4 ms·

Why would anyone boycott Anna Karenina or any of the Russian classics? How can you even be "torn" about it? There's only one right answer.

by the_af 4y ago

InCityDreams 4y ago
>There's only one right answer. Everybody make your own damn mind up.
- DeWilde 4y ago
  Boycotting cultural works unrelated to this war crosses in the territory of fascism for me, so there is not much making of mind that I have to do.
  - watwut 4y ago
    It is fascist to decide to not watch movies made by fascists? People are free to not read feminists books and most of them don't precisely because of who authors are. But, why is willingness to go out of your way for art made by fascist always the mandatory test? (And yes the director counts in that category.)
    - lotusmars 4y ago
      Even Russians don’t really watch vanity garbage made by this director (Shakhnazarov). The only reason he gets huge budgets and heads state filmmaking companies is because he’s an enormous Putin and war supporter.
    - DeWilde 4y ago
      I wasn't referring to this movie in particular but just culture in general. But that also applies to this movie if the creators ideology hasn't leaked into it. Haven't watched so can't say.
lotusmars 4y ago
[flagged]
hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
I had thought that, too, but then I read this and it changed my overall perception a bit: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1516162437455654913.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1516162437455654913.html
- the_af 4y ago
  The implications of that article are pretty dangerous. It's one tiny step removed from plain claiming some (Russian) authors should be canceled or not read because there's some folklore surrounding their importance for the construction of the national identity, and/or they defended some nationalistic ideals, and/or school children are taught silly nonsense about them. Not many classic authors in any language would survive that filter. Why, if we were to bar pieces of culture because school children are taught silliness about them, not much of the culture of the English-speaking world would survive! I get that the current trend is to abhor anything Russian -- and also, that the current situation has not made it easy to sympathize with Russian-ness -- but really... this kind of articles is positively Orwellian. Nothing good can come from ignoring/banning/canceling classic authors.
  - hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
    I see your point and I agree with most that you wrote. I don't believe the article I linked to is dangerous, though. It clarified many things for me (not to mention putting Brodsky in a new context, personally I found it quite shocking). I remember watching the Chinese movie Hero (2002), sponsored by the state. The main premise of this beautiful movie is that dictatorship has its value that must be respected, and only people with deeper insight can understand it. Banning such works serves no purpose, but it's important for people to learn to spot manipulation and propaganda.
    - the_af 4y ago
      I sure hope they never ban "Hero", it's one of my favorite wuxia movies! I don't see it as propaganda at all, regardless of the ambiguous interpretation of its ending. As far as I can see it has many people from Hong Kong in its cast -- including the awesome Maggie Cheung -- and the production company was from Hong Kong. Regardless, I don't consider "sponsored by the state" to be a naughty word, nor do I consider "fully privately sponsored" to be a badge of honor.

Why would anyone boycott Anna Karenina or any of the Russian classics? How can you even be "torn" about it? There's only one right answer.

by the_af 4y ago

Why would anyone boycott Anna Karenina or any of the Russian classics? How can you even be "torn" about it? There's only one right answer.

InCityDreams 4y ago

>There's only one right answer. Everybody make your own damn mind up.

DeWilde 4y ago
Boycotting cultural works unrelated to this war crosses in the territory of fascism for me, so there is not much making of mind that I have to do.
- watwut 4y ago
  It is fascist to decide to not watch movies made by fascists? People are free to not read feminists books and most of them don't precisely because of who authors are. But, why is willingness to go out of your way for art made by fascist always the mandatory test? (And yes the director counts in that category.)
  - lotusmars 4y ago
    Even Russians don’t really watch vanity garbage made by this director (Shakhnazarov). The only reason he gets huge budgets and heads state filmmaking companies is because he’s an enormous Putin and war supporter.
  - DeWilde 4y ago
    I wasn't referring to this movie in particular but just culture in general. But that also applies to this movie if the creators ideology hasn't leaked into it. Haven't watched so can't say.

lotusmars 4y ago

[flagged]

hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago

I had thought that, too, but then I read this and it changed my overall perception a bit: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1516162437455654913.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1516162437455654913.html

the_af 4y ago
The implications of that article are pretty dangerous. It's one tiny step removed from plain claiming some (Russian) authors should be canceled or not read because there's some folklore surrounding their importance for the construction of the national identity, and/or they defended some nationalistic ideals, and/or school children are taught silly nonsense about them. Not many classic authors in any language would survive that filter. Why, if we were to bar pieces of culture because school children are taught silliness about them, not much of the culture of the English-speaking world would survive! I get that the current trend is to abhor anything Russian -- and also, that the current situation has not made it easy to sympathize with Russian-ness -- but really... this kind of articles is positively Orwellian. Nothing good can come from ignoring/banning/canceling classic authors.
- hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
  I see your point and I agree with most that you wrote. I don't believe the article I linked to is dangerous, though. It clarified many things for me (not to mention putting Brodsky in a new context, personally I found it quite shocking). I remember watching the Chinese movie Hero (2002), sponsored by the state. The main premise of this beautiful movie is that dictatorship has its value that must be respected, and only people with deeper insight can understand it. Banning such works serves no purpose, but it's important for people to learn to spot manipulation and propaganda.
  - the_af 4y ago
    I sure hope they never ban "Hero", it's one of my favorite wuxia movies! I don't see it as propaganda at all, regardless of the ambiguous interpretation of its ending. As far as I can see it has many people from Hong Kong in its cast -- including the awesome Maggie Cheung -- and the production company was from Hong Kong. Regardless, I don't consider "sponsored by the state" to be a naughty word, nor do I consider "fully privately sponsored" to be a badge of honor.