Adapting the Foreign in Soviet Animation

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The panel examines how Soviet animation adapted cross-cultural materials, from the Disney animation style in the 1950s, to representations of Greek myths in Soviet animation in the 1970s, to the adaptations of British children's stories by Donald Bisset in popular Soviet animations in the 1980s. Much has been written about the importance of translated literature in Soviet literature, but there has not been an equal attention paid to the importance of translation and adaptation in Soviet animation. This panel looks at three case studies, where "foreign" cultural materials were adapted and absorbed into the domestic socio-cultural context, with special attention to the animations by Aleksandra Snezhko-Blotskaia, Yuri Trofimov,Olga Khodataeva, Ivan Ivanov-Vano, and Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg. We also discuss the problematics of child vs. adult audience in Soviet animation.

Sub Unit

• Cinema, Television, Electronic Media

Chair

• Sabina Amanbayeva, Oklahoma City U

Papers

• Happily Ever After: Soviet Animation from the 1940s and 1950s - Jennifer Boivin, Independent Scholar

• Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece by Soyuzmultfilm - Hanna Paulouskaya, U of Warsaw (Poland)

Discussant

• Sabina Amanbayeva, Oklahoma City U

Session Manager

• Benedict Edward DeDominicis, Catholic U of Korea (South Korea)