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Leonid Gaidai 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 Russian language 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 Mosfilm 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. Buster Keaton, the Keystone Kops, and Charlie Chaplin, 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 Moscow being the center of communism. Sergei Eisenstein helped Russians to visualize this idea with his film Jvan Grozny by suggesting that Stalin is to Soviet Russia 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 The Diamond Arm. 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", Yuri Nikulin 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. Aleksei Smirnov as the bully, Fedya, in Gaidai's Partner, epitomizes this destructive evil.