Steamlyannaya Hamonika (1968) depicts the isolation and brutalization of humans in modern bourgeois society. Although being broadly in line with other art-as...

Steamlyannaya Hamonika (1968) depicts the isolation and brutalization of humans in modern bourgeois society. Although being broadly in line with other art-as-propaganda of the era, censors felt it could easily be read as a criticism of the party, leaving this subversive short as the only animated film to be banned in the Soviet Union.

  • MaoistLandlord [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    An analysis by an American Marxist professor from 1995, after reviewing the Secret Soviet Archives:

    The worker - having been stripped of personal ambition and revolutionary fervor - is compelled to comfort the bourgeoisie at the expense of his home and dear mother. The bourgeoisie seeks to muddy the waters and create an identity full of illusions and fear, such that the worker conflates the happiness and goals of his boss as his own. Of course, the bourgeoisie is under no such illusion, for if the worker was happy - truly happy, that is, such that he is not starving and dreading over tomorrow’s rent - it would be the death blow to the exploitative and cruel ideology that supports his decadence and comfort.