September 14, 2017

Evil Clowns, Ballerinas, and Other Movie Monsters


Evil Clowns, Ballerinas, and Other Movie Monsters
Blood, Ballet, and Bacon

1. Send in the clowns! Or rather, ban them. And one in specific: Pennywise, the murderous clown from the horror novel-turned-movie It, is making professional clowns fear for their livelihoods. With a new film adaptation set to hit theaters next week, a comedy troupe in St. Petersburg protested the film. Clowns across Russia worry that the film will discredit their profession, making children fear for their lives rather than revel in the joys of red noses and balloon animals.

2. Cinema’s other movie villain this week: a prima ballerina. Not because she turns pointe shoes into a murder weapon, but because the movie, titled Matilda, insults the memory of Russia’s last Tsar, who was canonized in 2000. Incensed by the film’s depiction of Nikolai II’s affair with ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska before he became Tsar, Russian Orthodox activists have attacked several theaters, claiming that they are “forced to break the law.” Fearing more violence, Russia’s top movie theater chain announced that it won’t show the film. So much for the high culture of ballet.

3. Forget Bay of Pigs: Southern Russia saw a Highway of Pigs when pig farmers staged a protest. After authorities seized documents and computers, allegedly as part of a fraud investigation, the farm’s automated feeding mechanism ground to a halt, leaving 28,000 pigs oinking for slop and around 100 farmers protesting on the highway. There’s an ongoing investigation surrounding the pig complex – the largest in the Orenburg region – so it’s still up in the air who will bring home the bacon.

In Odder News
  • Want to scratch your ballet itch without a trip to the movies? Learn about the legacy of Russian ballet around the world.
  • More than 5000 new trees are on their way to Moscow. They’re not walking there, Lord of the Rings style, but it’s still pretty neat.
  • The latest turmoil in the US-Russia sanctions battle: which diplomats get dedicated parking spots. You never know what’s going to hit the hot buttons in international relations.
Quote of the Week

"It's no coincidence that [the film] originated in America; it would not have occurred to anyone in a morally healthy country. I recommend that Russians refrain from viewing it, or even better, that it not be shown in Russia at all. We should preserve our sacred things, our culture, including its symbols of joy like clowns and the circus.”
—United Russia Deputy in Sverdlovsk and former clown Anatoly Marchevsky on the negative impact of the movie It, and why it ought not to be shown in Russia.

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955