Russian internet comics between cult, art and commerce
In the footsteps of lenin's leisure, the "6 1/2" heroes of the same named russian internetcomics on a weekend trip to russian hinterland and located — communism is a serious thing. In a melancholic psych's seizure, the ranks of the seven friends — one is so small that he can only be paid as a half serving — on the saving idea of one weekend on the real-existing russian village, the inevitable dacha with small garden and drawbruno.
But the dasha is not only on the 101.-kilometer-of-moscow-off-paid, the minimum distance, which the soviet regime the political banishment and "feasts" prescribed, but directly in the near the kolkhose "lenin's leisure"1. And our heroes, with rasta-curls and cool sunglasses, have also looked great. Notwithstanding all common work efforts and the defense of dangerous threats in the form of so not virtual virtual wesparents and auxiliary neighbors, the result remains unsatisfactory — the beer goes out and also the constitution of a municipality !Free love! And other harassment goes wrong. The weekend excursion in communism, with voluntary work for all and involuntary partisan elements in search of the homecoming diesel, remains episode.
Like the boss designer of the internet studio mult.Ru, oleg kuwajev, to launch the new series in october 2003 on a press conference to protocol, is the intended audience of flash comics (director marija stepanowa) russian internet youth. It is not about about the "6 1/2" friends for hip teenagers, jeunesse doree of the emerging, mechanical and crosslinking russia. Hamed to the farmers' farms of communist departing wars that a kolchos cooktor drove the socialist state, the young internet elite today falls at the sight of a cow udder — like obszon! — unconcious. Not only the clearly real present, also the communist past appears as a fashionable keyword catalog, from which in the type of advertising and marketing life-style and life philosophies generate. As a tattoo with the famous "label ????" in the neck. Negative seen this can be understood as de-politicization, positive as ent ideologization. Or even as a project of preservation historical thought via pop culture — not from about approximately it is called in the introduction "lenin's leisure": "who does not know what a kolkhose is to blame."
Beyond all the stereotypes, which are played in the first two episodes of the new comic series from the house of the cult creatives in highest perfection, the mini-subject document documents "lenin's leisure" the collision of the globalized coarse town elite with the real-existing circumstances in its own country. In fact, the contrast between the "planets moscow" and the rest of the country — including the second capital st. Petersburg, who also comes from kuwajev — hardly be rough. Not from approximately are the city and residential landscapes of the "multilieve", so the russian name for "comic", such abstract designed to be globally usable and transferable. Even the plate buildings are refined in postmodern asthetics so that they could also stand at potsdamer platz. The design of the apartments is what you are already in new russian "eurodesign" is called.
The same applies to the completely styled outfit of the seven city neurotics chaplin, jd, johny catastrophe, loki, max, mel and pooh, which, in contrast to their american friends series colleagues, give themselves refreshing non-political-correct: excessive consumption of music and other noise in the city's everyday life, thankful, but without any sparkling allusion to the otherwise so umorectic vodka. At all, language plays — at least in quantitative terms — a comparatively small role, which makes the comics interesting for one of the russian non-powerful audience.
From the asthetic design and technical implementation, the comic — perfectly drawn, lovingly animated and brought to line in all details — an absolute eye-catcher. Whether his heroinnen can also conquer the hearts of the audience — and thus their primary function fulfills as the allowance — is another question. "6 1/2" is a pure marketing product, part of an advertising campaign of the mobile communications company maksus for your internet centers swjaznoj, who want to bind their clientele to themselves on the comics. Two to three episodes should appear per month. First comments in the discussion forums are less euphoric and, in turn, reveal a cleavage of the russian cyber scene in the passionate hackers and aging underdogs of the ages and the "team teen" the sworn moscow youth.
Finally, the "6 1/2" friends also a serious succession, but kuwajev and his team already created with the cult comic figure masjanja the absolute favorite and star of the russian internet scene. The rotzfreche gore, located in the lifelike petersburg, won with her snippet and its lax attitude to sex, drugs rock'n roll (or better pooogoo2) the sympathies of all russian network residents and conquered themselves — and their schopfer kuwajew — even international popularity in american 3, but also the german media.
What was intended as a private spab under friends soon shouted almost to hysterical reactions: on montagen, if the new episode went to the grid, the server broke together regularly, the productivity fell into the buros of the russian metropolises on an absolute zero point. Spindeldurr and spider leg, with water head and taadrapping snout provoked the racy well from the cowlen north, however, political protests and desires. On the one-side politician of any couleur against the immoral invoicer masjanja, who spoiled the youth with their non-use the youth — a reproach that was raised to soviet sites by standard mabig against unpaid writers and artists, so other parties tried masjanja for their advertising campaigns.
The victim was the virtual rival noodle, which was initially launched as the epitome of an altruistic web project, but the increasing commercialization tendencies, which also grasp in the russian internet, concrete the dispute over the author rights between kunstler kuwajew and producer zorin. In the last consequence, the production of new episodes of the series was even set. The website www.Mint.Ru is currently frozen (under construction), the legal disputes around the rights of use continue. The studio is in the meantime — without masjanja — under the address www.Multetz.Com to achieve. Kuwajew himself, in view of the victory of russian case-law, are more likely to behave in court than the opportunities of a victory in court.
The case masjanja is therefore a particularly sad teaching star of the commercialization of russian internet culture, in which kuwajev was rubbed as a victim of his own success between the fronts of the incorrigible network idealists and unscrupulous business markers. From the spab was bitter serious and the moral of the story 'is a double: in the face of the (also financial) successes masjanjas quickly rewarded the "venality" nachuber kuwajew loud, who betray his art -leran project, it is called today the producer who deprived the author of his copyright at the figure. The institution of the copyright and the author rights vast parts of the russian internetlite itself is still considered constructed western thinking.
The "pure" commercial production of "6 1/2" friends for the telecommunications company "maksus" if some critics also appear as the second defeat kuwajews, which now doubles to the number-elegant customers, the editor of the internet magazine runet wiktor zachartschenko summarizes the mood. The case masjanja not only illuminates the often and rightly defendant unambiguous legal situation in russia, but also the moral double-grudginess of the cyber scene itself, which is trapped between the compulsion of the money income and the ideals of the gift concomity. Looking for practicable solutions for the challenges of capitalist everyday life, the leisure lenin does not help again. On the other hand, consolation promises a wisdom from the eternal treasure socialist songguts, which in the credits of the "6 1/2" friends is quoted: "tomorrow it will be better".4 p.S.: the new "mint" from 6 1/2 has just been released!