Why are Soviets so fun?
 

Recently, I stumbled across a geeky/anime webcomic called Pockybot. I don't know if I'll become a fan myself, but they did have an interesting event coming up called "Pockybot Revolution". Naturally, they grabbed their inspiration for the style of campaign from Soviet propaganda posters. This rekindled the whole novelty of communism thing in my head. Its something that's been dogging at me for years now, nipping at the back of my mind. I'm a huge fan of the Soviet National Anthem, which is one of the most stirring pieces of blatantly patriotic music you can find. Last Hallowe'en, I planning of dressing up as a Soviet military officer (until I realized my mostly Ukrainian girlfriend might not appreciate the sense of humor. Chris W. still did, and did a damn good job of it, I might say). I spent a lot of time during my music studies researching the Soviet era composer Dimitri Shostakovich and his struggle against the oppressive regime. Last year, during student elections, one of the candidates for UBC Student President put up Soviet propaganda-style posters, featuring his face in the center in a very Stalinesque pose. I almost considered voting for him...

I can't help wondering what it is exactly about Soviets that holds such a morbid fascination with myself and other people. For a little more than 70 years, Communism was the bogeyman as far as any leader of a western democracy was concerned. No one spoke of it. If you were for Canadian style medicare in the 'States, you were a communist. If you supported minimal crown corporations, you were a communist. Spoke Russian? Communist. And God forbid you were a liberal living the the United States during the McCarthyist 1950s, or you might find yourself blacklisted in one of the biggest witch-hunts since Salem. One morning, though, Gorbachev announced that it was all over, and suddenly that big huge implacable bogeyman which threatened to consume us all was gone. Until Islamic terrorists oh so recently threatened us all, Americans had nothing left to hate and fear. But I digress...

So Soviet style Communism became this novelty. We weren't scared of it anymore, so we could poke fun at it. Even use it to SELL things; now isn't that ironic?

Republic: The Revolution is a game which takes place in the fictional post-Soviet republic of Novistrana. You play the game trying to consolidate your power and overthrow the government, which is headed by the former secret police officer who murdered your parents. The game is made by Eidos Interactive, the producer of such classics as the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex series. The promotional art for the game is littered with Soviet style artwork and symbols such as the red star.

	Superman: Red Son. Fighting for truth, justice, and the Soviet way.

Last year, D.C. comics produced a comic miniseries called Red Son. It was a Superman comic that was part of DC's Elseworlds series: comics which take place in alternate realities or which are "what if?" stories. In Red Son, Superman's capsule had landed not in Smallville, middle America, but instead on a collective farm in the Ukraine. Superman was still a good guy, he had just grown up fervently believing in the ideals of communism. Furthermore, in this Elseworlds universe, it was the U.S. that had lost the cold war, and the Soviet Union was the world's only superpower. Generally, I've never been a comic reader, though I do like to follow the lore. This unique idea in particular really perked my interest. The image of Superman, America's hero, dressed in drab grey and red, with a stylized hammer and sickle on this breast? Priceless.

A German movie coming out soon in North America entitled Goodbye, Lenin! has really caught my interest with its hilarious trailer. The story takes place in East Germany and features a young man whose stalwart soviet mother has been in a coma since before the Berlin wall fell. The woman wakes, and the doctors tell the son that his mother will not survive another heart attack. So the son goes to ridiculously elaborate lengths to ensure that his mother does not find out that communism has collapsed. The entails him doing such things as creating an elaborate forgery of a state-produced jar of pickles, having a pair of youngsters dress in youth uniforms and sing the East German anthem, and having to explain to his mother why a Coca-Cola ad is being placed outside her bedroom window.

I remember seeing a review for this restaurant in the paper a few years back, so I managed to find it after digging around for a few minutes. Mao's Kitchen in Venice, California serves delicious Chinese food with a communist flair. The spartan restaurant is reputedly decorated mainly with Chinese propaganda posters. The menu features such items as "the people's potstickers," "good citizen noodle soup," and "countryside commune eggs." Prices are within the reach of the average proletariat.

I keep on trying to come up with some way to mix sci-fi and communism. I've toyed briefly with the idea of doing a spoof of Star Trek where the Federation would be some kind of Soviet organization. "To seek out new worlds and new civilizations... and show them the power of the proletarian worker!" Sounds a bit flaky, actually. Still, there's plenty more juice left in the Communist bogeyman to exploit. I'm just waiting for someone to get to it.