I’m a fan of Soviet propaganda art

I’m quite obsessed with videos and posters produced by authoritarian/totalitarian/dictatorship governments (including Soviet Union, Imperialist Japan and Nazi Germany).

Politically, I’m affiliated with a Macau political organisation which promotes democracy and human rights.

As a European citizen (yes, many of Macau people still have Portuguese citizenship), I am a supporter of democratic socialism.

I appreciate the “artistic aspect” of the Soviet propaganda.  The artists at the time successfully created straightforward, simple, effective and “emotional” posters to promote the communist-utopian and anti-capitalist ideas (ideologies).

Furthermore, the Soviet propaganda’s criticism on capitalism and illustration on peace still work today.  (And I’ll show you them)

Fans of Soviet Propaganda?

Despite the fact that I found no “fan clubs” for Soviet arts/propaganda, I believe that there are lots of fans.

There are quite many original and “rebranded” Soviet propaganda videos and posters on video sharing websites.   I started to observe 4 years ago and noticed that there are more and more got uploaded.  It is interesting to find that more than a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Soviet videos gain more popularity the age of web 2.0 globally.

The mentioned videos on video sharing websites have attracted tens of thousands of views and hundreds of comments.   Some expressed their love of the propaganda in the aspect of art (just like me) and some debated communism and the great military/economic power of the former Soviet Union.

Regardless of the angle of appreciation, the views and comments show they are de facto lots of fans of Soviet propaganda.

Although some may argue that the so-called “fans” mostly are the Russian people (former Soviets) motivated by nationalism, I think it is not likely because most comments are in English and about ideological praise or debate.  Nationalistic expressions, like “motherland”, exist but they are rare.

Academic Study?

Of course, there are academically-sound documentaries on Soviet propaganda on the web.  Personally, I think they did good analysis and demonstrated important examples.  However, this kind of “documentary” did not attract many viewers.  So, I believe it is not likely that the fans’ appreciation is related to academic study.

Fans’ Rebranded Products

The rebranded works here refers to the video clips of poster slide-show with background music, technically speaking.  I call they are “rebranded” because the makers try to create new Soviet-looking propaganda with old materials (poster and music).   Beside the transitional effects, they moved and zoomed in-and-out the posters to create some kind of “navigating” effects to let the idea of the posters standout.

Indeed, I think the “rebranded” version do not work as effective as the original ones in term of stimulating people’s emotion.

Furthermore, the sequences of posters do not have a unified idea.  I think the fans could not delivery clear political ideas by rebranded the posters and music.   The viewers merely gave comments on beautiful poster/music/work, besides the ideological debate.

Personally I don’t love (or even watch) the rebranded products because I prefer the “original flavour”.  But there’re really quite many rebranded clips on the web.  The below are some of the most-viewed and most-commented works:

Rebranded Video Clip (Poster Slide-show) Picks:

Hymn of the Soviet Union (approx. 521k views and 3k comments)

Soviet Propaganda Posters (approx. 17k views)

“Original-flavour” Anthem Video

I personally love the original versions, especially the real Soviet anthem (hymm) music video.

The one below is one of my favourites.  It is believed produced around the 80’s.  It showed an impressive picture of Soviet Union’s achievement in industrial production, agriculture, education, science, technology, culture and revolution.  The scene of Kremlin which appeared in the beginning and ending “symbolised” that all achievements are powered by the politics (probably also mean communist party, communist ideals etc.).

I appreciate, by the selection of shots, the Soviets created a great anthem video that could simulate people’s enthusiasm to devote to the union.  All workers look naturally happy and hardworking.    Medicinal doctors and scientists look professional.  It created “convincing” images of the Soviet Union’s “utopian nature”.

Propaganda Animation

The Soviets produced many animations to condemn the fascist (Nazi) invasion and American imperialism.  The notion of propaganda sounds negative but I think its criticism on capitalism of those video still apply today.  It’s amazing that the producers at that time, while they had little direct contact with the west, illustrated very close images of the west.

The below two are also my favorites.  I think the ideas and scenarios in these two animations still “make some sense” in our society nowadays.

Animation 1 (part 2, 08:10 to part 3, 00:30): Even a dog can become a millionaire (In America, money can buy everything).  The dog may be a metaphor for the “bad guys” – just with money, even a dog can upgrade its social status and get elected in the parliament.  At least, it is still true in Macau.

Animation 2 (part 3, 2:11 ~): Unemployed worked found a job – a live target at a shooting range – the capitalist charges double for shooting human being. Under the pressure of high-unemployment rate, the capitalists can ask you to do anything because there’re too many others in queue for the job.

Abstract from documentary “Soviet Animated Propaganda (American Imperialists)”

Part 2:

Part 3:

Conflict – an animation that promotes peace

This animation aroused public’s awareness on possible terrible consequence form tiny conflict.  The animation is just made of very simple story of matches.  I appreciate the simplicity and effectiveness of this story and the pictures.

The Soviet Union had military invasions and unclear arm deployment after WWII although they delivered the “consequence of conflict” (or the importance of peace) message to the Soviet public.

Academic documentary

Further to the animation, I found a series of documentary on Soviet animation propaganda.  A Russian film professor and directors of the time were interviewed.  This documentary described the propaganda “academically-sound” from the American prospective.  However, it didn’t attract many viewers on the web.

Personally, the documentary brings me deeper insight into the propaganda when I appreciate them.  You may watch when you “have free time” as they’re really a bit long.

http://www.spike.com/video/animated-soviet/2810471

http://www.spike.com/video/animated-soviet/2810474

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~ by jasontc on June 8, 2009.