How foreign authors work with Slavic culture
The other day for Rise of the Tomb Raider The addition of “Awakening of cold darkness” about zombies with a research base and other damn thing was released.
In general, with the release of this game, the ranks of the ill-wishers of Rihanna Pratchett were replenished by the defenders of the Slavic culture: the fact that the legend of Kitezh-grade in the vision of the screenwriter is far from the representations of the folklorists, part. Say, not only is the mythical edge in the game is located a thousand kilometers north of the Nizhny Novgorod region, but also a journey there at Miss Pratchett is fraught with the intrigue and mysticism of the TV channel TV-3-solid nobility even by the standards of Tomb Raider.
However, if we consider the form of this story as an attempt to combine two mythologems-Kitezh-Grad and Siberia in its stereotypical Western representation (which is a curious myth in itself), the girl can be fully justified. Still, cases when, in search of textured material, Western authors stumble upon Slavic folklore, and then shamelessly use it in a not very obvious context, are by no means rare.
In support of this, we publish a selection of works where foreign vision is combined with the Slavic flavor – in different cultural forms, genres and proportions.
Cultural memory
► The Baltic Slavs of Chernobog were depicted and described as an unusually evil and strong creature, so it is not surprising that the authors of fierce games like blood were adopted by his image.
To use elements of national mythologies in games has long become a habit, moreover, they borrow not only from classical ancient traditions, but also, say, from Scandinavian legends (see. at least Viking: Battle for Asgard , One of the works of Rihanna Pratchett). None of the large Western studios has yet risked entirely to build a plot on Slavic myths, but the characters there often appear in games.
Especially popular with the developers of Baba Yaga, the oldest creature of Slavic folklore. IN Alan Wake It is mentioned by the Rock-Collection of Old Gods of Asgard, and in the “Witcher” the forest witch served as a prototype of one of the monsters. IN Castlevania: Lords of Shadow The old woman appears with black cosmas, dry limbs, all in exotic jewelry from sticks and skulls – and sends us to look for the keys to the box, where he later puts the reduced magic of the hero.
► The image of a woman-yaga in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is close to traditional, although the witch does not reduce other people in folklore-only himself to move in a mortar.
And in the first issue Quest for Glory 1989 Baba Yaga heads the pantheon of predatory fairy-tale creatures and has a classic reputation of the cannibal. Although much more curious the fourth part of the game where the action takes place in the fictional Eastern European country of Mordovia. In addition to a twisted witch, the plot is present in the brownie and goblin, and this is especially funny, given the context – Gothic history with the participation of vampires and almost Lovecraft god Avuzl sleeping in a cave. Unexpected combination.
In modern series, dedicated to legends and mysticism, the invention of Slavic peoples also often dilute the common unattractive background of vampires, zombies and werewolves. In the "Supernatural", for example, there was a goblin – according to the script, pagan forest god from the Balkans. He knew how to turn into any person, touching him or his thing, and most often chose celebrities: so you can drink the blood of imprudent fans, fall asleep into the stomach and fertilize the forest with corpses. In the end, one of the heroes chopped off his head on the gobard with an ax – and this was all the more spectacular that Paris Hilton played the role of the goblin in the episode (they say, the actress in the image really liked it).
► In the "Supernatural" heroine Paris Hilton suffered in approximately the same way as her heroine died in the remake of the "House of Wax Figures": there the girl pierced the girl with a pipe.
No less boldly foreign screenwriters treated Koshchei. In the version of the authors of the series "Grimm", this is an unpleasant bald man with deeply planted, binded eyes, which also shine ominously. In human form – a middle -aged man with a beard. The death in the egg does not seem to keep, but he knows how to treat diseases and infect people with radiation. Two diametrically opposite abilities help him seduce women, commit and atone for sins. In the past, a hero named Boris Myshkin successfully worked for the FSB.
► In the "Grimm" Koschey, it turns out to be a tragic, tormented by the torment of conscience with a character. Which, however, has little in common with the villain from fairy tales.
According to the mythology of the series, Grigory Rasputin was Koshchem, so the deviation from the canons of Russian fairy tales was not the worst freesty of the scriptwriters yet.
From the mouth to the massacle
In full -length cinema, the heroes of Slavic folklore also often get episodic roles. So, last year’s “Dracula” the participation of Baba Yaga was originally planned, which Samantha Barks was supposed to play. However, all scenes with the participation of the actress were cut out during the final installation.
Among the exceptions are the film "Baba Yaga" by the Italian author Corrado Farina, which is entirely dedicated to this lady. Another thing is that Yaga is far from the image of a fabulous evil old woman. The director represents a sorceress as a pretty, middle-aged lesbian who launches a series of mystical events against Valentina's photographic girl-photographer. Farina shot his film based on the artist Gvido Krepax, the artist’s semi-erotic comic book, but it’s difficult to say how closely the works of both authors are connected with Russian folklore, nevertheless, this is still related to the Slavic Baba Yaga.
► "Baba Yaga" Corrado Farina-cinema strange and unique. At least the only thing where the villain wears a hat with a mesh and moves to Rolls-Royce instead of a stupa.
In comics, red -skinned Hellboy regularly encounters mythical creatures – from fairies and elves to an English folk monster in iron boots. He is also familiar with Yaga. According to mythology, in 1964, Hellboy, investigating the disappearance of the children, found a carnivorous witch and knocked out her left eye; Since then, she has been trying to take revenge on him. The incident happened in the village of Bereznik, but it is not entirely clear which one – in Russia it is a fairly common toponym.
Among other things, the evil old woman in the comics influenced the young Joseph Stalin and has an almost related relationship with Rasputin, and in one of the issues it instructs to kill Hellboy Koshchei to the immortal. He ultimately kills Vasilisa Beautiful, after which he suffers greatly.
Among https://royal-lama-casino.co.uk/ the Yaga’s antagonists in the Hellboy universe there are also heroes of Slavic origin-for example, Leshius (leads resistance in the projection of Russia created by the witch) and the god Lightning Perun, which helps the Demon Hero here. The most curious concentration of Slavic-folklore creatures is observed in the limited Darkness Call series, but Baba Yaga herself appeared in different plots and is generally considered one of the key villains of the comic book.
► But Mike Mignola, the author of comics about Hellboy, the Yaga is a natural monster, unwowed and capable of creating parallel worlds.
From time to time, Western comic book authors turn to Russian pagan gods. Perun, for example, has several profile pages on the large thematic website of Comic Vine-separate for each publishing house or a series of comics.
So, in the Marvel universe, the lover of lightning is a member of the team of Russian superheroes Supreme Soviets. He knows how to fly, incredibly strong and perfectly wields an ax. In one of the issues, Perun even enters the open battle with the Hulk.
And in Supergod Warren Ellis, the Hero of Slavic legends served as a prototype for a semi -chibernetic, chained in metal of God with a golden beard. He is adjacent here, among others, with the intricate version of Indian Krishna, the Soviet robot Novaya Goraj and the result of an attempt by Iranian scientists to create an angel.
The second most popular representative of the Slavic pantheon in comics can be called Svarog. In the same Marvel, this is the Supreme God, responsible for the sun, rain, fire and sky; Its cameo is in the epic The Infinity Gauntlet and in some drawn stories about Thor.
► In the interpretation of Warren Ellis Perun, he was even more colorful than a gray -haired thunderer of myths.
In the latter, Chernobog also appears, whose image in a modern foreign culture is also readily used: the character was the final boss of the shooter Blood , opposed us in modification PSYCHOPHOBIA For the second Doom and appeared as a demon in the games of the series Megami Tensei.
So clean the physiognomy of Zeus in God of War 3 – not yet the most curious of classes available to a cultural person in computer games. And even in the comics, it happens that even Rihanna Pratchett cannot invent.
Slavic bazaar
Outstanding British writer Neil Gaiman in the novel “American Gods” mixes various mythology (there are, for example, characters from Egyptian and Scandinavian myths), without depriving the Slavic attention. Chernobog works on a cattle-beam here, smokes cigarettes without a filter, eats borsch and lives in a Chicago apartment with three zorye sisters, which are connected in folk traditions with Dazhdbog, the god of the sun and fertility.
And in the novel Hammered (not published in Russian), Perun is no less eccentrically represented: according to the vision of the author, Kevin Hirnah, the god of thunder does not disdain the pales of the moonshine, and indeed he looks like a hectic Russian man.
► In addition to the folklore gods, Gaiman used fictional, modern. For example, the gods of the Internet and mobile communications.
But the writer Katherine Valentise with her surrealistic Deathles achieved absolute success in the processing of Slavic folklore. This is a gloomy fairy tale in the scenery of the occupied Leningrad, where there is a committee of the brownie and a character named Nagan, and Koschey the immortal turns out to be the unfortunate king of life (as opposed to the king of death of Viu), practicing in relations with Marya Morevna an innocent BDSM.
Valentise complicates Russian tales to the so -called adult fantasy, moreover, quite skillfully, although not every Russian person can seriously read. In the West, the author’s efforts were appreciated by the nomination for a prestigious mythopoietic prize, but, due to the lack of a translation about this novel, few know.
The Slavic Chronicles Caroline Cherry (known as the Russian Trilogy) have become another example of how the competent author of the fantasy can use the corresponding mythology. The effects of the books "Mermaid", "Chernivog" and "Eugene" takes place in alternative Kievan Rus, where there was a place for mermaids, goblin, water and similar. The name of the second book of the cycle is a reference to Chernobog (this is one of the options for writing his name), which plays an important role in all novels.
► Deathless is far from the first, but one of the most striking attempts to show the wrong side of the fabulous world.
The material unusual for the Western public quickly selected Caroline Cherry in the genre; Some critics called the trilogy the best way to get acquainted with Slavic myths. However, even without cultural subtext, this is a strong thing, interesting to a wide reader.
In a word, most often Slavic folklore manifests itself in foreign authors in the form of careful borrowings: when a house or a goblin is suddenly found in the game, series or book. There are few more risking to work with mythology, but if this happens, the work certainly attracts attention.
And in this sense, Rise of the Tomb Raider came out quite a natural story. Another thing is that you can also build a plot on Slavic mythologems in different ways (the same novels by Katherine Valentine and Caroline Cherry are primarily strong fiction, and only then exotic for the Western market), and here Miss Prathchets can really arise.