Leonid Gaidai The Diamond Arm - Essay Example

Comedy is a short-cut to community"(Medhurst). Discuss with regard to the film by Leonid Gaidai "The Diamond Arm" Corse Enter and Roll Number University or College Name of Professor March 11, 2013 1. Introduction Comedy is the art of making others happy. It’s not with everyone you think. It’s with those who are gifted to make other people cherish. It can be wild, can be sarcastic, funny, mocking, and ironic or could be slapstick. It can make people giggle at once and could become hilarious the other moment making people fall on the floor while laughing. It’s important to put it in our lives as it frees us from the boring and tough routine making us fresh physically and mentally. According to Brainy Quotes (2001-2013) Lytton said that life can be related to art as it moves about the curvature scattering its attractive nature. It is generally accepted that the first fiction mode of film was “comedy”. Comedy was the most powerful mode of films since the concept of cinema started. It is an inexpensive medium and generally pays a lot. It is the most widespread and unthreatening medium and can actually say a lot if it is directed onto the right theme. It is suggested that the national and historic values should be placed in comedy rather than of time and place. One needs to open up detailed discussions and raise questions rather than closing them down (King, 2002, pp. 01-269). According to Goodreads (2013), Bombeck said that there is a very little line in literature which defines the essence of a play to comedy, anguish, pain, comedy and romance. It uplifts our spirits, our morale; makes us raise our head from a dump. It is a tool of satisfaction, making people come close to one another, revive relationships, and refresh the bonds. It has a language that everyone understands irrespective of the race, cast or ethnicity. 2. Comedy in our lives: The importance of comedy lies within our hearts, in our daily routine. We come home all tired and with a hectic routine but watching or meeting someone who can make you “forget” about your problems, routine work or daily life, refreshes you and it actually over joys you. No comedy in life means remembering all the time about your problems, solutions and your daily life. Something can be found funny when it is expected, unexpected, when something is familiar or something is unfamiliar (Cook, 2010). According to Brainy Quotes (2001-2013) Ustinov said that comedy can be classified as in bringing about smile or laughter on people’s face whereas the actor himself need not necessarily laugh along the audience. There are various types of comedy. The most important ones include slapstick, parody, spoof, satire, irony, sarcasm, farce, black comedy and surrealism. The various ways with which some things can be made comic are the usage of pun and word play, misunderstanding, mock epic and travesty, double entendre and stereotypes. These are the most common ways of making something or someone funny and sometimes hilarious (Cook, 2010). Witty dialogues and sophisticated characteristics make it even more comical. 2.1 Comedy is a short-cut to community: Comedy as a tool divides and subdivides people so that each of them could laugh at one another. They could be divided and categorized in ethnic, religious and cultural differences so that each of them could get the same chance to laugh at one another. A comedy should be solely for the laughing purpose. You laugh and one, so it’s your turn to get ready to be laughed at. While playing comedy the viewer sees a lot of different cuts inserted in it. They are to guide the viewer that think about it or ponder a great line has just been said or laugh at this point. Comedy is important in community. It reminds you that you are there in this world, you do matter. It creates a strong bond, a unity feeling, a chance to look who you are and what others think of you, it stays with you, rejuvenate you and makes all united in one globe under one roof (Medhurst, 2007, pp.18-21). 2.2 Existence of Humor in the Soviet Union: The Soviets emerged being sophisticated in literary terms in the 19th century. The Soviets were instead (and even before) interested in religion rather than having Shakespeare they had religious and scholarly people who called and trained others onto what they say. The Soviets never ever had a Renaissance period or any art period, rather they were more interested in other things. In the 17th and 18th century the Soviets had literature related to its customs and rituals. It was in the 19th century that the Soviets got the humor and satire and later it went beyond this. After the Russian revolution the humor was extremely and politically criticized. It became an issue that the humor writings are never to be satirical; instead they need to be more serious but could give a dual satirical meaning. In 1925 the most famous stories like Homer, Julius Caesar and Shakespeare rendered styles became prominent in the Russian writers like Shklovsky, Tynianov and Viktor Vinogradov. It was in 1930s that the cinemas were introduced to masses. By this time any Russian who lived through 60s knew the importance of a “joke” usually a political one or trying to be or pointing (directly or indirectly) towards the political themes because of the ironic codes and their non-ironic usage. In late Soviet and post-Soviet television comedy, it found a new medium to flourish and still is flourishing (Miln, 2004, pp. 02-14). The tendency (initially) of the mass was upon the genres science fiction, romance, comedies, suspense movies and so on but the interest was not upon the majority of these films because of the poor quality. The demand was of a lighter genre, to soothe and pacify their moods. Often the films that were successful were rated mediocre (Lawto, 1992, pp. 11). The revival of the Russian cinema was witnessed in 1960s, when out of the agitation a new treat was given to the audience. But the most important thing was the two way depiction of the story, through the reality and sarcasm. While other cinemas had nothing to do with this, still the Soviet cinemas loved the duality nature of their politics and their own real faces (Taylor, Christie, 1988, pp. 16-17). 2.3 Era of 1960: The 60s era brought about a negotiating path with the public through its literature. This era was not at all prosperous and jovial for the Soviets and their cultural backgrounds. The genres associated with the freedom of expression, of mind and body became more and more popular as the stress of the daily routine was released. The comedy provided a release of the aggression of the body. Gaidi’s funny side and clever usage of expressions along with the physical characteristics and the dialogues all gave freedom to the minds, souls, language and expressions and the Soviets accepted generously after the death of Iosif Stalin (Prokhorov, 2003, pp.455-472). 2.4 How was comedy fruitful for the Soviet in 60’s: Talking about the cinema, where the world was at one end producing films of different themes of action, romance, comedy, the Soviets were totally on the different side of the world totally interested in directly educating their people about the ideology they had and their political parties have. So in other words, when the world was busy in action, romance and thrills the Soviets were actually educating their people with their real faces. They were teaching their people about their culture, theory and ideology. The 60s was the best time period, both script wise and financially, for the comedy films in the Soviet Union. These comedy films definitely had strong, blunt and an extremely sarcastic themes and the filmmakers Vilen Azarov, Leonid Bykov, Georgii Daneliia, Elem Klimov and Eldar Riazanov were the most popular and maximum ticket selling filmmakers. They produced super hit films like Operation Y and the adventures of Shurik, The captive of the Caucasus or the new adventures if Shurik, The diamond arm, Carnival night, Girl without an address, and How Robinson was created (Prokhorov, 2003, pp.455-472). The more the humor was brought in consideration, the more killing it becomes for the people. Playing with the words and changing accents can be humorous for a limited time, so the focus (automatically) comes onto targeting the fellow actors and going rude and sarcastic. Of course, one cannot make a cup of tea without tearing a teabag or tearing the seal of the milk. One has to be brutal and atrocious while attempting it. The process is (for sure) painful and long but that is how you keep on engaging people and getting along with success, it does not come handy. It is not necessary that the purpose of the comedy is vague or pointless; sometimes it becomes a strong tool to make other people understand the hidden themes and plots (Taylor, 1983, pp. 439-461). 2.5 The Era of The Diamond Arm and the Soviet politics: The making of the films or writing the literature all belongs to the Soviet’s policies and politics. Gaidi’s usage of verbal and written clichés and the usage of horror and the physical comedy all were rotating around the politics of the Soviet at that time. While the politics was becoming more and more conservative taking turns, Gaidi’s film started to reformulate, revise and recycle the verbal and descriptive humor. Gaidi’s usage of different symbols of humor in the 1960s led the Soviet culture towards more rigidity. The stronger the ideology became in their society, the filmmakers bunged in producing films on the ideological themes. As the time passed, the idea of reciprocating the ideology went on being negative in the late 1970s. At the end of the 70s, the experimentation with the economy and aesthetics was banned and Gaidi had a difficult time to maintain his pose in that time of stagnation (Prokhorov, 2003, pp.455-472). 2.6 Leonid Gaidai’s "The Diamond Arm": The Diamond Arm directed by Leonid Gaidai was a super hit and a classical movie of the 1960s. This movie broke all the records and brought about 77 million Russians to the cinema. It was the most successful movie of all times, a classic and an epic comedy which broke all the records, former and latter and became the center of attention of the whole world in no time. The most important aspect of the film was the physical characteristics of the characters, the usage of slapstick and the real scenarios presented in film. Realization of the viewer was the main aim of Leonid Gaidi. He used sight gags with visual references and verbal communication not with the usuals of the comedy rather he created his own principles and experimentation which led to a successful deal with the audience (Prokhorov, 2003, pp.455-472). The director Leonid Gaidai was a splendid director in terms of writing a screen play, directing and choosing the actors. Gaidi (1923-1993) was one of the few directors who have reached the top and touched the sky. He started making comedies in 1960s when the Soviets were not attentive about the comedy since 1920s. Before starting off a new project, Gaidi followed the footsteps of his favorite filmmaker, Charlie Chaplin. Before starting off a project, he watched two films of Chaplin City Lights and the Modern Times made in 1931 and 1935 respectively. To one’s surprise Gaidi shunned the most obvious “satire” and instead chose the “slapstick” comedy. In the longer run this type of comedy proved disastrous as for the Soviet ideology and thus it was not well-appreciated by the people and the government (Prokhorov, 2007, pp. 129-136) 2.7 The Diamond Arm vs. others: A light story, instantaneous responses, the segmentation of story in episodes, the characterization in terms of funny and cartoonish looks all were the highlights dealing exclusively with the comedy styles. Such innovations in the comedy series became extremely popular and were generously opted by others especially the Europeans in 60s. The satire was brought along with the lightheartedness thus giving a warm and radiant feeling to the audience, relaxing them and giving them a fresh wave (Milic, 2006, pp. 1-13). Operation Y and the adventures of Shurik became the first most watched movie of the Soviet Union , The captive of the Caucasus or the new adventures if Shurik brought about 77 million people in cinemas, The diamond arm again the following year became the most watched film with 77 million spectators. In 1995, the Russian Television channel entitled the Diamond Arm with one of the best comedy movie ever produced along with the title of the “Golden Ticket” prize. The most important characteristics that led Leonid Gaidai’s most successful production, "The Diamond Arm"; into a super hit comedy blockbuster which never went unwanted. The most important visual style humor was introduced for the first time. The comedy versus sarcasm, both go parallel but the successful amalgamation and implementation make it a blast the way the filmmakers Gaidi and Riazanov made. The only difference that hindered Riazanov’s film was the usage of pure sarcasm rather than comedy which made Gaidi more successful than anyone could imagine. The visual interest in the characters and the physical humor caught the eye of every man and woman. Gaidi used very important elements very cleverly. He used the physical humor as the primary element and verbal humor as the secondary element. He used exaggerated bodies, the ones which could be displayed as comically attractive. The usage of sight gags (which were never in a flow) and using the moving image with a still image all became the signature styles. The best part of the literary context was that usually the script leads to laughter but in Gaidi’s case the gags led to the script. Gaidi’s policy regarding how to carryout and present the comedy became enormously popular especially with the visual humor and the presentation of the Soviet ideology in the written script became extraordinarily popular as it was a depiction of their minds, thoughts and expressions. Comedy was not a genre to be seriously taken by the critiques but when it started to gain popularity, it became the centre of attention for the critiques because romance, action and suspense were the primary themes of a successful film but Gaidi and other filmmakers changed this concept forever. The filmmakers started to experiment and produced different versions of comedies and the critiques started to criticize them harshly (Prokhorov, 2003, pp.455-472). Another very important aspect of the popularity of the film was the correct usage of the songs, giving a very clear message. The Diamond Arm uses the songs which are well used, show the aspects of a Soviets life, especially of freedom of movement and fear (Prokhorov, 2007, pp. 129-136). 2.7.1Characterization: The characters in the story were as if they were real. The characters were made, painted and characterized in such a manner that no one had a doubt about faking for once. It felt like it were their traits. Emotions, enthusiasm and passion of the characters could be seen while dancing, drinking, teasing, singing and expressing. The jovial nature of the characters, the humbleness, the seriousness, the wickedness all is purely visible in the cast. The perfect selection, brilliant acting, and the characteristics of the cast (physically) all went straight to being super hit (Prokhorov, 2007, pp. 129-136). 2.7.2 Depiction: The depiction and the theme was the power of the Soviets. Love, hatred, tragedy, morality, ethics, success, struggle all were the themes and the plots of the film in the Soviet during the 60s. They used real life characters in order to take a closer look at their society and who they are. The Diamond Arm uses the songs which are well used, show the aspects of a Soviets life, especially of freedom of movement and fear, the freedom of body and sexuality. The silly humor and the political agendas of some kind were a result of political dissidence of the soviet regime in 1960s. The songs in the film (played in the background) totally depicted the life a Soviet man, from a normalized situation to a total terror environment. The main themes of the songs which were of course the depiction of a common man represented the feelings of freedom, moving here and there and the right to live however and wherever they wanted to live. The song “The Island of Bad Luck” is the actual parody of the Soviet song “The song of the Motherland” which was an unofficial anthem of Soviet Union that praised their new constitution of 1930s and wished that the Soviet Union would be a happy land enjoying freedom and the comforts of nature. But the “Island of Bad Luck” describes that the people have always been victims and never had the bird of “Freedom”. This song tells the people that you are still living in a utopia, come out of it; enjoy your freedom that belongs to you. The second song, “the song about Hares” was made fit onto the scene when Semen gets drunk, fearless and strong and starts singing this song about hares who are cowards. This song does not have a direct link with any of the political agendas still this could be interpreted that the Soviets are still like cowards, and that when something comes for their country, they will all run with fear (Prokhorov, 2007, pp. 129-136). 2.7.3 Theme: Irrespective of what others think, the Soviets tend to ponder onto the fact that who and what they were. They wanted the freedom of expression, of body, of movement, of sexuality and of their right to live peacefully and freely. Realization was the main theme of the filmmakers of this time and so was of Gaidi (Prokhorov, 2007, pp. 129-136). 2.7.4 Story Line: Semyon Gorbunkov, a kindhearted man of a modest family goes over a vacation by a cruise ship and by accident breaks his arm. In the same location, a gang of smugglers had been waiting for their person who was supposed to have a broken arm too. By mistake the smugglers think that this was their man. So the bandage him with jewels, gold and diamond and set him off for home. Soon the smugglers figured out that they created a mess and went after him to get things straight. When Gorbunkov finally figures out the value of his arm and contacts the higher authorities to return it to the rightful owner (Prokhorov, 2007, pp. 129-136). 2.8 Critique’s View: Gaidi‘s production has been very clever, carefully crafted, gags, slapstick, highly polished script all praise the film thus leading it the success peak. Nikulin (Semen) has not trained as a professional actor yet he has proved himself that either its verbal comedy or the physical comedy he can do his best and put efforts in order to make it successful. It was also with the hardwork of the other cast that led this film to touch the peak. Gaidi gives full energy to release this comedy and that is why it was amongst the top ranking films of Soviet times (Beumers, 2011, pp. 133-134). 3. Conclusion The true depiction of a community is through comedy. It definitely is a short-cut to what a community or a society looks like. Leonid Gaidai portrayed the true nature of the Soviet Union back in 1960 when there was intense fear, rage, imprisonment among the Soviets. It was Gaidi’s efforts that led us know what it was like back in 60s with the Soviets. The Diamond Arm brought about the fresh wave for the Soviets, a message of freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of movement, the right to live freely, about body language, sexuality, about their real faces, like who you are and what you think you are creates a huge difference in literary terms. That is one of the main reason why Gaidi’s The Diamond Arm gained immense popularity that it led a Soviet out of the boundaries, the political boundaries that have been defined for centuries. The comedy is extremely important in our culture and society. It plays an important role as it allows us to express beliefs, values, thoughts and emotions leading to a healthy and good life (Mintz, 1985, pp.71-80) 4. References  Beumers, B., 2011, Directory of World Cinema: Russia, UK: Guetenberg Press. Bombeck, E., 2013. Goodreads. [Online] Available at: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/13143-there-is-a-thin-line-that-separates-laughter-and-pain [Accessed March 12, 2013]. Cook, C., 2010. What is comedy and what makes something funny? [Online] Available at http://www.languagefoundry.com/comedy.html [Accessed March 12, 2013] King, G., 2002, Film Comedy, UK: Wallflower Lawto, A., 1992, Kinoglasnost: Soviet Cinema in our Time , UK: Cambridge University of Press. Lytton, E., 2001-2013, Brainy Quotes. [Online] Available at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edward_g_bulwerlytton.html [Accessed March 12, 2013]. Medhurst, A., 2007, National Joke: Popular Comedy And English Cultural Identity,USA :Routledge Milic, S., 2006. Sight Gags and Satire in the Soviet Thaw: Operation Y and other Shuriks Adventures in "Sense of cinema. [Online] Available at http://sensesofcinema.com/2004/33/operation_y/ [Accessed March 11, 2013] Miln, L., 2004, Reflective Laughter: Aspects of Humour in Russian Culture, London: Wimbledon Publishing Company Mintz, L., 1985, Standup Comedy as Social and Cultural Mediation, Vol. 37, No. 1, Special Issue: American Humor (Spring, 1985), pp. 71-80 : The Johns Hopkins University Press Prokhorov, A., 2003. "Cinema of Attractions versus Narrative Cinema:Leonid Gaidais Comedies and Elddar Riazanovs satire of the 1960s" in Slavic Review, Vol. 62,No.3, pp.455-472 Prokhorov, A., 2007, The cinema of Russia and the Former Soviet Union, edited by Birgit Beumers , London: Wallflower Press. Taylor, R., 1983. Cinema for the Millions: Soviet Socialist Realism and the Problem of Film Comedy, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 18, No.3, Part 1: Sage Publications Ltd. Taylor, R., Christie, I. 1988, The Film Factory: Russian and Soviet Cinema in Documents 1896-1939, USA: Routledge Ustinov, P., 2001-2013, Brainy Quotes. [Online] Available at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/peterustin161731.html [Accessed March 12, 2013]. Read More