, which the truck driver and Shurik use to catch up to everyone else.

This begins the third trial, which is to rescue Nina in the chase before the criminals get to her. Nina is caught and bound by the criminals. They pass out while driving the car when the anesthetic finally takes effect. The third trial becomes a desperate attempt to save Nina before the car goes over a cliff. Shurik overcomes this obstacle by saving

Nina from the riinaway car. The final trial is to bring

Saakhov to justice for perpetrating the entire plot. Shurik and the truck driver pretend to be Nina's relatives seeking retribution in blood from those who harmed her. Nina plays along and makes a visit to Saakhov. The three of them scare the evil town official iintil he leaps from the upstairs window. Finally, Saakhov is caught and goes to court for his crimes. Shurik has endured the trials by overcoming his

33 foes and passing the tests set out for him. He stands at the end of this adventure's road of trials.

Partner

Shurik must overcome several obstacles and trials placed there by the bully. The first one he happens to overcome by accident. This occurs when the bully tries to brick him into a wall. After Shurik passes through a hole in a brick wall, the bully comes up behind him and starts to close up the opening with brick and mortar. Fortunately,

for Shurik, he finds another way around and meets up with the bully on the other side of the wall. Shurik must then overcome the temptation to be lazy like the bully. Shurik fights this temptation by taking his aggression out on the bully. He rolls up a newspaper and swats at the bully while he is napping, which enrages the bully and leads to the third trial. This obstacle is tougher than any other that

Shurik must overcome during this adventure. The bully chases Shurik around the construction site. Shurik must use creativity and quick wit to outsmart the bully. Shurik leads the bully into a trap where he is able to vanquish his foe. He is finally able to roll him up in wallpaper.

The final task that Shurik must complete is to rehabilitate

34 the bully by force. Shurik completes this task by whipping the bully several times in the backside with a wooden switch.

Impression

Shurik and his beauty are on the road to her apartment, but now that Shurik has crossed the threshold, he is also on the road of trials. The first obstacle in his way is a vicious dog. Earlier, Shurik's innocence protected him, but he has chosen to cross into the new world so he must defeat the dog without protection. Shurik is able to overcome this obstacle by using his wit to outsmart the dog. He tries to put sleeping pills inside of bologna and feed it to the dog. Unfortunately, the dog is too smart to eat the pills, but manages to eat the bologna around them.

Shurik has another plan, this time he grabs a cat and throws it to get the dog's attention. The dog chases after the cat and abandons his post guarding the walkway to the apartment building. Shurik and Lida are able to go inside when his plan works. The next trial for Shurik is to solve the mystery of why everything in Lida's apartment seems so familiar. Shurik credits it to the fact that he may be a psychic. Lida comes up with a test for Shurik to perform.

35 She writes down a command that Shurik must perform without

looking at her piece of paper. Shurik does not get the answer right, but is still able to pass the test by giving

Lida a kiss. By passing this last obstacle, Shurik is no

longer on the road of trials. He has completed every trial on his quest successfully and is now free to proceed.

Operation "y*

In this episode of the Shurik series, the road of

trials is rather short. The first trial as Shurik steps across the threshold, is to catch the thief inside the storage building. Shurik and the thief have an extended scuffle, which ends with Shurik lassoing the thief and then whistling for help. An accomplice to the thief arrives at the whistle call disguised as an official security guard.

He tells Shurik to go call the police and that he will stay there to tie up the prisoners. Shurik comes back in time to catch the false guard and his fellow burglars. The second trial is for Shurik to overcome this burglar similarly to the way he overcame the previous thief. In order to beat this burglar, Shurik grabs boxes of snuff and launches them into the burglar's face. This causes the burglar to begin sneezing. Shurik takes advantage of the burglar's sneezing

36 episode by directing him to a stack of metal buckets. As the burglar sneezes, his head is thrown forward and hits the stack of buckets knocking him unconscious. Shurik overcomes these two trials using physical prowess and wit

37 Crossing the Return Threshold

When the hero finishes the trials and is ready to return to the world of light, he must first cross the return threshold. As he does this, he leaves the underworld and returns to his previous life, but in a changed form. It is a form of rebirth because the old Shurik died and a young hero emerges. The hero's old self is buried on the other side of the threshold and the new hero comes forth for the first time into the world of light (Campbell 217) .

As the conquering hero, he is able to traverse into both worlds at will and in essence has become the master of both worlds (Campbell 229).

Ivan Vassilievich Changes Careers

Shurik sends Ivan the Terrible back into the past, which ends his final trial. With the Tsar gone, Shurik's world is back to the way it was before he crossed the first threshold. He has now crossed the return threshold without realizing it. He has gained the strength and experience to challenge tyrants, but also the wisdom and ability to interact with them efficiently. He has successfully defended his communist ideology against oppression. Shurik

38 is once again in a world where his ideals are not attacked and a world in which it is safe to treat others as equals.

If Shurik ever finds himself in a similar world to the one

in which Ivan the Terrible lived, he would act with

authority instead of bending to the will of the Tsar because Shurik has now become the master of both worlds.

The end of the film reveals that everything after the point

at which Shurik was knocked unconscious was a dream. This

however, does not make Shurik's experience with the

adventure less real.

Kidnapping Caucasian Style

As Shurik completes the task of retribution, he gains

the upper hand and becomes master of this other world. When

the evil town official is arrested, there is no more threat

to Shurik from the police or the mental hospital. This is

the crossing of the return threshold for Shurik. He is back

in the safe world where he enjoys peaceful contentment. The

experiences of the road of trials will forever have changed

him though. He has confidence in himself. He has become

courageous and gallant. As master of the world of light,

which is life before the adventure, and the underdark.

39 which is the world where criminals threaten peace, Shurik

IS a true hero able to overcome any foe.

Partner

After Shurik teaches the bully a lesson with his whippings, he crosses the return threshold. The bully is no longer an enemy, but a subdued creature. The bully now fears Shurik. He will defer to Shurik's will whenever the two are together. Shurik has mastered the world with the bully in it and uses it to his advantage to get more labor from the bully. In the end, the bully is forced to work with Shurik despite his protestations, whereas in the beginning it was Shurik who was forced to work with the bully against his will.

Impression

This episode is too brief to reveal the crossing of the return threshold. It ends while Shurik is still in the world of love, instead of innocence. If the film continued, the crossing of the return threshold would undoubtedly occur as Shurik leaves Lida's apartment without her.

Crossing the first threshold would repeat as often as

40 Shurik and Lida meet up with each other though, which illustrates Shurik's mastery of both worlds. A journey for love will not contain the same elements of an adventure that a rescue or a mighty battle will. Gaidai may not have wanted to incorporate anything that would separate Shurik from his love. This could mean that death without love is hell, but death with love is heaven.

Operation "Y"

Crossing the return threshold in this adventure happens while Shurik is unconscious. He accidentally inhaled a rag of chloroform that the first thief was going to use. The grandmother shows up on the scene and drags all four bodies out of the storage building. As Shurik travels over the threshold of the storage building, he is returning to the world of light victoriously.

41 Conclusion

Leonid Gaidai's films inspire his audiences to act as heroes while still making them laugh. They do this by creating characters that fit into the Persona or Shadow archetypes. Gaidai wrote scripts that follow the pattern of myth and legend. Applying Jung and Campbell to Gaidai' s films. Kidnapping Caucasian Style, Ivan Vassilievich

Changes Professions, Impression, Partner, and Operation "Y" provides evidence that supports these claims. Further investigation could be done by applying the theories of psychologists whose work deals with the unconscious or cultural myths and legends.

42 References

Avrutin, Lily. "The Soldier, The Girl, and The Dragon:

Battles of Meanings in Post-Soviet Cinematic Space." Cinema

Journal 38, no.2(Winter 1999):72-97

Connolly, Julia W. "The Quest for Self-Discovery in

Gogol's "vii"." Slavic and East European Journal 46, no. 2

(2002 Summer):253-267

Dale, Allen. "Comedy Is a Man in Trouble." University

of Minnesota Press. 2002

Dobrenko, Evgenii. "The Russia We Acquired." Russian

Studies in Literature 37, no.4(2001):61-69

Douglas, Claire. "The Historical Context of Analytical

Psychology." The Cambridge Companion to Jung Cambridge

University Press. 1997

Dry, Avis M. "The Psychology of Jung." John Wiley and

Sons Inc. 1961

Dyer, Donald R. "Cross-Currents of Jungian Thought."

Shambhala Publications, inc. 1991

Gillespie, David C. "Russian Cinema." Inside Film

Series. Longman, Pearson Education. 2003

Michaels, Paula A. "Prisoners of the Caucasus: From

Colonial to Postcolonial Narrative." Russian Studies in

Literature AO, no. 2(2004):52-77

43 Moore, Geneva C. "Archetypal Symbolism in Alice

Walker's Possessing the Secret of Joy." Southern Literary Journal 33, no. 1 (2000 Fall):111-121 Norman, Dorothy. "The Hero:Myth/Image/Symbol." The World Publishing Company. 1969 Prokhorov, Aleksandr. "Cinema of Attractions versus Narrative Cinema: Gaidai's Comedies and Riazanov's Satires of the 1960's." Slavic Review 62, no.3(Fall 2003):455-470 Richmond. "The Eye of the State: An Interview With

Soviet Chief Censor Vladimir Solodin." Russia Review 56 (October 1997):581-590

Salman, Sherry. "The Creative Psyche:Jung's Major

Contributions." The Cambridge Companion to Jung. Cambridge University Press. 1997

Solzhenitsyn, Alaxander. "Live Not By Lies." Index on

Censorship 2 (2004) Tsivian, Yuri. "Early Cinema in Russia and Its Cultural Reception." University of Chicago Press. 1998 Trousdell, Richard. "Ingmar Bergman's Martin Stuart: A

Jungian Reading." A Quarterly of Literature, the Arts and Public Affairs 44, no. 4 (2003-2004 Winter):747-756

Wallach, Amei. "Censorship in the Soviet Bloc." Art

Journal (1991 Fall):75-83

44 45