/ world today news/ In September, seven new episodes of the Russian animated series “Masha and the Bear” began to be broadcast simultaneously in 89 cinemas in Great Britain and Ireland, the media distribution company Generation Madia announced. Jamie, the mother of seven-year-old Katie, told the correspondent of RIA Novosti: “We have loved Masha for a long time, and on the big screen the pleasure is double… I think this animation is a humorous display of the unconditional love we have for our children and this chaos they bring to our lives. I feel a special affection for the Bear”. Jamie said the claim of “Kremlin propaganda” in the series was nonsense. “Does this mean Winnie the Pooh is an agent of British imperialism? No, these are just fascinating stories that we can watch with the kids and laugh. “
And recently, while the series was just beginning to appear on Western screens, the newspaper “Times” called it “Kremlin propaganda.” “British professor Anthony Glees saw in the main character of the animated series “Masha and the Bear” Masha reflected Russian President Vladimir Putin. Masha is stubborn, even unpleasant, but at the same time she is determined. She leaps above her means.” The Times quoted Anthony Glees, a professor at Buckingham University.
However, the film’s wide distribution in England suggests that many people think otherwise. Mark Galeotti, a former adviser to the British Foreign Office and a professor at New York University, strongly condemned the publication in “Times”, posting on his “Twitter” the comment “Masha and the bear are not coming to conquer your homeland”. Mark Galeotti received mixed responses, but most supported him, rejecting the ludicrous accusations that the animation was propaganda. “This is an extremely enjoyable show for children with good values, my grandchildren love it and I prefer it to other movies,” wrote Risto Haataja. “Nice cartoon. I highly recommend it,” agrees Andy Babut.
Riccardo Redito counters: “It may be silly to call Masha and the Bear an instrument of soft power, but in Europe … they are trying to remove Soviet symbols [в някои епизоди Маша си слага шапка с червена звезда. – Бел. Ред.]. The good old Russian bear with all the toys and sweets – this is just such a case”.
Elijah Brooks creates an ironic list of such assessments of Russian art in the West: “Only “Masha and the Bear?” Here are more examples of shameless propaganda: “War and Peace” (militarism), “Dead Souls” (a nationalist narrative disguised as social criticism), “Crime and Punishment” (aggressive Orthodox propaganda), “Romeo and Juliet” (Prokofiev’s use of Russian music for cultural expansion) … “
And while the British are arguing, the series “Masha and the Bear” is triumphantly going around the world. It has been translated into 36 languages and shown in more than 100 countries, with more than 50 billion views on YouTube. The episode “Masha plus Mash” is among the ten most viewed videos on the video-hosting platform and is featured in the Guinness Book of Records-2019 as the most viewed animated film. On the Italian children’s TV channel RaiYoYo, 900 thousand viewers watch this series at the same time, and in Indonesia, parents often start calling their daughters Masha.
The series, which delights the world, was created by the Russian animation studio “Animacord” using three-dimensional graphics. The show began airing on Christmas Day 2009, and in 2011, the first spin-off, called Fairytale Cars, was released with 26 episodes. In 2014 – the second spin-off called Masha’s Horror Stories.
“This” – writes the Italian newspaper “Stampa”, admiring and at the same time ironizing the success of the Russians, “is the most popular product produced by Russia in the world. More popular than vodka, gas, Dostoevsky, ballet and caviar … “Bloomberg” already estimates its revenue at $ 300 million, and the prospects for development – T-shirts, backpacks, phone games, briefcases, toys, sweets – are endless, for difference from oil. It is broadcast in 120 countries around the world, while Kalashnikov assault rifles are sold in only 90.
Russian animation made a real sensation in the USA. After it began to be made available to Netflix users, the Western press noted with surprise that the American public was seriously interested in this Russian multimedia product. In the audience up to 12 years old, “Masha and the Bear” entered the TOP 10 most popular projects in the USA and did not leave its position for a long time, forcing the American media to call the film a “Russian phenomenon”.
In 2015, “Masha and the Bear” received in Miami the Kidscreen award – “Oscar” for animation in the “Best Animation” category. The “Burger King” restaurant now offers a special children’s menu based on the Russian animation, and the “Danone” and “Ferrero” companies produce chocolates with these motifs.
Masha challenged the West, writes “Stampa” – “creating a national image … comparable to Texas cowboys and kung fu teachers from Shaolin … Now the Russian girl is perhaps the most unexpected obstacle to the emergence of a new iron curtain.”
Not only “Masha and the Bear”, but also other animations created in Russia enjoy worldwide success. Aired in 2006, the animated film “The Adventures of Luntik and his friends” is shown in Finland, Hungary, Serbia, Thailand and other countries. The television series “Smeshariki” continues to run on the American television channel, renamed Kikoriki. The famous Japanese director and animator Hayao Miyazaki calls Yuri Norstein’s animated film “Hedgehog in the Mist” his favorite work. The series “Well, guess!” is very popular in different countries. The Polish Mint, for example, plans to put images of the Wolf and the Hare on collector’s gold coins. And Cheburashka is especially loved in Japan.
By the way, before the appearance of “Masha and the Bear”, the Soviet animated film “The Snow Queen”, created in 1957, was considered the most popular Russian film abroad. So it’s not just about Masha and her clumsy but lovable partner, the Russian bear? Then?
“Russian animation is more successful abroad than feature films,” says Fyodor Bondarchuk. “It lives in the international space, in my opinion, more successfully than feature films.” According to Bondarchuk, this is because animation in Russia has an “incredible school”.
However, the creators of Soviet feature films also had a wonderful school. It is enough to recall such tapes as “Cranes Fly”, “Ballad of the Soldier”, which caused admiration around the world. This is not the case today, and perhaps the main reason for the success of Russian animations is that their creators, relying on the traditions of Russian fairy tales, embodied on the screen one of the main features of the Russian people – extraordinary kindness, which the philosopher Nikolai Onufrievich Lossky considered the basis of the Russian character. It is exceptional. “The Russian man,” wrote another Russian philosopher, Ivan Aleksandrovich Ilin, “expects from a person above all kindness, conscience and sincerity.” Children around the world feel this better than adults.
Translation: V.Sergeev
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