Member-only story
This Soviet Animated Film About Tolerance Made Me Cry
A 1976 musical short film about a blue dog is still relevant today.
Maybe I’m swinging a bat at a wasp’s nest of neo-McCarthys by saying this, but I believe Soviet art gets a bad rap.
Yes, a good portion of it is propaganda. I hate to say it, but you can say the same thing about Western art. I trust myself to be a critical consumer regardless of where and/or when something is made. As a result, I have found numerous gems in unexpected places.
Soviet animation is something I find particularly interesting as someone interested in the intersection of art and culture. Animated films reinforced Soviet values, yes, but that does not mean they were always without the childlike charm associated with Western animation.
For one thing, For example, Disney often employed symbols to represent situations and groups of people.
