Wherein I talk more about Russian-ness
I was actually going to make a post on depressing Russian movies, and why American movies on the same subjects never manage to be quite as hopeless and bleak, but instead decided to post on the more upbeat movies today.
If America can't outdo Russian bleakness, they also can't really outdo wholesome Russian optimism, as done in Soviet-era children's films. American upbeat children's films tend more towards the syrupy and the saccharine, but they don't have the same type of bright-eyed joyful optimism about the FUTURE. Now, of course the ideology behind this joyful positivism is problematic, but dammit, I miss it sometimes. The books and movies of my childhood that weren't depressing and brooding were UPBEAT and they Believed In Revolution and The Future and how we would Make It Awesome, and that is a feeling that's really quite rare and precious in its way.
(What kept a lot of these stories from being saccharine, is that unlike American kids' fiction, they weren't afraid of dealing with serious or dark subjects when they needed to, it's just that Good triumphed in the end.)
Anyway, the point is, it's time for more Russian music videos!
This was one of my favorite movies for a while, and this was definitely my favorite song for an even longer while. I kept making my mother sing it to me over and over.
Song About Bears:
Somewhere in the wide world
There, where it's always cold
Polar bears rub their backs
Against the axis of the Earth
Centuries go past
Seas slumber under ice
The bears rub against the axis
And the Earth spins
La la la la la la la la la
The Earth spins faster
Round and round they go, working
Turning the Earth's axis
So that lovers could
Meet each other faster
So that one bright morning,
Earlier by a year or two
Someone could say to someone
Those important words ("I love you")
La la la la la la la la la
The Earth spins faster
After the springtime rains
Faster the sun will come
And for two lucky ones
For many-many years
Summer lightning will flare
Freshwater springs will ring
Fog will steam in clouds
White as a bear.
La la la la la la la la la
The Earth spins faster
I don't know, I still love the idea of Polar bears being the ones responsible for the spinning of the Earth, and trying to spin it faster to unite destined lovers together. I think it's the mythologizing that appeals to me.
I also had a bit of an early crush on the girl. I liked that she was a plucky tomboy type who escaped from her kidnappers with wit and spirit. (More proof of how Soviet children's stories had plenty of kickass female heroines.) Plus I was into kidnapping stories in general at the time, so this movie hit all my buttons.
Never saw this movie, but now I want to.
"They Say..."
They say, that with every year this world gets older
The sun hides further behind clouds and grows colder
They say, everything used to be better some other time, than nowadays
They say, but don't you listen; they say, but don't you listen;
They say, but don't you believe!
Many-colored, vast, and merry
Not subject to the yoke of days nor years
This world is blindingly young
It's as young as we are.
They say, that in the beginning everything was more wonderful
But that magicians disappeared along with the mammoths
And that the door to the land of wonders and fairytales has closed forever.
They say, but don't you listen; they say, but don't you listen;
They say, but don't you believe!
Many-colored, vast, and merry
Not subject to the yoke of days nor years
This world is blindingly young
It's as young as we are.
They say, that truth with untruth has tired of battling
That there are no more knights without fear or flaw
That from now on everything has to be measured crooked
They say, but don't you listen; they say, but don't you listen;
They say, but don't you believe!
Many-colored, vast, and merry
Not subject to the yoke of days nor years
This world is blindingly young
It's as young as we are.
This is how the world was thought up, young and fearless
By an all-powerful magician, a brave knight
And for pleasure and happiness it was given to us
Infinite and wonderful, infinitely wonderful
So that it would give us joy.
Many-colored, vast, and merry
Not subject to the yoke of days nor years
This world is blindingly young
It's as young as we are.
I don't care if it's not realistic, there's something undeniably wonderful about this kind of staunch insistence on everything we cease to believe in childhood.
If America can't outdo Russian bleakness, they also can't really outdo wholesome Russian optimism, as done in Soviet-era children's films. American upbeat children's films tend more towards the syrupy and the saccharine, but they don't have the same type of bright-eyed joyful optimism about the FUTURE. Now, of course the ideology behind this joyful positivism is problematic, but dammit, I miss it sometimes. The books and movies of my childhood that weren't depressing and brooding were UPBEAT and they Believed In Revolution and The Future and how we would Make It Awesome, and that is a feeling that's really quite rare and precious in its way.
(What kept a lot of these stories from being saccharine, is that unlike American kids' fiction, they weren't afraid of dealing with serious or dark subjects when they needed to, it's just that Good triumphed in the end.)
Anyway, the point is, it's time for more Russian music videos!
Click to viewThis was one of my favorite movies for a while, and this was definitely my favorite song for an even longer while. I kept making my mother sing it to me over and over.
Song About Bears:
Somewhere in the wide world
There, where it's always cold
Polar bears rub their backs
Against the axis of the Earth
Centuries go past
Seas slumber under ice
The bears rub against the axis
And the Earth spins
La la la la la la la la la
The Earth spins faster
Round and round they go, working
Turning the Earth's axis
So that lovers could
Meet each other faster
So that one bright morning,
Earlier by a year or two
Someone could say to someone
Those important words ("I love you")
La la la la la la la la la
The Earth spins faster
After the springtime rains
Faster the sun will come
And for two lucky ones
For many-many years
Summer lightning will flare
Freshwater springs will ring
Fog will steam in clouds
White as a bear.
La la la la la la la la la
The Earth spins faster
I don't know, I still love the idea of Polar bears being the ones responsible for the spinning of the Earth, and trying to spin it faster to unite destined lovers together. I think it's the mythologizing that appeals to me.
I also had a bit of an early crush on the girl. I liked that she was a plucky tomboy type who escaped from her kidnappers with wit and spirit. (More proof of how Soviet children's stories had plenty of kickass female heroines.) Plus I was into kidnapping stories in general at the time, so this movie hit all my buttons.
Never saw this movie, but now I want to.
"They Say..."
They say, that with every year this world gets older
The sun hides further behind clouds and grows colder
They say, everything used to be better some other time, than nowadays
They say, but don't you listen; they say, but don't you listen;
They say, but don't you believe!
Many-colored, vast, and merry
Not subject to the yoke of days nor years
This world is blindingly young
It's as young as we are.
They say, that in the beginning everything was more wonderful
But that magicians disappeared along with the mammoths
And that the door to the land of wonders and fairytales has closed forever.
They say, but don't you listen; they say, but don't you listen;
They say, but don't you believe!
Many-colored, vast, and merry
Not subject to the yoke of days nor years
This world is blindingly young
It's as young as we are.
They say, that truth with untruth has tired of battling
That there are no more knights without fear or flaw
That from now on everything has to be measured crooked
They say, but don't you listen; they say, but don't you listen;
They say, but don't you believe!
Many-colored, vast, and merry
Not subject to the yoke of days nor years
This world is blindingly young
It's as young as we are.
This is how the world was thought up, young and fearless
By an all-powerful magician, a brave knight
And for pleasure and happiness it was given to us
Infinite and wonderful, infinitely wonderful
So that it would give us joy.
Many-colored, vast, and merry
Not subject to the yoke of days nor years
This world is blindingly young
It's as young as we are.
I don't care if it's not realistic, there's something undeniably wonderful about this kind of staunch insistence on everything we cease to believe in childhood.