June 18, 2006

Modern Movies illustrated in the form of Russian Folktale Woodcuts - or something. You don't need to read Russian, just look at the pictures. You can work out which movies they are. Example within.

posted by Chyren 18 years ago
  • Wow. I would love one of those on a t-shirt.
  • Spiderman has two arms coming out of his ass, both of which are engaged in pouring a beverage of some sort. Either Spidey is an arachnid minus two arms, or we're witnessing temporal splicing here. That's a great nose, BTW. Love the boob mole. (I can't fugure out the first image, though. What the hell is that?)
  • yeah, that one has me stumped as well.
  • Curse of the wererabbit.
  • I thought the first one was supposed to be an Ewok, but ICB(andprobablyam)W. The one that has me stumped is the guy holding the samovar and leading the well-dressed accordion-playing alligator by the nose? There are a few others as well... but yeah, most people can probably get most of these. And if not, they may not have seen the movie involved?
  • PS - the first one is dated 2003, so it's not Curse of the Were-Rabbit. (Plus, if it were, there would be a dog in the picture too...)
  • (must not forget:)
  • Also stumped on the first one, the alligator, and two of the last three (I think I know the one that Chy has linked at the top, there). Oh, and the man with the computer. In fact, I suck.
  • The Russian folkprinting genre is called Lubok. Heh. Good post, thanks.
  • Very nice.. cool post.
  • Might be a good idea to save these pix somewhere, since by the looks, that site won't be there forever.
  • Well, that would be Crocodile Gena of course :)
  • I think the first one is E.T., and the guy with the computer is Mission: Impossible. I could be wrong.
  • Very nice!
  • I considered ET, but it doesn't really look enough like him. Even the bear-like chewbacca in the later image has a bandolier to identify him. You'd expect ET to have the glowing finger, at least. Come on, there must be a Russophile around here!
  • And now is when I have final confirmation that my 2 years of college Russian were a total waste. I can't make out every letter in that handwriting-type font. So the words don't make sense. The pic on the first one is called 01_rasto, but that doesn't mean anything either...
  • ...because they're all called something_rasto. I can make out the word "gamers" on the one with the computer. Bah, I'm going to go take a nap.
  • I thought the first one was King Kong.
  • But I guess that wouldn't be 2003, either. What's the book-burning one? Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade?
  • Monsters, Inc? Planet of the Apes?
  • sounds like we are all stumped by the same ones...they are cool tho, very awesome art!
  • I like the Kong idea, TUM, but I have a hard time reasoning the turnip in that one. Maybe Russian gorillas like turnips? WAIT! Maybe it's the part in "Christmas Story" where Ralphie comes downstairs in the bunny outfit his aunt made him! Bunnies like turnips! Yeah, got nuthin.
  • yeah, the turnip is perplexing...
  • I think the turnip is a red herring, because both spiderman & chewbacca are holding beverages, & the latter also a pickle. I don't remember Chewie serving Anakin or Luke drinks & pickles. Although there is usually a meal scene or focus on things being eaten in each Star Wars movie.
  • Although there is usually a meal scene or focus on things being eaten in each Star Wars movie. There's even a Julia Child-esque cooking show in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. Where's the Russian woodcut of that?
  • Actually maybe the turnip and the other thing are important, cos they're labelled a & b, & the text refers to 'em.
  • Fucked if I know. Something about grabbing the cat of somewhere by the fur.
  • Roots?
  • >:(
  • Could it be Disney's immenently forgetable Brother Bear?
  • er... immAnent. I think.
  • Fucked if I know.
  • Drug one: (maybe) Trainspotting. book burning: (maybe) Farenheit 451
  • Well, it's most important that we figure out the alligator one because I NEED TO SEE THAT MOVIE
  • InfraMonkey already outed that one up thread :)
  • Oh. How disappointing.
  • I'm pretty sure one of the words in the computer one is "lamerz", but it's hard to tell because it's a very archaic cyrillic script... Maybe it's Hackers?
  • Yeah, I had a very hard time with some of those characters. Still completely stumped by the first one.
  • one of the books being burned is named (roughly) "The fungi, the peace"... any ideas?
  • The computer one could be a million movies.
  • Forget about the computer... why's he sticking a turkey baster up his butt?
  • what is this character: ?
  • That's an "L" (ะป), Chy
  • thankyou!
  • Well, I think I have to give up, tho' someone over at another forum thinks the first one is Gremlins, which I think may be it.
  • Nice post Chy. Mr. Koko wanted to comment that it's probably a mistake to assume that all of the prints are of recognizable movies, like the Crocodile Gena one. Also, if you can't remember the scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" where Chewbacca serves pickles and beverages, then you obviously weren't paying attention.
  • My best friend is a Russian major... when I see her, she might be able to shed some light on this
  • Russian major as in "in college", not as in "in the Russian military" :)
  • "Mr. Koko wanted to comment that it's probably a mistake to assume that all of the prints are of recognizable movies" yeah, I'm thinking the book burning one might be one of those. I think the pickles & beverage scene from Empire was one of the lost bits of footage, you know, like Luke & Biggs at Toshi Station from Ep4. Russian major, eh? Come & keep your comrade warm!
  • I WANT THAT T-SHIRT.
  • Well.. we have that guy's livejournal site.. maybe we can email him & ask where to get one...
  • Ah, so that makes the first one Cheburashka. I feel like an idiot, because my friend actually has that freaking doll on her bookshelf.
  • Why is Neo farting in this one?
  • Because he's finally learning to let go.
  • I keep checking back and seeing if there's translations... the narratives have got to be funny.
  • The guy in Chy's photo above has some seriously great art (with Russian captions and a crappy translator) here. He seems to have more along the same lines as the movie woodcuts.
  • And here I assumed that first one was Winnnie the Pooh.
  • Is it... comforting... that Cheburashka (awww, cute!) and Crocodile Gena aren't, in fact, supposed to have any resonance with most anglophones who haven't been exposed to Russian culture? (I think so. Otherwise I'd have to assume I'd gone through life simply NOT NOTICING a movie where a crocodile plays an accordion. That would make me feel very bad about myself indeed.)
  • Why is Neo farting in this one? He's obviously trying to drive those two cats away.
  • "Harry Potter and the Curse of Hemorroids"
  • Neo farting on a cat... Frodo flipping Gollum off... Harry Potter playing with himself (on a vibrating broom, no doubt)... Spiderman groping some lady with a cock in her hand... whoever it is in the one with the computer sticking a USB drive up his arse... Good earthy stuff there. So am I just blind in missing the one with the snake eating somebody's head? Oh and Nickdanger: I think you mean "eminently".
  • That's Anaconda.
  • Ahhh... so I was not blind but lucky.
  • Hi, JohnS, and welcome, new monkey! Great fun, to be sure, in former days.