Igor Kovalev is a teacher at the design school where I am studying now. About a week ago, I approached him and, as a fan, asked him to draw Tommy Pickles for me as a souvenir. It was quite awkward, but now every time I look at this drawing, I involuntarily smile
Eastern animation is stamped all over The Simpsons. The family are yellow because of a Hungarian born artist and designer named Gyorgi Kovacs-Peluce. According to Kovacs-Peluce, she chose the color yellow for the Simpsons because she felt that there was something alien about them, but they were also your typical family, so she wanted a color both strange but also universal and yellow just felt like the right fit. Even Matt Groening has expressed his remorse that she's never been given proper credit. She also went on to do the color design for Rugrats and KIasky Csupo's adult animated series Duckman, a series about a the professional and private life of a duck who's a private detective and widowed father raising his three children (two are conjoined twins) with the help of his misandrist sister-in-law and comatose mother-in-law who can only communicate via farts. It's the kind of you would expect from the director of Hen, His Wife.
You’re absolutely right-there’s so much influence from Eastern European animation, especially with its wacky and experimental approach! It’s amazing to see how those styles blended into American animation in the 90s and 2000s. It’s such a pity that more people don’t know about these contributions and the incredible artists behind them!
@@ArtWarp Another interesting Rugrats fact is that the character were partly designed by Korean American animator Peter Chung, who would go on to create the avant-garde Science Fiction animated series Aeon Flux. The reason the characters in Aeon Flux have these hyper athletic and super long and thin bodies like the subjects of Egon Schiele paintings is because Chung was burnt out on drawing cute, chubby round characters for Rugrats and wanted to create something the exact opposite. Aeon Flux itself is heavily influenced by his childhood in South Korea, the story concerns two warring nations that border one another but are separated by a wall: Monica (the title character's home country and an anarchist utopia whose actions often seem less like attempts at liberating their neighbors and more pure terrorism) and Bregna (a technocratic but largely benevolent but totalitarian state). It's a great series, gorgeous animation.
There was plenty of state-funded Soviet animation that was still highly artistic and experimental. Animation for adults was an existing genre in USSR, even if quite niche. For an easy example, "Potec" was technically made by a state-funded studio (the studio "Ekran" that would spawn "Pilot" around the same time). And hell, even in works that have clear propaganda tones, or were simply made for children, you can still see a lot of artistic vision and individuality (you start your video by showing Yozhik v Tumane). And ironically, being state-funded was part of the reason why. When you don't have to cater to a broad audience to make a profit, you have more artistic freedom in some ways. Of course, there's censorship, but ironically, simply avoiding some arbitrary taboo topics is easier to reconcile with artistic integrity than constantly having to entertain an audience. You can work around taboo subject matter using metaphors and symbolism, but you can only have so much creativity when your job is to create a twenty-fifth sequel to a billion dollar franchise that is expected to bring profits and feed hundreds of people. It's a shame that a lot of this auteur animation legacy is all but forgotten now in the modern Russian landscape. This is probably what Tatarsky was worried about, but with the crash of USSR, it was somewhat inevitable that niche artistic animation would fizzle out in favor of more traditionally appealing profitable products.
Okay. This came to my reccommened out of nowhere. Once I saw more of the clues, I let out an audiable gasp when I realized what studio was inspired by this style. I'm actually floored. Klasky-Csupo can trace its inspiration to Russian animation. And wait....you said he worked on The Simpsons??? ..........IS THIS WHAT THE WORKER AND PARASITE JOKE WAS REFERENCING!?
The story behind The Worker & Parasite Show is actually fascinating! According to The Simpsons director David Silverman, the animation style was inspired by the Croatian (then Yugoslavian) Academy Award-winning short film Surogat (Ersatz, 1961) by Dušan Vukotić. It’s a fantastic short with incredible geometric animation-you can find it on UA-cam if you’re interested! As for the content, it’s rumored to reference a specific period when Tom & Jerry was outsourced to then-communist Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) in 1961, under animator Gene Deitch. After MGM’s cartoon studio closed in 1958, the series was produced in Eastern Europe, known at the time for its skilled animators. However, the Czechoslovak episodes of Tom & Jerry turned out… quite different. They had a darker, more unsettling tone and a more realistic take on violence, which clashed with the typical vibe of American animation. It’s fascinating how much influence Eastern European animation has had on American animation! :)
there is a record player that existed that was built into a small Volkswagen van that would play the record by driving in circles on top of the record. I was surprised when seeing the scene, but I think that'd be a mild reference to that. wonder if they even "officially" existed in the Soviet Union.
thanks for giving a explanation of the symbolisms in hen her wife, y have watched it many times and now knowing the meaning makes me aprecciate the work even more! x)
I'm not gonna lie, I never really was a fan of Klasky-Csupo's malformed, ugly, wrinkly art style (it works for Ahh! Real Monsters, but the humans just look weird to me) but with the explanation, it made me respect Kovalyev's work and it's cool that it shows in well-renowned cartoons.
This used to show on American TV occasionally (they wouldn't translate the title, so it was years until I learned what it was called). Does anybody remember what channel screened it? Was it Bravo? MTV? A&E?
Maybe the wife seeing the claws on her husband is an observation of weakness; when her husband points out her inadequacy of being a hen, she realizes that HE is weak, and she can find someone better. Even if he changes, by supressing his urges, he is still the same man. In general, people tend to fall in love with people who have similar traits to themselves, so her husband falling in love with her is a subconscious sign that he is like her. Though, this is my point of view on it, I feel like you definitely got a way better take away from it.
That’s a great observation! In Russian, “maggots” (lichinki / личинки) is indeed sometimes used as a derogatory term for children (usually someone else’s, though, ahah). It's quite an outdated expression, so I hadn’t thought of that before! My interpretation is based on an article by film scholar Alexei Orlov, titled Freudian Symbolism in Animated Film (www.kinozapiski.ru/ru/article/sendvalues/813/), but even researchers can miss certain layers of meaning. As for the “hen,” I’ve seen people suggest it’s a derogatory term for a "wife", but that’s not entirely accurate. It’s usually used in Russian to describe a clumsy or not particularly intelligent woman. That said, it could still represent the wife's character!
Huh, interesting, I'll look a bit more into it. Surprisingly never heard of this connection. Maybe you're more aware of the history of Pilot studio than I'm? I know they shifted pretty early to 3d animation and did a couple of iconic political satire shows in the late 90's early 2000's, but I lost their track around 2005. And I lost the track of Tatarskiy as well. And my students are always asking about both studio and its main man when I show them those later 3d satires. Also, unfortunately, in Russian culture Tatarskiy became THE name for the style as not many people are even aware of Kovalev. It's a shame. Also also, I think you would enjoy "Elevator" or "Lift" - a bizzare collection of shorts from Pilot studio. It's much less Freudian but still quite mind bending
Absolutely! Igor Kovalyov really does feel like a dark horse in the world of animation-his work deserves so much more recognition. That’s actually one of the main reasons I wanted to make this video :) I’m not too familiar with Pilot Studio’s 3D projects, but I’ll definitely check them out-thank you for the recommendation! And yes, Lift is amazing! I absolutely love it-the variety of animation techniques and all those little ‘mini-stories’ are just brilliant. Pilot Studio’s humor is something else-they always manage to come up with the most absurd and ridiculous scenarios, and it works so well, ahaha
@ArtWarp Oh, so there're a few of them, many starring titular Pilot Brothers from the original cartoon about the Case of the lost Elephant. 1. It's "Fruttis Antic" where Pilot Brothers were hosts for visiting Russian celebreties of the nineties, asking those celebs some questions and such and also product placing Fruttis brand of yougurt. That's the earliest using 3D one as far as I know. 2. Is "Academi of yor own mistaces" (Академия Собственных Ашибок, the misspeling is deliberate). It's a sorta sequel to the "Fruttis Attic". A political promotion for economical reform program back in '97 as far as I remember, I need to check some notes. It also doubles as economical education program and triples as a political satire. It's almost unknown in modern Russia. 3. "Lights out" (Тушите свет) is a fully and proper satire show about Russian Politics which aired at the turn of the Millenium. It has two new main characters based on Soviet children show hosts from "Good night, little ones" Later on the show changed its format a bit and became known as "Red arrow", named after a famous train on which the show now takes place. Those two are actually somewhat well remembered though very far from being big staples of Russian pop culture. I believe, many of them are awailable on UA-cam, though in original Russian. If you'd like to discuss any of this further you can contact me directly, I'd be happy to help.
@ArtWarp Yeah, I completely agree about Lift! Their traditional animation is something out of this world. And Pilot studio was one of the bolder ones in New Russia as well and somewhat successful. They continued to experiment with formats, commercialization and even tried different media throughout 90's and early 2000's. Like, they even licenced (or maybe even partially produced) a few adventure games based on Pilot Brothers characters. And those games were successful and fondly remembered
Thank you so much for the comprehensive list-you’re the best! I’m definitely going to check all of it out. Their work fascinates me, especially in the context of the huge political and social shifts in Soviet and Russian society. I’ve always loved many of their works, but the Pilot Brothers series holds a special place in my heart because I grew up with it, watching it on repeat, ahah. I was born in 1990s Russia before immigrating, so I actually remember owning the Pilot Brothers game-it was an absolute treasure for me in the early 2000s!
It would seem the defeathered or naked chicken is in reference to the philosopher Diogenes and him plucking the feathers of a live chicken and calling it a man to embarrass another philosopher's theory/observation.
Так это не сам мультик, получается, который «повлиял». Это стиль у аниматора такой. Ну или надо было показать, как мотивы мульта проявились в американских работах Ковалёва. Иначе подмена смысла, и непонятно зачем.
I saw Hen on UA-cam years ago. I thought is was very strange and dark and grotesque and now that you explain all the symbolism, it seems much worse. I think I will refrain from watching it again. IT is like watching a video of close ups of horrible skin diseases now.
Most of the late Soviet animation is ugly or at least unpleasant-looking. I guess deliberately so, as it covertly shows the ugly reality of life in USSR. So yeah, it's nor for everyone, moreover, it's mostly for those who lived in USSR.
Such a limited take. Without soviet animation, there would also be no Ghibli, no Tartakovsky or Pimbleton on Cartoon Network. Taking about the limitations is limiting.
I miss the Soviet Union. I was born in 1990 but still. It wasn’t perfect but literally the very fact it existed let to improved conditions for workers all over the world. I just found out on Christmas that my dad was one of the economists that went over there to help advise the transition (“shock therapy”) and I literally almost slapped him at the dinner table (those policies literally killed many people and destroyed thousands of lives)
@@warrenbradford2597 It's interesting to me how people that grew up in a fully capitalistic environment sometimes struggle with the idea that art is not always made to be appealing or entertaining. The animation is ugly not to be funny, but to convey a surreal grotesque vision of the world, because the situation it covers is pretty ugly by itself. It's not for everyone.
Igor Kovalev is a teacher at the design school where I am studying now. About a week ago, I approached him and, as a fan, asked him to draw Tommy Pickles for me as a souvenir. It was quite awkward, but now every time I look at this drawing, I involuntarily smile
Eastern animation is stamped all over The Simpsons. The family are yellow because of a Hungarian born artist and designer named Gyorgi Kovacs-Peluce. According to Kovacs-Peluce, she chose the color yellow for the Simpsons because she felt that there was something alien about them, but they were also your typical family, so she wanted a color both strange but also universal and yellow just felt like the right fit.
Even Matt Groening has expressed his remorse that she's never been given proper credit. She also went on to do the color design for Rugrats and KIasky Csupo's adult animated series Duckman, a series about a the professional and private life of a duck who's a private detective and widowed father raising his three children (two are conjoined twins) with the help of his misandrist sister-in-law and comatose mother-in-law who can only communicate via farts. It's the kind of you would expect from the director of Hen, His Wife.
You’re absolutely right-there’s so much influence from Eastern European animation, especially with its wacky and experimental approach! It’s amazing to see how those styles blended into American animation in the 90s and 2000s. It’s such a pity that more people don’t know about these contributions and the incredible artists behind them!
@@ArtWarp Another interesting Rugrats fact is that the character were partly designed by Korean American animator Peter Chung, who would go on to create the avant-garde Science Fiction animated series Aeon Flux.
The reason the characters in Aeon Flux have these hyper athletic and super long and thin bodies like the subjects of Egon Schiele paintings is because Chung was burnt out on drawing cute, chubby round characters for Rugrats and wanted to create something the exact opposite. Aeon Flux itself is heavily influenced by his childhood in South Korea, the story concerns two warring nations that border one another but are separated by a wall: Monica (the title character's home country and an anarchist utopia whose actions often seem less like attempts at liberating their neighbors and more pure terrorism) and Bregna (a technocratic but largely benevolent but totalitarian state). It's a great series, gorgeous animation.
@@ArtWarpklaskey caupo had a lot of eastern Soviet animators working at the studio.
Klaskey csupo also had a lot of other Eastern European animators working on it and Gabor csupo came from the east
There was plenty of state-funded Soviet animation that was still highly artistic and experimental. Animation for adults was an existing genre in USSR, even if quite niche. For an easy example, "Potec" was technically made by a state-funded studio (the studio "Ekran" that would spawn "Pilot" around the same time). And hell, even in works that have clear propaganda tones, or were simply made for children, you can still see a lot of artistic vision and individuality (you start your video by showing Yozhik v Tumane). And ironically, being state-funded was part of the reason why. When you don't have to cater to a broad audience to make a profit, you have more artistic freedom in some ways. Of course, there's censorship, but ironically, simply avoiding some arbitrary taboo topics is easier to reconcile with artistic integrity than constantly having to entertain an audience. You can work around taboo subject matter using metaphors and symbolism, but you can only have so much creativity when your job is to create a twenty-fifth sequel to a billion dollar franchise that is expected to bring profits and feed hundreds of people.
It's a shame that a lot of this auteur animation legacy is all but forgotten now in the modern Russian landscape. This is probably what Tatarsky was worried about, but with the crash of USSR, it was somewhat inevitable that niche artistic animation would fizzle out in favor of more traditionally appealing profitable products.
I'm convinced that, because of the Internet, Soviet Film is going to have greater influence in filmmaking in the United States.
This is really well made. I was shocked to see that it's only your second video. Hope to see more from you soon!
Aw, thank you! I'm really glad you enjoyed it :)
Amazing video, criminally underrated!
Thank you ❤️
Sooo complex, so much symbolism! Thanks for the analysis ❤
Glad you enjoyed it! Indeed, it feels like every frame in this short carries some symbol :)
I will never look at real monsters the same again.
I always thought Monsters Inc. was lame in comparison.
Okay.
This came to my reccommened out of nowhere.
Once I saw more of the clues, I let out an audiable gasp when I realized what studio was inspired by this style.
I'm actually floored. Klasky-Csupo can trace its inspiration to Russian animation.
And wait....you said he worked on The Simpsons???
..........IS THIS WHAT THE WORKER AND PARASITE JOKE WAS REFERENCING!?
The story behind The Worker & Parasite Show is actually fascinating! According to The Simpsons director David Silverman, the animation style was inspired by the Croatian (then Yugoslavian) Academy Award-winning short film Surogat (Ersatz, 1961) by Dušan Vukotić. It’s a fantastic short with incredible geometric animation-you can find it on UA-cam if you’re interested!
As for the content, it’s rumored to reference a specific period when Tom & Jerry was outsourced to then-communist Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) in 1961, under animator Gene Deitch. After MGM’s cartoon studio closed in 1958, the series was produced in Eastern Europe, known at the time for its skilled animators. However, the Czechoslovak episodes of Tom & Jerry turned out… quite different. They had a darker, more unsettling tone and a more realistic take on violence, which clashed with the typical vibe of American animation.
It’s fascinating how much influence Eastern European animation has had on American animation! :)
The Keith Haring shirt is a nice touch.
there is a record player that existed that was built into a small Volkswagen van that would play the record by driving in circles on top of the record. I was surprised when seeing the scene, but I think that'd be a mild reference to that. wonder if they even "officially" existed in the Soviet Union.
hen, his wife …. recognized it as soon as i saw the thumbnail. I love it so much
Love your videos! Im glad i could find it and i cant wait to see more more you have to make
Thank you! I'm really glad you enjoyed it and I'm already working on new ideas for future videos :)
thanks for giving a explanation of the symbolisms in hen her wife, y have watched it many times and now knowing the meaning makes me aprecciate the work even more! x)
Great video! Keep it up!
I would say "Brave the cowardly dog" is heavily indebted to Covalyov, both in drawing style and in the absurdism and layered symbolism in the show.
Oh, you're right! I can totally see the influence.
I'm not gonna lie, I never really was a fan of Klasky-Csupo's malformed, ugly, wrinkly art style (it works for Ahh! Real Monsters, but the humans just look weird to me) but with the explanation, it made me respect Kovalyev's work and it's cool that it shows in well-renowned cartoons.
Thanks for making this. Soviet animation is fascinating
He's probably a bit better known for the Pilot Brothers, starting with the 3 part series: Investigation held by Kolobki.
1:40 - That is a misquote taken out of context, dealing with advertisement.
in soviet russia, animation draws you...
Прекрасное эссе. Мой любимый это "Алиса в стране чудес". Прекрасно передаёт безумие оригинала.
This used to show on American TV occasionally (they wouldn't translate the title, so it was years until I learned what it was called). Does anybody remember what channel screened it? Was it Bravo? MTV? A&E?
Vimeo vibes with that deep symbolism
Maybe the wife seeing the claws on her husband is an observation of weakness; when her husband points out her inadequacy of being a hen, she realizes that HE is weak, and she can find someone better. Even if he changes, by supressing his urges, he is still the same man. In general, people tend to fall in love with people who have similar traits to themselves, so her husband falling in love with her is a subconscious sign that he is like her. Though, this is my point of view on it, I feel like you definitely got a way better take away from it.
this def looks like it inspired duckman and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters animators
Finish the video lol
@alangregory5580 nah I went to wiki *laugh out loud
Nice video
0:21 how can I find this?
Good video! What is the sweater you're wearing by the way?
Thank you! ❤️ It's a Keith Haring x Primark collab sweatshirt.
I don't think the worm or hen is Freudian. From what ive heard is Russian vulgarisms. Hen=wife, maggot=child.
That’s a great observation! In Russian, “maggots” (lichinki / личинки) is indeed sometimes used as a derogatory term for children (usually someone else’s, though, ahah). It's quite an outdated expression, so I hadn’t thought of that before!
My interpretation is based on an article by film scholar Alexei Orlov, titled Freudian Symbolism in Animated Film (www.kinozapiski.ru/ru/article/sendvalues/813/), but even researchers can miss certain layers of meaning.
As for the “hen,” I’ve seen people suggest it’s a derogatory term for a "wife", but that’s not entirely accurate. It’s usually used in Russian to describe a clumsy or not particularly intelligent woman. That said, it could still represent the wife's character!
I can see where klasky-csupo got it's influence from.
Well they have russian animators after the fall of ussr
bro what are those looks bro, jesus
Huh, interesting, I'll look a bit more into it. Surprisingly never heard of this connection.
Maybe you're more aware of the history of Pilot studio than I'm?
I know they shifted pretty early to 3d animation and did a couple of iconic political satire shows in the late 90's early 2000's, but I lost their track around 2005. And I lost the track of Tatarskiy as well. And my students are always asking about both studio and its main man when I show them those later 3d satires.
Also, unfortunately, in Russian culture Tatarskiy became THE name for the style as not many people are even aware of Kovalev. It's a shame.
Also also, I think you would enjoy "Elevator" or "Lift" - a bizzare collection of shorts from Pilot studio. It's much less Freudian but still quite mind bending
Absolutely! Igor Kovalyov really does feel like a dark horse in the world of animation-his work deserves so much more recognition. That’s actually one of the main reasons I wanted to make this video :)
I’m not too familiar with Pilot Studio’s 3D projects, but I’ll definitely check them out-thank you for the recommendation!
And yes, Lift is amazing! I absolutely love it-the variety of animation techniques and all those little ‘mini-stories’ are just brilliant. Pilot Studio’s humor is something else-they always manage to come up with the most absurd and ridiculous scenarios, and it works so well, ahaha
@ArtWarp Oh, so there're a few of them, many starring titular Pilot Brothers from the original cartoon about the Case of the lost Elephant.
1. It's "Fruttis Antic" where Pilot Brothers were hosts for visiting Russian celebreties of the nineties, asking those celebs some questions and such and also product placing Fruttis brand of yougurt. That's the earliest using 3D one as far as I know.
2. Is "Academi of yor own mistaces" (Академия Собственных Ашибок, the misspeling is deliberate). It's a sorta sequel to the "Fruttis Attic". A political promotion for economical reform program back in '97 as far as I remember, I need to check some notes. It also doubles as economical education program and triples as a political satire. It's almost unknown in modern Russia.
3. "Lights out" (Тушите свет) is a fully and proper satire show about Russian Politics which aired at the turn of the Millenium. It has two new main characters based on Soviet children show hosts from "Good night, little ones"
Later on the show changed its format a bit and became known as "Red arrow", named after a famous train on which the show now takes place.
Those two are actually somewhat well remembered though very far from being big staples of Russian pop culture.
I believe, many of them are awailable on UA-cam, though in original Russian. If you'd like to discuss any of this further you can contact me directly, I'd be happy to help.
@ArtWarp Yeah, I completely agree about Lift! Their traditional animation is something out of this world. And Pilot studio was one of the bolder ones in New Russia as well and somewhat successful. They continued to experiment with formats, commercialization and even tried different media throughout 90's and early 2000's.
Like, they even licenced (or maybe even partially produced) a few adventure games based on Pilot Brothers characters. And those games were successful and fondly remembered
Thank you so much for the comprehensive list-you’re the best! I’m definitely going to check all of it out. Their work fascinates me, especially in the context of the huge political and social shifts in Soviet and Russian society.
I’ve always loved many of their works, but the Pilot Brothers series holds a special place in my heart because I grew up with it, watching it on repeat, ahah. I was born in 1990s Russia before immigrating, so I actually remember owning the Pilot Brothers game-it was an absolute treasure for me in the early 2000s!
What is the movie at 15 seconds???
It's The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights (1951). I have all the sources captioned in the bottom right of the video just in case ;)
I love your shirt
It would seem the defeathered or naked chicken is in reference to the philosopher Diogenes and him plucking the feathers of a live chicken and calling it a man to embarrass another philosopher's theory/observation.
Так это не сам мультик, получается, который «повлиял». Это стиль у аниматора такой. Ну или надо было показать, как мотивы мульта проявились в американских работах Ковалёва. Иначе подмена смысла, и непонятно зачем.
WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would love to see connections on african inspired animation/film/art
@@ghammer2048 I actually have a video on Wakaliwood and Ugandan cinema coming up soon, so stay tuned ;)
yes, the simpsons was indeed on nickelodeon
I don't believe I said it was :)
So you mean to tell my the Rugrats were soviet deepagents this while time?
I am so g lad i found this
Nice video but you do know Nick had nothing to do with the Simpsons
Freedom on speech 😂
Jeez, this is 🏳️🌈
I saw Hen on UA-cam years ago. I thought is was very strange and dark and grotesque and now that you explain all the symbolism, it seems much worse. I think I will refrain from watching it again. IT is like watching a video of close ups of horrible skin diseases now.
Most of the late Soviet animation is ugly or at least unpleasant-looking. I guess deliberately so, as it covertly shows the ugly reality of life in USSR. So yeah, it's nor for everyone, moreover, it's mostly for those who lived in USSR.
Such a limited take.
Without soviet animation, there would also be no Ghibli, no Tartakovsky or Pimbleton on Cartoon Network.
Taking about the limitations is limiting.
I miss the Soviet Union. I was born in 1990 but still. It wasn’t perfect but literally the very fact it existed let to improved conditions for workers all over the world. I just found out on Christmas that my dad was one of the economists that went over there to help advise the transition (“shock therapy”) and I literally almost slapped him at the dinner table (those policies literally killed many people and destroyed thousands of lives)
"Improved conditions"? What are you on about? Educate yourself on kommie atrocities first before spouting such nonsense.
I am not sure about watching Hen, his Wife, though. It is too ugly for my taste. I can, however, appreciate the effort put into it.
For some reason i feel like thats the point.
@@Brabbs To gross their audience out? I am not into gross-out humor nor vomiting.
@@warrenbradford2597 It's interesting to me how people that grew up in a fully capitalistic environment sometimes struggle with the idea that art is not always made to be appealing or entertaining. The animation is ugly not to be funny, but to convey a surreal grotesque vision of the world, because the situation it covers is pretty ugly by itself. It's not for everyone.
Also, it's more approriate to say "cult classic cartoons", rather than "cult cartoons", because the latter sounds like cartoons made by a cult :)