Animation Behind the Iron Curtain

Eleanor Cowen

• Publisher: John Libbey Publishing
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780861969739
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Digital Media
• Index: Computer Science

Animation Behind the Iron Curtain is a journey of discovery into the world of Soviet era animation from Eastern Bloc countries. From Jerzy Kucia's brutally exquisite Reflections in Poland to the sci-fi adventure of Ott in Space by Estonian puppet master Elbert Tuganov to the endearing Gopo's little man by Ion Popescu-Gopo in Romania, this excursion into Soviet era animation brings to light magnificent art, ruminations on the human condition, and celebrations of innocence and joy.

As art reveals the spirit of the times, animation art of Eastern Europe during the Cold War, funded by the Soviet states, allowed artists to create works illuminating to their experiences, hopes, and fears. The political ideology of the time ironically supported these artists while simultaneously suppressing more direct critiques of Soviet life. Politics shaped the world of these artists who then fashioned their realities into amazing works of animation. Their art is integral to the circumstances in which they lived, which is why this book combines the unlikely combination of world politics and animated cartoons.

The phenomenal animated films shared in this book offer a glimpse into the culture and hearts of Soviet citizens who grew up with characters as familiar and beloved to them as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny are to Americans. This book lays out the basic political dynamics of the Cold War and how those political tensions affected the animation industry in both the US and in the Eastern Bloc. And, for animation novices and enthusiasts alike, Animation Behind the Iron Curtain also offers breakout sections to explain many of the techniques and aesthetic considerations that go into this fascinating art form. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Cold War era and really cool animated films!

Part I:

The Two Sides of the Iron Curtain

Chapter One

Animated Antagonism

The nature of the Cold War was largely a battle of ideas. And the weapons of this war included books, journals, art exhibitions, and various other forms of popular media, including animated films. The Soviet government overtly condemned the exploitations of American industrialists, as is readily observable in their animation propaganda films. The U.S. government likewise committed wide resources to combat communism, though much of their efforts were more clandestine in nature. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) invested in a secret program of cultural propaganda at home and abroad to “inoculate the world against the contagion of Communism”. Their goal was to covertly promote views favorable to “the American Way” through art and popular media in a form of psychological warfare.⁷ On both sides of the Iron Curtain that defined the boundaries of the Cold War, artists produced their creative works as best they could while navigating the turbulent times of major ideological conflict in which they lived. The political environment of the Cold War affected the animation industry in the content of animated films, in studio operations, and distribution opportunities for their works.

Soviet and American Propaganda Cartoons

Soviet state-controlled film and animation studios had a specific mission to promote the government ideology. Soviet propaganda cartoons harshly critiqued capitalism and especially American capitalism from the 1920s through the 1980s. These anti-American/anti-capitalist animations portrayed capitalists as greedy, cruel, and racist. The 1932 film Black & White, directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Leonid Amalrik, shows graphically powerful renditions of racial oppression of blacks in America.⁸

Figure 1.1. Blek end Uajt (Black & White), dir. Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Leonid Amalrik Mezhrabpomfilm, 1932.

The 1963 film The Shareholder, directed by Roman Davydov at Soyuzmultfilm, reinforces the down side of capitalism by depicting how easily people in a capitalist country can fall into destitution at the whim of capitalist industrialists.

While we typically imagine propaganda films to be a specialty of the Soviets, the American government did, in fact, have a hand in the dissemination of ideas portrayed in Hollywood cinema. In a book released in 2000, The Cultural Cold War: the CIA and the World of Arts and Letters, Frances Stonor Saunders reveals that Carleton Alsop, an operative for the CIA, worked undercover in major American film studios from the mid 1930s through the 1950s, and was charged to introduce specific themes into Hollywood films. For example, in an effort to discredit Soviet claims about American discrimination against African-Americans, Alsop secured agreements with casting directors to plant “well dressed negroes as a part of the American scene, without appearing too conspicuous or deliberate”.⁹ Alsop also successfully prevented scripts from being produced and removed scenes from films that included unflattering portrayals of American life.¹⁰ Revelations of this government involvement in Hollywood offer some context for the trend of squeaky-clean, patriotic characters and programs showcased in Hollywood productions of the 1950s, from television series like Father Knows Best to feature films such as Twelve Angry Men starring Henry Fonda. The U.S. government wanted our media to promote the best of American ideals, depicting American life as just and happy.

American animation studios created propaganda cartoons during World War II, though these were largely aimed at supporting the war effort and ridiculing Nazi Germany and the Japanese.

Disney studio created dozens of animated propaganda, educational, and military training films during the war, including the feature-length 1943 Victory Through Air Power.¹¹ As was accepted practice in Hollywood at the time, German and Japanese soldiers were depicted as highly caricaturized stereotypes.

The popular Russian cartoon villains, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, made their way to American television screens in November 1959 with the debut of Rocky and His Friends. Produced by Jay Ward Productions for Universal Studios, Rocky and His Friends (renamed The Bullwinkle Show in 1961)¹² was a half-hour animated variety show that offered several short, serialized stories of various titles including The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky, Fractured Fairy Tales, Peabody’s Improbable History, and others.¹³

In The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky, Rocky J. Squirrel is an all-American flying squirrel from Minnesota who goes on adventures with his affable companion Bullwinkle J. Moose. Rocky’s and Bullwinkle’s efforts are routinely sabotaged by a pair of foreign spies by the names of Boris and Natasha. Boris and Natasha are ostensibly from the fictional country of Pottsylvania, though their accents are recognizably Russian, a jibe not missed by real Russians.¹⁴

In the thirteenth episode of “Rocky and Bullwinkle”, the narrator enlightens the audience of Boris and Natasha’s background with characteristically witty political satire: “Pottsylvania was a country composed entirely of spies. Even as schoolchildren, Pottsylvanians were taught only the ABC’s – assassination, bomb throwing, and conspiracy – with an occasional course in advanced sneaking and prowling”.¹⁵ Diabolical to their core, Boris and Natasha epitomize stereotypical foreigners to be feared.

Originally airing from 1959–1964, the subversive antics of Boris and Natasha in The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky poke fun at American’s paranoia over communist espionage in the U.S. As far as we know, the U.S. government had no role in the scripting of these American cartoons. Writers Jay Ward and Bill Scott had to navigate the sensibilities of their corporate sponsors and the television network to pass approval.¹⁶

American Animation Studios and the Cold War

Communist paranoia was no laughing matter in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. As organized labor challenged the power and abuses of the major film studios, fear of communist influences gave rise to a second Red Scare (the first Red Scare took place during a period of labor conflicts and isolationist sentiments following World War I).¹⁷

Studio executives in Hollywood had to contend with the rise of labor unions throughout the 1930s. Animators were among the last to organize, and Walt Disney was not a fan of organized labor. As he worked to bring his grand artistic visions to the screen, Disney imposed great demands on his workers. If someone had the temerity to ask for a raise, Walt Disney was likely to retort by calling the person a communist.¹⁸

As war broke out in Europe in 1939, the Disney studio experienced a revenue shortage because of the ...