Wednesday 18 March 2009

Russia through Swedish eyes

This doesn't have anything to do with Kazakhstan, but I can't stop myself from commenting on the Eurovision song contest finals in Sweden.

Living abroad, I got used to the same old image of Russia based on stereotypes.
Russian gangsters, mafia, vodka, bear, matreshka (also called babushka), balalajka, girls in tight cloths, Russian dance just to name a few. All these things were ingredients in the comedy sketch about Russia during the Swedish contest. The sketch called "Tingeling" is a catchy mix of techno music with Russian military chorus and folk songs. The song got even reactions to make "Tingeling"Sweden's entry to the Eurovision contest in Moscow.

To me it's fine to make fun of stereotypes in the ironical way about both Sweden and Russia in this particular song. But I think it went too long making fun of Stalin in the context of satire. Stalin is not about fun. Among not so many real Russian words you can hear: "Na zdorovje, Stalin!", "Na zdorovje, Lenin!", "Do svidanya, Putin!" ("Cheers, Stalin!", "Cheers, Lenin!", "Bye-bye Putin!").

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous21/3/09 02:34

    Ndaaa! Vad kan man säga... Fördomar blomstrar!

    ReplyDelete