Cartoons of the Stagnation era Everyday life and philosophical exploration of being

Animation Techniques  Traditional hand-drawn animation:  stop-motion: Pioneered in Russia by Ladislas Starevich (Starewicz) using insects  plasticine animation (stop-motion with plasticine figures)

Wladislaw Starewicz ( ) (a.k.a. Ladislas Starevich)  First Russian animated films, beginning in  Stop motion technique.  Used dead beatles, attaching legs with wax.  The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912) The Cameraman’s Revenge The Cameraman’s Revenge  After revolution moved to France, worked in Paris.

Fyodor Khitruk, animator  One of the pioneers at Soyuzmultfilm (founded 1953)  Story of a Crime (1962) Story of a Crime Story of a Crime Story of a Crime, Pt. 2 Story of a Crime, Pt. 2Story of a Crime, Pt. 2Story of a Crime, Pt. 2  The Island The Island The Island

Cheburashka and Krokodil Gena (1971)

Cheburashka, Krokodil Gena and Shapokliak Cheburashka, Krokodil Gena and Shapokliak  Based on a children’s story by Eduard Uspensky  Used clay puppets and stop-motion  Director Roman Kachanov  Art director Leonid Shvartsman

Cheburashka et al.  Four series:  Gena the Crocodile (1969) Gena the Crocodile Gena the Crocodile  Cheburashka (1971) Cheburashka  Shapokliak (1974)  Cheburashka goes to school (1983)

Just You Wait Just You Wait ( ) by Viacheslav Kotionochkin Just You Wait

Mystery of the Third Planet (1981) by Roman Kachanov

Plasticine Crow Plasticine Crow (1981) by Aleksandr Tatarski Plasticine Crow

Yuri Norstein b.1941 Used cut-outs and painted glass screens

Hedgehog in the Fog Hedgehog in the Fog (1975) by Yury Norshtein Hedgehog in the Fog

Hedgehog in the Fog trivia:  The muzzle (profile) might be a portrait of a writer Liudmila Petrushevskaia  Fan sites, popular punch lines (“Freak!”)  A stamp (1988) and a monument (Kiev, 2009)

Norstein and Petrushevskaia (the “prototype” of the Hedgehog)

Hedgehog in the Fog

 In 2003, based on a survey of 140 cinema critics and animators worldwide, proclaimed the best film in history of animation. Norshtein is given the highest Japanese order for his influence on world and Japanese animation.  Original “blurring” technique conveying the philosophical content.  Based on a story by Sergei Kozlov

Hedgehog in the Fog  Existentialist experience: as one faces the unknown, all senses sharpen.  The voice of a loved one leads through the danger.  Exploration of the unknown (its duality).  Getting out of touch with familiar reality  Relativity of reality: morphing, shifting, unstable forms of objects.  No objective point of view.  The notion of beauty (white horse)

Existential loneliness; the metaphor of life as a path

Threats and dangers

Familiar objects turn strange

Small hedgehog, big world

Exploring the unknown

A white horse: the elusive beauty

Hedgehog in the Fog  Going with the flow, accepting one’s predestination  Isolation of an individual  Internal dialogue  Self-exploration (“Who are you?”)  Unseen Someone – divine interference?  Life-changing experience: leaves H. shattered.

The bear cub is looking at the hedgehog, the hedgehog is looking inside himself:

Norshtein’s Tale of Tales (1979) Tale of TalesTale of Tales