People nowadays: Hollywood is unoriginal People 84 years ago: Hollywood is unoriginal Hollywood was only incorporated as a city in 1903. I guess it was always unoriginal
@Paul Judkins Clear cut bs. The famine happened in 1932 and it was present throughout the Soviet Union caused by bad weather conditions. Nobody was targeted.
@@Vivacious_Lenin comunists care only about civil rights in capitalist countries Just how islamists complain about freedom of religion in west and china
I didn't understand his comment about explicitness... was he meaning explicit in the terms of prostitutes explicit lasciviousness? Or the raw definition of clear and concise instructions?
@@jmitterii2 I think he meant "explicit" in the sense of "direct, unsubtle". As in, Americans prefer directness to indirectness, overstatement to understatement. They don't care for subtlety or nuance. That sort of thing. It ties in with his description of the football game (everything is as huge and as loud as possible), wealth and laughter (being rich and cheerful is good, so people try to get as rich as possible and train themselves to always laugh and smile) and so on.
@@jmitterii2 In this context he is referring to a kind of moral and intellectual explicitness. He's saying that Americans see the world in very simplistic terms: rich and poor; goodies and baddies; laughter and sadness. Thus, people laugh not because something is genuinely funny, but because laughter is seen as a positive sign, so everyone should always be laughing! This is what he means when he says "He laughs only because an American MUST laugh." He's saying that American laughter is performative, explicit, a symbol of happiness, not the real thing. (In this specific context, it's also worth noting that Russians find insincere laughter especially weird - they only laugh when something is really funny, not to "put people at ease" or to be seen as an "easy going" guy.) As a foreigner living in America, I have to say that I find his observations incredibly accurate and, daily, witness examples of this "explicit" American tendency.
@@Swagnar666You had even more in the West if you had a job, which was easy to obtain. The US and West were far more industrialized and had better wages and infrastructure( no commieblocks). No country in eastern Europe wants communism back or else they wouldn't have revolted against it. Only some Russians have nostalgia for it because they had a huge empire.
Unironically, The more one looks to the past the more you can realize how stupid people have become. Alexis de Toucquevil's assessments and predictions feel like they came out of 1980 to 2010 pundits speaking of 2014~2024, but he was saying that shit almost 200 years ago. Modern people can't even begin to arse themselves with even attempting to realistically evaluate the next 15 years, let alone 200, *let alone do either successfully*
It was even worse back in the 30's... and until 1970's, the idea was you would see a couple movies maybe 3 or 4 in one showing... with another projector room with another 3 or 4 short flicks that went along with the 1 or 2 feature films.... you watched more than one show. But several in one sitting. In the 30's there was Mantinee concept developed to get people into theaters for 10 cents, adjusted for inflation this roughly $5 dollars in to 2010 money; you would see several shows in one sitting... in fact you could sit in the theater for the full 4 hours of shows and remain to watch it repeat the same movies again without buying another ticket... so long as it wasn't sold out. Theaters were like this into the 1970's. Then it became just one feature film, as movies had to compete with television movies and series. So in the 30's until the 70's movie makers were pooping out cookie cutter flicks like crazy even more so than today. Think of made for tv put in theaters. Televisions were expensive and often not useful as broadcast stations were still far and few between. Most of the US still lacked electrical hook up in their homes, and not until the 1960's rural areas lacked telephones, then in the early 60's towns and rural areas would get party lines sharing with neighbors a phone line. You wanted to sit back and watch a show, you had little choice but to go to the theater.
i was telling someone last week, 4/5 years ago in the bay area it rained every day during this season. no letting up for real then bang, nothing. crazy.
It's never rained very much for most of the year in Southern California. That's why they built the aqueducts back in the day. To take water from parts of Cali and other states that have flush rivers, and bring it to places that have high poblaciones and low rainfall.
When my mom comes to visit me in LA, she always asks questions like, "what's the forecast?" because she's worried if she should bring an umbrella or a jacket and I genuinely get so confused because it hasn't occurred to me to worry about it in a decade.
Written by two famous Soviet satirical writers touring the USA during the Great Depression, Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Feinsilberg) and Yevgeniy Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Katayev). Ilf died of tuberculosis a few months after their return from the USA. Petrov became a front line correspondent during WW2 and was killed when the airplane he was travelling back to Moscow in crashed while flying low to avoid anti-aircraft fire.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Holodomor-Chicago.jpg Chicago American Monday February 25, 1935 And Petrov year later is complaining that people in America are smiling too much... "brilliant Soviet era writer.", "Glad it was not all lost in translation" HAHA
@@Bialy_1 Yeah, a famine caused by decades of civil war and draught. What about the hundreds of thousands who starved in the states during the dustbowl? Or the Bengali and Indian famines caused by Churchill? Don't see those mentioned as often. Almost as if there's a direct ideology motive to portray the soviet government as purposefully evil, rather then portray the famine as what it was- a terrible tragedy not caused by any human malice but by the material conditions of Russia and the Ukraine at the time.
Exactly right! Even in their description of when an American laughs, their humor showed through. But Ilf & Petrov missed one very important occasion when an American laughs: when we read one of their classic comedies such as "Twelve Chairs" or "The Golden Calf" -- Hella the Hottentot, the undertaker describing all the different ways to say "he kicked the bucket", the *two* sons of Lieutenant Schmidt applying for the same stipend...
@@SpectatorAlius I know. Always get rude looks back, it's not my fault human instinct has caused me to look at you. And by the way I would be flattered if someone looked at me the way I do at women like that, I'm not trying to be rude. If anything it's a compliment that it's hard not to look away that you're that gorgeous.
Ehh, cricket isn't complicated, it just takes forever. The trick is to ignore most of the technical terms, as they're completely useless to the spectator... It's actually pretty hopeless as a spectator sport. As a player it's not all that different from baseball or similar sports (Well, obviously there are lots of differences in rules and technique, but in terms of the general experience).
@@laurencefraser Cricket is like having a three day visit to some place you don't live, eat several meals during the course there of and get so drunk that time is meaningless, true of both players and punters. I tried to watch some at a pub and I nearly passed out into my pint - I was alone in the space so it wasn't spiked, I was just roofied by the act of trying to keep my self entertained by watching this so called game.
@@LuisAldamiz And ummm, the NFL doesn't have endless pauses? In the 3 hours of an NFL game, there's only about 11 minutes of actual game. The rest is filled with downs, commercials, and the such like.
@@laurencefraser hopeless as a spectator sport? One of the few sports you can go to the toilet for a long number 2, stop by the bar on your way back and return not needing to ask "did I miss anything." The most accommodating sport to the spectator if you ask me.
The funny thing is that the two people who wrote this account are actually really famous Russian satirical authors who didn't exactly idolize the Soviet Union either. So anyone calling this SoViEt PrOpAgAnDa is just really misinformed. These guys made everyone look horrible. P.S. Their most famous book, The Twelve Chairs, was made into a famous Hollywood movie in the 70's.
@Cynical Frenchface I'd only be ironic if they were actually communistic ideologues, in the same way that a Che Guevara t-shirt is ironic. Otherwise it's just a funny coincidence Edit: Grammar
Daniel Shotkin - In those days, it would have been extremely unusual for anyone not profoundly loyal to Stalin's regime to be allowed to leave the Soviet Union. You're going to need to provide some convincing evidence before I take your word for their ability to speak freely about what they actually thought about anything.
@@hughmungus1767 I would recommend to read their work if you want the proof. This was actually rather nice compare to how they ridiculed Soviets. It’s not true, at that time not only loyalists were allowed to leave. The iron curtain came later. In the early and mid 30’s there was a corroboration between the US and USSR. Soviets were buying industrial technologies and hiring the US specialists, since they killed or expelled their own :)
I'm a foreigner who moved in California, and honestly it's incredible how little things have changed. From the vast riches juxtaposed with deep poverty of San Francisco, the shocking dullness of Hollywood, to the "beautiful girls with unpleasant spiteful eyes" in Santa Monica- my friends and I upon visiting couldn't help but note how people looked film a TikTok dance at any moment, but also seemed snobby
Its honestly a totally different country once you move to Texas. Texas imo, is closer to Canada in alot of ways. Strong middle class. Excellent infrastructure. And kind people that are actually genuine in their kindness. One of the few places in the US that actually handle nuance in the shit they do aswell.
California has one of the strangest differences in life of any state wherein a simple move of towns can be juxtaposed with a complete shift in way of living and the kinds of people you meet. The snobbishness of LA girls is something everyone who has lived in California can attest to as true and unparalleled. God forbid you find your way into a sorority house... I talk to them on my own and they're quite disinterested but if I bring over a black friend with me, suddenly now I'm seen as "ghetto" and "interesting" while they talk up my black companion. It's just racism, but I don't think my black friends complain about the attention they're getting, although it's quite obviously objectifying and is only really made up for in the sex for them.
@@DR-54 FUCKING ACCURATE. Bro they have such a strange obsession with black people to the point its straight wierd. If your white/asian and ghetto, they consider you less than human. If you do the same as black, they consider you "cool". I had a friend whos not even "African American", hes more like Obama. His dads an African immigrant from Eritrea. The studious lego/star wars loving type. Bruh the moment he started dressing decently, the sheer amount of white women that just flocked over to this dude only to instantly leave, was wild.
@@honkhonk8009I have lived all over this country and even Americans can't grasp how large and varied it is. With almost the landmass of Russia but the population spread throughout, we are also extremely isolated. My state still fights with Virginia and is known for being too north for the south, but too south for the north. It does what it has always done which is make money off of all sides. Not only that, one of the not mentioned successes of the American model is intra-state competition. That is why Americans don't move countries, we move states. The demographics are always changing. I lived in Arizona when Arizona was red, and Florida was blue. Outside monoliths like NYC, DC, or New Orleans.
It’s frankly mind blowing to me that this travel article from 1936 makes exactly the same observations as I did when visiting Western USA in 2008. I too admired the glamour, was appalled at all the homelessness and the Indians’ miserable situation and was charmed, if not sometimes confused, by the overt positivity and friendliness of the Americans. It also struck me that we in Europe often only consume the very best and most popular of American music and media- there is a lot that doesn’t make it out of the country!
@@Mutantcy1992 And even the present homeless situation is far and away superior to how things were before the Europeans arrived. There's no mass famine. There's no tribes of people constantly killing, torturing and enslaving one another. I mean things could be better but they could also be a whole lot worse.
@nicholaspassage1295 I mean, you don't have it if you refuse to receive it lmao. It is freely available. I have a native friend who receives a monthly stipend from the tribe of near 2k dollars. Different tribes took advantage of what the government was willing t0 give in different ways. Some squandered it, some refused to integrate enough to receive their bemefits and they have it bad. The ones who received the benefits and land and money and took care of it are thriving now.
@@Smokey298"free land" huh? That would be the tiny scraps they were left with after the whites stole everything else then. Oh yeah, they got it real easy.😂
Well it sort of is. They know for certain that where the Grand Canyon sits today used to be a mountain range higher than the Himalayas are today. When the plates pushed together = Himalayas , when the plates reversed and pulled apart =grand canyon
@@johndurrer7869 Uh, no. Northern Arizona is within the Great Basin that was once an inland sea, of which only Utah’s Great Salt Lake remains. The uplift that drained the sea and formed the Rocky Mountains resulted in a swiftly-moving channel of water called the Colorado River that carved the Grand Canyon fairly quickly (in geologic terms).
This is one of my favourite sources you've narrated! Would love some more Soviet stuff, I find that time period so interesting. Your whole channel is a gem, though.
I would love to hear a describtion of early Soviet Russia in 20s and 30s from an American. I really enjoyed thr description of Great Canyon and Ranch life.
Try their other books, which made them famous, the 12 chairs and the little golden calf...20s was an interesting time, until Stalin finally came to full power and began collectivization
Could be interesting. I've read some, but all of them were from American communists who visited USSR, so not very informative, just political puff pieces.
I read a book where an American journalist, Richard Halliburton, visits Russia in the 30s and he even interviews one of the Romanov assasins. He didn't have a good view on the government there because the confiscated his journal and wouldn't give it back to him. He's also kinda racist. In the grandpa sorta way.
@@phillip_iv_planetking6354 Interestingly, when protestantism first came about near on every sort really was decidedly heretical. The Catholic Church at the time was horribly corrupt and many powerful people abused its institutions, but its theology was largely sound. These days, in many places various protestant churches subscribe to a brand of theology with remarkably little difference from what the Catholic Church at the tine of the Reformation espoused (at least, to my limited understanding), while the Catholic church has wandered off in some slightly worrying directions on some matters. And then you get the flat out cults, where calling them heritics is rather overstating how much they have in common with actual Christianity of any stripe. But yeah, the modern american style evangelical mega church is not only heretical (even by the rather permissive standards if modern moderate protestantism), its so unrepentantly Blatant about it that its utterly astonishing that anyone goes along with their nonsense. I mean, there's hetrodoxy and then there's blatantly espousing the exact opposite of what is written in the text you're supposedly working from...
On serious note, read some Ilf and Petrov. The scolding, they give to almost anyone and anything, from tourist traps to bueraucrats to fashion hogs has aged really well. It helps to know historical context, but it is not mandatory, because people never change, and some things say the same.
@@NotSure109 there is a very subtle allusion, that Ostap Bender is Jewish, himself. He often introduce himself as a "son of Turkish national". In Tzarist Russia, many Jews would try to get a Turkish citizenship as a mean to by-step discriminatory anti-Semitic laws, notably the infamous "border of settlement" law, which forbade Jews living closer, than 100 miles to St. Petersburg and Moscow.
@@andreykuzmin4355 Many host societies had similar cultural and legal policies regarding Jews across time and place. Reminds me of that adage about everyone you meet being an asshole.
You know what's funny. I am Russian and in my entire life, I've never read any of their books. However NOW, THANKS TO THE VOICES OF THE PAST, I HAVE started reading them, they are amazing. In my humble opinion, they are better than Dostoyevsky and Bulgakov combined (I don't actually like Bulgakov that much, honestly, haha, he is too negative, while these guys, coming from the same period of 1930s, are able to put snippets of fun even into the most mundane, boring, and sometimes even into some grim events of life, just read their ''12 Chairs'' novel)
8:18 I love this part in specific, it's common to see Americans on the internet talking about boring Soviet architecture, but here is this guy wondering "where's the massive bronze statue commemorating this monumental feat of engineering" Really tells you something about people's mentality
@@bag-o-bagsthe stuff they tried hard on is great, but apartment blocks built as fast as possible because multiple nations lost entire cities were obviously not built with beauty in mind. People just needed houses
@@bag-o-bags When they had the means to, Soviet Architecture can be quite beautiful in a way. The commie blocks might've not been the most beautiful, but it served it's purpose.
America has never been a very nationalistic country. All the flags you see spammed everywhere, are done more for the aesthetic than for legitimate love of country. Its to the point where professing ones genuine love for the country, is more of a novelty than expressing hate for it lol
@@bag-o-bags After the war housing was built as quickly as possible people needed homes American didn’t have their homeland ravaged. My mum lived in a prefab for ten years after the war, they were Londoners bombed out in 1940 and my Nan spent the war years moving from one family member to another. She actually got bombed out twice because my great aunt Florrie’s house was destroyed by a bomb as well. We in the UK have some ugly architecture as well.
"calendars filled with business meetings, business luncheons and business cocktail parties. We were leading the life of business-like Americans without having any business at all" 😂
Hollywood is completely different now. They don't make movies about opera singers any more. Now they make movies about superheroes, instead. Totally different.
@@BigGrease1 Umm, the earliest superhero movies I'm aware of were the Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve, which I think were made in the eighties. There were superhero TV programs before that, but I'm not aware of any earlier superhero major motion pictures. Certainly not eight or ten of the danged things every single year like they do now.
Yes, de Tocqueville and Charles Dickens both make contributions, and so do contemporary visitors who simply see things that residents do not. We tend to view other cultures through own experiences, and so do visitors.
@Will DeMarco I watched the 7 samurai on Halloween. That really is a master piece. I will say, got damn!!!! I haven’t had to read that much since I was in school! 😏
There are so many childish movies made now for adults, the ones with lots of witchcraft and armies of millions of weird looking creatures fighting. What's the point?
Beautifully written, and read! Great images! I loved the Soviet perspective. I must have a Russian heart. I enjoyed this very much. Thanks for making it!
@@billbauer9795 I am not sure Westerners can fully understand the humor behind these books. Even modern Russians have trouble with that, sometimes. Too many implicit references to early Soviet realities
Hilarious account on the monotony of Hollywood film plots, that still holds relevance to some extent! Thanks for your channel and the work you do to bring the past to life!
Haven't had any notifications from Voices of the past lately so I checked my subscriptions and found this episode. Humorous and delightful. Really enjoyed it 👍
all these reports by strangers in other countries have unique points of view, of such high historical value. Really highlights the contrasts between civilizations and modes of life. Love it!
Yes, and it's an affectionate roast. The Soviets of the time who knew the US, admired it in many ways. Quote from an excellent book of fiction, "Red Plenty": "Of course he admired the Americans. If you went to England, it was all hand- made trousers. If you went to France, it was cheese from cows who munched away on one particular hillside. How could you possibly arrange plenty for everyone on that sort of small-scale, old-fashioned footing? You couldn’t. But the Americans got it. Of all the capitalist countries, it was America that was most nearly trying to do the same thing as the Soviet Union. They shared the Soviet insight. They understood that whittling and hand-stitching belonged to the past. They understood that if ordinary people were to live the way the kings and merchants of old had lived, what would be required was a new kind of luxury, an ordinary luxury built up from goods turned out by the million so that everybody could have one. And they were so good at it! "
It was the words of some Russians who visited at the time, so they did miss out on the unimaginable violence and cruelty and ignorance of the "indigenous" people sympathized with in this video, as that had been rightly reined-in by this point.
Those same noble red men were ruthless and brutal with other tribes, delighting in torture. They got conquered, just as they conquered others. I won’t say I’m without pity but I’m certainly not engaging in empty faux self flagellation to virtue signal.
@@VelkePivoYou’re a terrible person! Imagine if a group of american indians came in on buffalo to Europe and systematically slaughtered 99.5% of all Europeans, most likely your ancestors, then used the wars of medieval Europe as a pathetic excuse for the systematic genocide of these dozens of ethnicities.
I only found your channel about a week or two ago, but I've listened to a lot of your videos and they've all been great. This is the kind of personal history they most people will never hear about and never care about, but for me it is the most worth knowing.
@A M exactly my point ... white People treat Native Americans horrible and still do to this day I've heard some trumptards telling Native Americans to get back to their country.
@@nulnoh219 the Cossacks were free folk in the service of the monarchy. Communism criticized the monarchy. Two different regimes. So what's wrong? The regime that killed indians still exists today. It’s called American democracy
I appreciate the part when they say everyone in Moscow only gets to see the best of American movies. This equation still rings true today. Fans of "World Cinema" sample the best Directors or biggest hits from each country. And avoid the glut of mediocrity they'd have to sift through if they lived in the actual country where their able to skim the cream of the crop off of. As an American who lived in Europe and worked in an "Art House cinema" for 6 years I can tell you this still happens from country to country, all over the world.
Which is what I used to say when people talked about how great British television was. We only got the best, packaged into a Sunday show and called Masterpiece Theater.
Wow. This is 1936. Man. I remember when 36 didn't seem that far away. Now it seems like we're 100s of years past that time. When it hasn't even been 100. Crazy how times change so rapidly
It seems to be a nearly universal trait of tourists to find any new country and its people both enthralling and appalling at the same time. People find comfort in what is familiar, and a combination of wonder and disappointment in the unfamiliar.
Well they were way off on knowing what would happen in the USSR in 50 years. How one contemporary satirist said Russians always find the way to respond with unpredictable stupidity :)
Yeah, and that's pretty pathetic. Must be why, when everything else to laugh at has been exhausted, Americans laugh at Gangstalking victims and others' tragic circumstances.
Russians are miserable people, just look at the photos... everyone looks miserable and not a smile seen anywhere .... this is coming from a Russian immigrant living in America... I think it took my mom 20 years living in America before she smiled in photos
The way he describes the movies and his disappointment in watching the lame ones is how I feel and why I rarely go to movies, unless it’s to a drive in and that’s just for the experience of being there.
Makes me think of all the American yokels who never stop prattling about every Marvel film and series and the Mandelorian proves repetition is all the studios are willing to put out because they know the idiots will still pay to view it even if they complain.
I'm Russian and, even though I've never read Ilf and Petrov's literature before, after listening to the Voices of the Past, I really want to do it, these guys are one of THE major Russian writers of the 20th century. For some people, these guys could seem a bit too sarcastic but they are great, honestly. Although my favorite Russian writers would probably be the Strugatskiye Brothers. It was their art that inspired the creation of STALKER (both the Soviet Russian film and the modern Ukrainian videogame). And my favorite poet would probably be Mayakovsky. He's like a kind of a ''new Russian patriot', not the patriot of the aggressive Russian Empire which only conquers land for the Tzars, but a patriot of our common Motherland, which cherishes its cultural diversity (even modern Russia has tens and tens of official languages, and in the Soviet Union there were more than a hundred). The guy has a pretty peculiar sense of humor, by the way (as do a lot of Russian poets from the 1920s and 1930s). For example, in a poem named ''A poem about the Soviet Passport'', he makes innuendos which are almost sexual (after a few dozen excited lines, he finishes the part with something like ''... and thus I take it out of my wide pants! Have envy, fellas, for I am a citizen of the Soviet Union!'')
@@aararqaae6451 Each and every person have their own set of books they've read. There are millions of books in the world, why would you expect me to read them all, haha? :D
Man in ushanka because this is one of the pinnacles of modern Russian literature, one of the most quoted pieces of soviet culture in general. A source of so many memes from the era. A man claiming (or larping as one) to be so “Russian” he has a literal ushanka in nickname has to be at least sad he is such an illiterate. But what do I expected from гражданский.
@@aararqaae6451 Well, my friend, you sound just like my Grandma... :D I have read tons of Russian short stories when I was little. For example, the stories wrote by Dragunskiy and other great authors, as well as, later, Chekhov and even a novel by Solzhenitsyn (by the way, I don't advise anyone to trust Solzhenitsyn's books, he is a very negative person who exaggerates a lot) but later I got really invested into more ''dull'' literature, e.g. psychological textbooks in English and French, so I didn't experience all of the classics of Russian literature and I don't know some of the older Russian memes but that doesn't mean I'm illiterate, I was just more invested into other spheres of literature, that's all ^^
Man in ushanka friend, I know, you write this with a good intent, but you are actually larping as one of us and only showing the most basic understanding of culture. There is no anger in my words when I say that this is roleplaying for you, not reality. Maybe only just a Little bit of regret, but I am gonna call you гражданский once again and be over with it. Peace.
It's so strange that they single out the Navajo, one of the few tribes that actually got to keep the majority of their original lands (which were taken at one point but by the 1930s had been continuously given back).
(5:40) I was in California only once, ten years ago. It started raining the day we got to San Francisco, and rained increasingly harder until we got to San Diego a week later. from where we finally went back to Arizona, finally giving up.
A nationalist blindly loves and accepts his country as is, and takes personal offense to any attempt at change. A patriot loves his country, and wishes to see it flourish through change and improvement.
@@nobodyburgen4594 No. A nationalist is someone who is anti-globalist and who believes in the self determination of his nation. A nation is not the same as a country. A nation is a population of people who share the same language, spirituality, way of life, culture, identity, and history. Nationalism is also the stance that countries are the manifestation of the political will of nations.
Good thing us California's like the state ,its for us not you . If your a tourist then you got no right to say shit about our state and you should be happy we allow you to visit the Golden state that EVERYONE IN THE WORLD WANTS TO COME TO
Seems like the impression that old American movies gave, lives very much on nowadays - only in the endless sitcoms that are pure pain to watch (for a European)
Sitcoms are painful to watch for many Americans as well. In some circles, from the sophisticated to the religious reactionaries, it is a point of pride to avoid sitcoms, many movies, and possibly owning a tv.
Meanwhile in the Soviet Union the "Great Purge" has started where between 1936-1938 700,000 to 1.2 million people are shot, starved or worked to death by the Soviet authorities.
“Beautiful girls with unpleasant spiteful eyes filled the city.” That’s quite picture he drew there.
Still very true today hahaha
Yes, that registered with me too.
It's pretty much all of them now throughout the country
Gold diggers and opportunists in the city of angels, perhaps those characteristics showed in the eyes.
Russians have such a way with words.
People nowadays: Hollywood is unoriginal
People 84 years ago: Hollywood is unoriginal
Hollywood was only incorporated as a city in 1903. I guess it was always unoriginal
Shakespeare wasn't unique either, tituss andronicus is a standard Elizabethan revenge play. The history plays had been done by other troupes as well.
@@carlosespinoza4693 no they aren't I can think movies that have come out during even this month that aren't
Carlos Espinoza Except they weren’t
Since originality is dead, does that mean we can start making weird racing comedies again? Cannonball Run, Rat Race and the like were great.
Everything is unoriginal. All stories are drawn from subconscious archetypes.
4:54 “Americans are rather proud of the Indians. Even so does the director of a zoo take pride in a rare old lion.” Oooooof that one hurt.
and the treatment of native americans hasn't changed much unfortunately. Interesting how communists cared more about civil rights
@@Vivacious_Lenin As if Communist countries have the worst human rights violations.
@Paul Judkins Clear cut bs. The famine happened in 1932 and it was present throughout the Soviet Union caused by bad weather conditions. Nobody was targeted.
@@gothicfan51 OF COURSE the person with the "THREE ARROWS" logo is a communist.
@@Vivacious_Lenin comunists care only about civil rights in capitalist countries
Just how islamists complain about freedom of religion in west and china
"America is a land that loves explicitness in all its affairs and ideas." No debate there
I mean I do prefer explicit instructions and warning signs for sure. Could do without Hollywood's explictness.
I didn't understand his comment about explicitness... was he meaning explicit in the terms of prostitutes explicit lasciviousness? Or the raw definition of clear and concise instructions?
@@jmitterii2 I think he meant "explicit" in the sense of "direct, unsubtle". As in, Americans prefer directness to indirectness, overstatement to understatement. They don't care for subtlety or nuance. That sort of thing. It ties in with his description of the football game (everything is as huge and as loud as possible), wealth and laughter (being rich and cheerful is good, so people try to get as rich as possible and train themselves to always laugh and smile) and so on.
@@jmitterii2 In this context he is referring to a kind of moral and intellectual explicitness. He's saying that Americans see the world in very simplistic terms: rich and poor; goodies and baddies; laughter and sadness. Thus, people laugh not because something is genuinely funny, but because laughter is seen as a positive sign, so everyone should always be laughing! This is what he means when he says "He laughs only because an American MUST laugh." He's saying that American laughter is performative, explicit, a symbol of happiness, not the real thing. (In this specific context, it's also worth noting that Russians find insincere laughter especially weird - they only laugh when something is really funny, not to "put people at ease" or to be seen as an "easy going" guy.) As a foreigner living in America, I have to say that I find his observations incredibly accurate and, daily, witness examples of this "explicit" American tendency.
@@shenanigans3710 thank you
This guy hated every movie he saw but still watched 100 of them, now that's patience.
"It stinks!"
he just like me fr
The original hate-watcher.
@@Demion83 it’s called a spy and I bet Russian cinemas and films got considerably better after 😂
@@fookinlit9586uhhhh literally not true? It was American filmmakers who got really inspired by Russian filmmakers
"Limitless wealth hand in hand with limitless poverty."
Yup. Still doin' it.
American poors would probably be considered middle-class in the USSR. It's all relative.
@@Swagnar666You had even more in the West if you had a job, which was easy to obtain. The US and West were far more industrialized and had better wages and infrastructure( no commieblocks). No country in eastern Europe wants communism back or else they wouldn't have revolted against it. Only some Russians have nostalgia for it because they had a huge empire.
@@Swagnar666 Always a sign of a healthy society when they have to build walls to keep people from leaving.
@@Swagnar666 LOL! Tell than to the millions who died in one of the many famines in the Soviet Union. LOLOLOL
@@Swagnar666 I don't suppose you'd like to provide any factual basis for your crackpot claim.
1930’s Soviet tourist predicts Hollywood’s reboot and sequel problem
Unironically, The more one looks to the past the more you can realize how stupid people have become. Alexis de Toucquevil's assessments and predictions feel like they came out of 1980 to 2010 pundits speaking of 2014~2024, but he was saying that shit almost 200 years ago.
Modern people can't even begin to arse themselves with even attempting to realistically evaluate the next 15 years, let alone 200, *let alone do either successfully*
It was even worse back in the 30's... and until 1970's, the idea was you would see a couple movies maybe 3 or 4 in one showing... with another projector room with another 3 or 4 short flicks that went along with the 1 or 2 feature films.... you watched more than one show. But several in one sitting. In the 30's there was Mantinee concept developed to get people into theaters for 10 cents, adjusted for inflation this roughly $5 dollars in to 2010 money; you would see several shows in one sitting... in fact you could sit in the theater for the full 4 hours of shows and remain to watch it repeat the same movies again without buying another ticket... so long as it wasn't sold out.
Theaters were like this into the 1970's.
Then it became just one feature film, as movies had to compete with television movies and series.
So in the 30's until the 70's movie makers were pooping out cookie cutter flicks like crazy even more so than today.
Think of made for tv put in theaters.
Televisions were expensive and often not useful as broadcast stations were still far and few between. Most of the US still lacked electrical hook up in their homes, and not until the 1960's rural areas lacked telephones, then in the early 60's towns and rural areas would get party lines sharing with neighbors a phone line.
You wanted to sit back and watch a show, you had little choice but to go to the theater.
@@jmitterii2 Hallmark movies would have been king back then.
See? Soviet propaganda is still affecting people, even from the grave.
@@gentlemanvontweed7147 The truth is now Soviet propaganda. You heard it here, folks.
"As a matter of principle, there is never any rain here."
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Right, note taken: Never go to California
Yesterday it rained for the first time in 8 months
i was telling someone last week, 4/5 years ago in the bay area it rained every day during this season. no letting up for real then bang, nothing. crazy.
It's never rained very much for most of the year in Southern California. That's why they built the aqueducts back in the day. To take water from parts of Cali and other states that have flush rivers, and bring it to places that have high poblaciones and low rainfall.
When my mom comes to visit me in LA, she always asks questions like, "what's the forecast?" because she's worried if she should bring an umbrella or a jacket and I genuinely get so confused because it hasn't occurred to me to worry about it in a decade.
Written by two famous Soviet satirical writers touring the USA during the Great Depression, Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Feinsilberg) and Yevgeniy Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Katayev).
Ilf died of tuberculosis a few months after their return from the USA.
Petrov became a front line correspondent during WW2 and was killed when the airplane he was travelling back to Moscow in crashed while flying low to avoid anti-aircraft fire.
Wow. Much like Glenn MIller. Didn't know that detail, thanks.
Ilf and Petrov are brilliant Soviet era writers. They are known for their satire and witty humor. Glad it was not all lost in translation
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Holodomor-Chicago.jpg
Chicago American
Monday February 25, 1935
And Petrov year later is complaining that people in America are smiling too much... "brilliant Soviet era writer.", "Glad it was not all lost in translation" HAHA
@@Bialy_1 Yeah, a famine caused by decades of civil war and draught. What about the hundreds of thousands who starved in the states during the dustbowl? Or the Bengali and Indian famines caused by Churchill? Don't see those mentioned as often. Almost as if there's a direct ideology motive to portray the soviet government as purposefully evil, rather then portray the famine as what it was- a terrible tragedy not caused by any human malice but by the material conditions of Russia and the Ukraine at the time.
These guys sound like they had a great trip - and, fantastic slideshow as well as a lively reading! 🙂😃
@@Bialy_1 a famine in their country doesn't mean they aren't witty writers. I found their accounts hilarious.
Exactly right! Even in their description of when an American laughs, their humor showed through.
But Ilf & Petrov missed one very important occasion when an American laughs: when we read one of their classic comedies such as "Twelve Chairs" or "The Golden Calf" -- Hella the Hottentot, the undertaker describing all the different ways to say "he kicked the bucket", the *two* sons of Lieutenant Schmidt applying for the same stipend...
I think anyone who hasn't heard of or been to LA would be horrified upon going there.
Absolutely
@JuniorXeastNY Eh, SF is beautiful but not in the classic sense of beauty. A lot of people comment on how grimy, crowded and polluted it is here.
@JuniorXeastNY Minus all the feces.
@JuniorXeastNY if you're a fan of drinking with bums under bridges.
Actually no, I like the latter but can't stand sf
@JuniorXeastNY SF is beautiful, but the people shitting on the streets makes it a little offputting
About Hollywood: "Beautiful girls with unpleasant, spiteful eyes fill the city." Could have been written today.
unpleasant beautiful girls
Yep, some things never change
@@JBGARINGAN Sure, it has changed. Now those spiteful beautiful girls have overflowed Hollywood to infect many other American cities, too!
@@SpectatorAlius I know. Always get rude looks back, it's not my fault human instinct has caused me to look at you. And by the way I would be flattered if someone looked at me the way I do at women like that, I'm not trying to be rude. If anything it's a compliment that it's hard not to look away that you're that gorgeous.
The same could be said for women all over the world actually. It is almost a universal right of all beautiful women to look down on everyone
you cant even begin to describe how nice that cable was
#YURIBEZMENOV
His bewildered description of watching American football is how I feel watching cricket.
Ehh, cricket isn't complicated, it just takes forever. The trick is to ignore most of the technical terms, as they're completely useless to the spectator...
It's actually pretty hopeless as a spectator sport. As a player it's not all that different from baseball or similar sports (Well, obviously there are lots of differences in rules and technique, but in terms of the general experience).
@@laurencefraser Cricket is like having a three day visit to some place you don't live, eat several meals during the course there of and get so drunk that time is meaningless, true of both players and punters. I tried to watch some at a pub and I nearly passed out into my pint - I was alone in the space so it wasn't spiked, I was just roofied by the act of trying to keep my self entertained by watching this so called game.
What I feel watching either, or baseball or even basketball. All those games are rendered worthless by endless pauses.
@@LuisAldamiz
And ummm, the NFL doesn't have endless pauses? In the 3 hours of an NFL game, there's only about 11 minutes of actual game. The rest is filled with downs, commercials, and the such like.
@@laurencefraser hopeless as a spectator sport? One of the few sports you can go to the toilet for a long number 2, stop by the bar on your way back and return not needing to ask "did I miss anything." The most accommodating sport to the spectator if you ask me.
The funny thing is that the two people who wrote this account are actually really famous Russian satirical authors who didn't exactly idolize the Soviet Union either. So anyone calling this SoViEt PrOpAgAnDa is just really misinformed. These guys made everyone look horrible.
P.S. Their most famous book, The Twelve Chairs, was made into a famous Hollywood movie in the 70's.
@Cynical Frenchface I'd only be ironic if they were actually communistic ideologues, in the same way that a Che Guevara t-shirt is ironic. Otherwise it's just a funny coincidence
Edit: Grammar
Daniel Shotkin - In those days, it would have been extremely unusual for anyone not profoundly loyal to Stalin's regime to be allowed to leave the Soviet Union. You're going to need to provide some convincing evidence before I take your word for their ability to speak freely about what they actually thought about anything.
Totally I forgot they pretty much ridiculed everything. But they are so spot on.
@@hughmungus1767 I would recommend to read their work if you want the proof. This was actually rather nice compare to how they ridiculed Soviets. It’s not true, at that time not only loyalists were allowed to leave. The iron curtain came later. In the early and mid 30’s there was a corroboration between the US and USSR. Soviets were buying industrial technologies and hiring the US specialists, since they killed or expelled their own :)
@@Hella333 The NYT also covered up the genocide in the Ukraine and the 'stans so most American's didn't know how bad it was there.
I'm a foreigner who moved in California, and honestly it's incredible how little things have changed. From the vast riches juxtaposed with deep poverty of San Francisco, the shocking dullness of Hollywood, to the "beautiful girls with unpleasant spiteful eyes" in Santa Monica- my friends and I upon visiting couldn't help but note how people looked film a TikTok dance at any moment, but also seemed snobby
Its honestly a totally different country once you move to Texas.
Texas imo, is closer to Canada in alot of ways.
Strong middle class. Excellent infrastructure. And kind people that are actually genuine in their kindness.
One of the few places in the US that actually handle nuance in the shit they do aswell.
California has one of the strangest differences in life of any state wherein a simple move of towns can be juxtaposed with a complete shift in way of living and the kinds of people you meet.
The snobbishness of LA girls is something everyone who has lived in California can attest to as true and unparalleled. God forbid you find your way into a sorority house...
I talk to them on my own and they're quite disinterested but if I bring over a black friend with me, suddenly now I'm seen as "ghetto" and "interesting" while they talk up my black companion. It's just racism, but I don't think my black friends complain about the attention they're getting, although it's quite obviously objectifying and is only really made up for in the sex for them.
@@DR-54 FUCKING ACCURATE. Bro they have such a strange obsession with black people to the point its straight wierd. If your white/asian and ghetto, they consider you less than human. If you do the same as black, they consider you "cool".
I had a friend whos not even "African American", hes more like Obama. His dads an African immigrant from Eritrea. The studious lego/star wars loving type.
Bruh the moment he started dressing decently, the sheer amount of white women that just flocked over to this dude only to instantly leave, was wild.
I laughed about the very accurate description that if you openly declare yourself a communist, you get removed by unseen forces.
@@honkhonk8009I have lived all over this country and even Americans can't grasp how large and varied it is. With almost the landmass of Russia but the population spread throughout, we are also extremely isolated. My state still fights with Virginia and is known for being too north for the south, but too south for the north. It does what it has always done which is make money off of all sides.
Not only that, one of the not mentioned successes of the American model is intra-state competition. That is why Americans don't move countries, we move states. The demographics are always changing. I lived in Arizona when Arizona was red, and Florida was blue. Outside monoliths like NYC, DC, or New Orleans.
It’s frankly mind blowing to me that this travel article from 1936 makes exactly the same observations as I did when visiting Western USA in 2008.
I too admired the glamour, was appalled at all the homelessness and the Indians’ miserable situation and was charmed, if not sometimes confused, by the overt positivity and friendliness of the Americans.
It also struck me that we in Europe often only consume the very best and most popular of American music and media- there is a lot that doesn’t make it out of the country!
"... there is a lot that doesn’t make it out of the country!" That's reassuring.
What is the miserable situation of the Indians in California? It doesn't approach the homeless situation, though maybe in 2008 that was different.
A year late, but I hope there was at least a little you enjoyed while in America.
@@Mutantcy1992 And even the present homeless situation is far and away superior to how things were before the Europeans arrived. There's no mass famine. There's no tribes of people constantly killing, torturing and enslaving one another. I mean things could be better but they could also be a whole lot worse.
@@KageMinowara no doubt. The quality of life has risen for everyone since then, just not equally.
"In this particular place, the cable is especially good."
is a great sentence I see myself using in many different situations.
Today we say "Good WIFI"
I was wondering if anyone was going to mention that. It was hilarious.
"The Americans are proud of the indians, the same way a zookeeper is proud of an old lion." He's not wrong.
Except Lions dont get free hunting licenses, free land, free money, free college, and preferencial hiring through tax incentives.
As a native american where is my free college lmfao
@nicholaspassage1295 I mean, you don't have it if you refuse to receive it lmao. It is freely available. I have a native friend who receives a monthly stipend from the tribe of near 2k dollars. Different tribes took advantage of what the government was willing t0 give in different ways. Some squandered it, some refused to integrate enough to receive their bemefits and they have it bad. The ones who received the benefits and land and money and took care of it are thriving now.
@@Smokey298lions don’t want them
@@Smokey298"free land" huh? That would be the tiny scraps they were left with after the whites stole everything else then. Oh yeah, they got it real easy.😂
People often marvel at how things change through history. I'm much more amazed by how they stay the same.
I’m disappointed to be honest. Sameness implies stagnation, an inability to improve things…
"The most beautiful city in America... apparently, because it is in no way reminiscent of America"
...savage
Yes, beautiful san francisco
i think he meant shittiest,
@@draconisthewyvern3664 I can tell you haven't visited many cities have you...
@@robertstan298 literal human shit piling the streets. Can't even find that in Detroit
It’s not though 😂
I love this guy's voice! He totally brings these journals to life! I also love the pragmatic Russian commentary on American life.
Calling the Grand Canyon a "Mountain Mold" is an unnaturally spot-on description
Open minds can only be honest
When I visited the Grand Canyon I immediately thought of it as an upside down (or maybe inverted) mountain. Mountain mold sounds much better though.
Well it sort of is. They know for certain that where the Grand Canyon sits today used to be a mountain range higher than the Himalayas are today. When the plates pushed together = Himalayas , when the plates reversed and pulled apart =grand canyon
@@johndurrer7869 Uh, no. Northern Arizona is within the Great Basin that was once an inland sea, of which only Utah’s Great Salt Lake remains. The uplift that drained the sea and formed the Rocky Mountains resulted in a swiftly-moving channel of water called the Colorado River that carved the Grand Canyon fairly quickly (in geologic terms).
Ignorance is contagious.
This is one of my favourite sources you've narrated! Would love some more Soviet stuff, I find that time period so interesting. Your whole channel is a gem, though.
Ilf and Petrov are one of greatest Russian satirist. The things they wrote about soviets are hysterical. Zoshenko is from the same category.
I would love to hear a describtion of early Soviet Russia in 20s and 30s from an American. I really enjoyed thr description of Great Canyon and Ranch life.
Yes. I would like to hear that too
Try their other books, which made them famous, the 12 chairs and the little golden calf...20s was an interesting time, until Stalin finally came to full power and began collectivization
Could be interesting. I've read some, but all of them were from American communists who visited USSR, so not very informative, just political puff pieces.
@@kireta21 no these are purely satirical pieces of art
I read a book where an American journalist, Richard Halliburton, visits Russia in the 30s and he even interviews one of the Romanov assasins. He didn't have a good view on the government there because the confiscated his journal and wouldn't give it back to him. He's also kinda racist. In the grandpa sorta way.
"San Francisco, the most beautiful city in America. Apparently because it is in no way reminiscent of America". Bwahahah, rich!
Can confirm. Loved my 6 months living in Golden Gate Park, one of the most colorful transformative times in my life.
@@BubblewrapHighway Yeah, all the homeless people, needles and feces on the streets sure are beautiful.
As well as old Boston
@@rhards This was in 1936 when they still took pride in their city. Now San Fran is a city where dogs step in human shit.
@@rhards not a person in the world is as ugly as gentrification
To be fair, I think any decent person would be horrified upon visiting Hollywood.
I live in san diego. I literally drive an extra hour to go around LA. Hollywood itself is just homeless tents and heroine.
@@JohnGalt916 and dysentery-ridden human feces.
"...any decent person..." Lol. Did get a laugh out of the unintentional misspelling of 'heroine' above, though. Fits perfectly 😅
I've been there. It smells like piss.
#YURIBEZMENOV
"The people who will do this themselves do no not believe God, but they got to church anyway" Well they got that much right lol
How do you or anyone else knows what is in a person's heart and soul? I would worry about my own spiritual well being instead of casting accusations.
@rockster10101 Pretty fair judgement when you consider the megacurches.
Check out r/radicalchristianity
@Will DeMarco Protestantism and Evangelicalism have never been part of Christianity.
They have always been seen as a Jewish/Turk concoction.
@@phillip_iv_planetking6354 Interestingly, when protestantism first came about near on every sort really was decidedly heretical. The Catholic Church at the time was horribly corrupt and many powerful people abused its institutions, but its theology was largely sound.
These days, in many places various protestant churches subscribe to a brand of theology with remarkably little difference from what the Catholic Church at the tine of the Reformation espoused (at least, to my limited understanding), while the Catholic church has wandered off in some slightly worrying directions on some matters. And then you get the flat out cults, where calling them heritics is rather overstating how much they have in common with actual Christianity of any stripe.
But yeah, the modern american style evangelical mega church is not only heretical (even by the rather permissive standards if modern moderate protestantism), its so unrepentantly Blatant about it that its utterly astonishing that anyone goes along with their nonsense. I mean, there's hetrodoxy and then there's blatantly espousing the exact opposite of what is written in the text you're supposedly working from...
Man, what would these dudes have thought of a Hollywood that's made more than 7 movies about men driving cars?
7? More than 700, I'd guess.
I drive.
2 many 2 count
@@nastybastardatlive I think he meant fast & furious
The first ones were pretty good, though the series got it's soul sucked out around the 5th movie
On serious note, read some Ilf and Petrov. The scolding, they give to almost anyone and anything, from tourist traps to bueraucrats to fashion hogs has aged really well. It helps to know historical context, but it is not mandatory, because people never change, and some things say the same.
I didn't have to look it up to know they were Jewish, and looked it up to find they are. How telling.
@@NotSure109 there is a very subtle allusion, that Ostap Bender is Jewish, himself. He often introduce himself as a "son of Turkish national". In Tzarist Russia, many Jews would try to get a Turkish citizenship as a mean to by-step discriminatory anti-Semitic laws, notably the infamous "border of settlement" law, which forbade Jews living closer, than 100 miles to St. Petersburg and Moscow.
@@andreykuzmin4355 Many host societies had similar cultural and legal policies regarding Jews across time and place. Reminds me of that adage about everyone you meet being an asshole.
It’s funny how 99% of cool writes from back in the day would just be annoying internet smartypants if they were around today
@@NotSure109 What is the significance of their being Jewish?
This guy certainly had a way with words
Both of them were famous Soviet authors
Russia has one of the top literary cultures in the world.
Read their "Twelve Chairs" and "Golden Calf" novels.
You know what's funny. I am Russian and in my entire life, I've never read any of their books. However NOW, THANKS TO THE VOICES OF THE PAST, I HAVE started reading them, they are amazing. In my humble opinion, they are better than Dostoyevsky and Bulgakov combined (I don't actually like Bulgakov that much, honestly, haha, he is too negative, while these guys, coming from the same period of 1930s, are able to put snippets of fun even into the most mundane, boring, and sometimes even into some grim events of life, just read their ''12 Chairs'' novel)
@@TypicalRussianGuy I envy you. It must feel amazing to be reading 12 Chairs and the Golden Calf for the first time!
“As a matter of principle there is never any rain here” lmfaoo still true today...
no climate change
Well he didn't mean it literally. It's cyclical, anyway.
8:18 I love this part in specific, it's common to see Americans on the internet talking about boring Soviet architecture, but here is this guy wondering "where's the massive bronze statue commemorating this monumental feat of engineering"
Really tells you something about people's mentality
Yeah but Soviet architecture really is dreadful.
@@bag-o-bagsthe stuff they tried hard on is great, but apartment blocks built as fast as possible because multiple nations lost entire cities were obviously not built with beauty in mind. People just needed houses
@@bag-o-bags When they had the means to, Soviet Architecture can be quite beautiful in a way.
The commie blocks might've not been the most beautiful, but it served it's purpose.
America has never been a very nationalistic country.
All the flags you see spammed everywhere, are done more for the aesthetic than for legitimate love of country.
Its to the point where professing ones genuine love for the country, is more of a novelty than expressing hate for it lol
@@bag-o-bags After the war housing was built as quickly as possible people needed homes American didn’t have their homeland ravaged. My mum lived in a prefab for ten years after the war, they were Londoners bombed out in 1940 and my Nan spent the war years moving from one family member to another. She actually got bombed out twice because my great aunt Florrie’s house was destroyed by a bomb as well. We in the UK have some ugly architecture as well.
"calendars filled with business meetings, business luncheons and business cocktail parties. We were leading the life of business-like Americans without having any business at all" 😂
Sounds like the Great Gatsby. A whole lot to do with a whole lot of nothing.
That's the best kind of business.
#YURIBEZMENOV
@Marshall Carwood Imagine being so ass-mad over a pair of satirists
@Marshall Carwood Jesus, it was a just a joke.
Hollywood is completely different now. They don't make movies about opera singers any more. Now they make movies about superheroes, instead. Totally different.
@@once_upon_a_canopy_tree u cute
they made movies about superheros back then, too. nothing is new under the sun.
It's even worse: Hollywood is degenerating into Bollywood!
It is interesting that they were visiting exactly after the Code was introduced
@@BigGrease1 Umm, the earliest superhero movies I'm aware of were the Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve, which I think were made in the eighties. There were superhero TV programs before that, but I'm not aware of any earlier superhero major motion pictures. Certainly not eight or ten of the danged things every single year like they do now.
This man had a way with words, witty and insightfull.
Delightful reading
And a keen eye along with a perceptive intelligence.He knew how to make sense of what he was seeing.
He is a coomer, from the land of turnip top palaces. His brain is clear and it is washed like a coomers dong
I LOVE foreign perspectives on America. Seeing us through fresh eyes helps me see my native land in a new light. Keep up the wonderful work, VotP!
Scrolling through looking for the comments screaming about communist propaganda everyone virtue signalling about. See comments like this instead.
Yes, de Tocqueville and Charles Dickens both make contributions, and so do contemporary visitors who simply see things that residents do not. We tend to view other cultures through own experiences, and so do visitors.
@@royriley6282
Yes! Jesus, those comments are so freaking annoying.
Native land 😂😂
Sadly today it's not really possible with globalisation
The thing about American cinema is still very accurate.
I think its changing little by little. I for myself never watch any of the typical movies but still get to watch a lot of movies
Superhero movies
@Will DeMarco I watched the 7 samurai on Halloween. That really is a master piece. I will say, got damn!!!! I haven’t had to read that much since I was in school! 😏
@Will DeMarco "lone wolf and cub" is great, there are lots starring the same guy. shogun assassin is another.
There are so many childish movies made now for adults, the ones with lots of witchcraft and armies of millions of weird looking creatures fighting. What's the point?
Beautifully written, and read! Great images!
I loved the Soviet perspective. I must have a Russian heart.
I enjoyed this very much. Thanks for making it!
Those are not just tourists. They are top Russian satirist of 20th century
@@Hella333is interest
The only TH-cam videos that really bring me back in time. Great job!
I love how he calls movies "pictures". That reminded me of my grandfather when I was a little kid.
Because movie was short for "moving pictures." Also explains your grandfather. As he used the second half of the name.
In Russian we still do call them pictures sometimes
“Major motion picture”
This is prolly the most poetic and complete one I've heard. WELL DONE!
Glad to know movies havent really changed
I definitely want more of their stories, it's really interesting to learn of this historical perspective.
Read their magnum opus "The Twelve Chairs" and the sequel "The Golden Calf".
@@billbauer9795 I am not sure Westerners can fully understand the humor behind these books. Even modern Russians have trouble with that, sometimes. Too many implicit references to early Soviet realities
Holy cow this was fantastic. I love how accurate he is. It took me a lifetime of seeing past horseblinders to develop the appreciation he has
Hilarious account on the monotony of Hollywood film plots, that still holds relevance to some extent! Thanks for your channel and the work you do to bring the past to life!
Poetic. Editing, selection of passages, narration, all superb and spellbinding, even on such mundane observations.
Haven't had any notifications from Voices of the past lately so I checked my subscriptions and found this episode.
Humorous and delightful. Really enjoyed it 👍
all these reports by strangers in other countries have unique points of view, of such high historical value. Really highlights the contrasts between civilizations and modes of life. Love it!
this definitely sounds more like a comedic roast than the account of horrified tourists.
because it is
Yes, and it's an affectionate roast. The Soviets of the time who knew the US, admired it in many ways. Quote from an excellent book of fiction, "Red Plenty":
"Of course he admired the Americans. If you went to England, it was all hand-
made trousers. If you went to France, it was cheese from cows who munched
away on one particular hillside. How could you possibly arrange plenty for
everyone on that sort of small-scale, old-fashioned footing? You couldn’t.
But the Americans got it. Of all the capitalist countries, it was America that was
most nearly trying to do the same thing as the Soviet Union. They shared the Soviet
insight. They understood that whittling and hand-stitching belonged to the past.
They understood that if ordinary people were to live the way the kings and
merchants of old had lived, what would be required was a new kind of luxury, an
ordinary luxury built up from goods turned out by the million so that everybody
could have one. And they were so good at it! "
As an indigenous person I thank you for your blunt truthful telling of the history.
It was the words of some Russians who visited at the time, so they did miss out on the unimaginable violence and cruelty and ignorance of the "indigenous" people sympathized with in this video, as that had been rightly reined-in by this point.
Those same noble red men were ruthless and brutal with other tribes, delighting in torture. They got conquered, just as they conquered others. I won’t say I’m without pity but I’m certainly not engaging in empty faux self flagellation to virtue signal.
@@VelkePivoDamn you're so smart!! I wish we could all be as smart as you!!!
@@VelkePivoYou’re a terrible person! Imagine if a group of american indians came in on buffalo to Europe and systematically slaughtered 99.5% of all Europeans, most likely your ancestors, then used the wars of medieval Europe as a pathetic excuse for the systematic genocide of these dozens of ethnicities.
@@VelkePivo careful with that self-blowjob
As an American i feel both flattered and insulted...
This really is some excellent writing.
nothing to be flattered about.
What a beautiful way to describe the grand canyon! Upside down mountains!
I only found your channel about a week or two ago, but I've listened to a lot of your videos and they've all been great. This is the kind of personal history they most people will never hear about and never care about, but for me it is the most worth knowing.
The way he described the Native Americans hurt me .
@A M exactly my point ... white People treat Native Americans horrible and still do to this day I've heard some trumptards telling Native Americans to get back to their country.
I drove through Arizona Navajo country about 4 months ago its depressing
@@deleon3139 some people said some mean things, so that's why you're cheering for the guy who helped kill a million brown people?
Kind of hypocritical of the Soviet considering that's what the Cossacks did to the Siberian natives. Same shit different continent.
@@nulnoh219 the Cossacks were free folk in the service of the monarchy. Communism criticized the monarchy. Two different regimes. So what's wrong? The regime that killed indians still exists today. It’s called American democracy
13:40 I need to memorize that quote. It is in itself a poetic line, worthy of quotation.
It's interesting how you can describe everything in negative light. Even laughter and grand canyon.
To be fair, it's still really an excellent cable.
American mountains? Maybe you meant a roller coaster. In Russian roller coasters are called American Mountains
Interestingly, where I come from, they're called "Russian mountains"
they're called Montagnes Russes (Russian Mountains) here in France
Thank god for Americanisms. I’d hate to be confined to naming things after other existent things.
In Sweden they are called "Mountain and valley track/path" (berg-och dalbana)
@@SC-jq9og Same in Italian: Montagne russe.
"Instead of looking for the causes of poverty and alleviating them, every man tries his best to get a million dollars"
He’s pretty on point and the criticism hasn’t changed.
I appreciate the part when they say everyone in Moscow only gets to see the best of American movies. This equation still rings true today. Fans of "World Cinema" sample the best Directors or biggest hits from each country. And avoid the glut of mediocrity they'd have to sift through if they lived in the actual country where their able to skim the cream of the crop off of. As an American who lived in Europe and worked in an "Art House cinema" for 6 years I can tell you this still happens from country to country, all over the world.
Which is what I used to say when people talked about how great British television was. We only got the best, packaged into a Sunday show and called Masterpiece Theater.
The most important, and apt, description of hollywood film I've ever heard.
The way the writer related the acrophobic obsession with the bridge cable was hilarious.
The description of the Grand Canyon was actually a really good way of describing it
Wow. This is 1936. Man. I remember when 36 didn't seem that far away. Now it seems like we're 100s of years past that time. When it hasn't even been 100. Crazy how times change so rapidly
As someone who lives in LA Hollywood has not changed in nearly 100 years from tour guides to homeless people with signs
It seems to be a nearly universal trait of tourists to find any new country and its people both enthralling and appalling at the same time. People find comfort in what is familiar, and a combination of wonder and disappointment in the unfamiliar.
His begrudging admiration of the Golden State Bridge cable is oddly endearing
Dang...
If only he could see how accurately his description still holds up.
Well they were way off on knowing what would happen in the USSR in 50 years. How one contemporary satirist said Russians always find the way to respond with unpredictable stupidity :)
“Americans must laugh”. That’s great.
lol
In America, you laugh at life.
In Soviet Russia, life laugh at you.
Yeah, and that's pretty pathetic. Must be why, when everything else to laugh at has been exhausted, Americans laugh at Gangstalking victims and others' tragic circumstances.
It’s a very interesting assessment...and true. It’s more a peculiarity to me than blatant phoniness.
Russians are miserable people, just look at the photos... everyone looks miserable and not a smile seen anywhere .... this is coming from a Russian immigrant living in America... I think it took my mom 20 years living in America before she smiled in photos
I liked how he spoke so highly of the builders of the golden gate bridges work
The way he describes the movies and his disappointment in watching the lame ones is how I feel and why I rarely go to movies, unless it’s to a drive in and that’s just for the experience of being there.
Makes me think of all the American yokels who never stop prattling about every Marvel film and series and the Mandelorian proves repetition is all the studios are willing to put out because they know the idiots will still pay to view it even if they complain.
The last film I watched was the remake of Dune, I was disappointed not watched anything else. Tend to watch documentary films and TV now.
I'm Russian and, even though I've never read Ilf and Petrov's literature before, after listening to the Voices of the Past, I really want to do it, these guys are one of THE major Russian writers of the 20th century. For some people, these guys could seem a bit too sarcastic but they are great, honestly.
Although my favorite Russian writers would probably be the Strugatskiye Brothers. It was their art that inspired the creation of STALKER (both the Soviet Russian film and the modern Ukrainian videogame).
And my favorite poet would probably be Mayakovsky. He's like a kind of a ''new Russian patriot', not the patriot of the aggressive Russian Empire which only conquers land for the Tzars, but a patriot of our common Motherland, which cherishes its cultural diversity (even modern Russia has tens and tens of official languages, and in the Soviet Union there were more than a hundred).
The guy has a pretty peculiar sense of humor, by the way (as do a lot of Russian poets from the 1920s and 1930s). For example, in a poem named ''A poem about the Soviet Passport'', he makes innuendos which are almost sexual (after a few dozen excited lines, he finishes the part with something like ''... and thus I take it out of my wide pants! Have envy, fellas, for I am a citizen of the Soviet Union!'')
How the фак you never read 12 chairs. Are you 12?)
@@aararqaae6451 Each and every person have their own set of books they've read. There are millions of books in the world, why would you expect me to read them all, haha? :D
Man in ushanka because this is one of the pinnacles of modern Russian literature, one of the most quoted pieces of soviet culture in general. A source of so many memes from the era. A man claiming (or larping as one) to be so “Russian” he has a literal ushanka in nickname has to be at least sad he is such an illiterate. But what do I expected from гражданский.
@@aararqaae6451 Well, my friend, you sound just like my Grandma... :D
I have read tons of Russian short stories when I was little. For example, the stories wrote by Dragunskiy and other great authors, as well as, later, Chekhov and even a novel by Solzhenitsyn (by the way, I don't advise anyone to trust Solzhenitsyn's books, he is a very negative person who exaggerates a lot) but later I got really invested into more ''dull'' literature, e.g. psychological textbooks in English and French, so I didn't experience all of the classics of Russian literature and I don't know some of the older Russian memes but that doesn't mean I'm illiterate, I was just more invested into other spheres of literature, that's all ^^
Man in ushanka friend, I know, you write this with a good intent, but you are actually larping as one of us and only showing the most basic understanding of culture. There is no anger in my words when I say that this is roleplaying for you, not reality. Maybe only just a Little bit of regret, but I am gonna call you гражданский once again and be over with it. Peace.
oh i love the way the worded things thanks for posting this !
The quantity and quality of similes are breath taking. Russians are so often fantastic writers.
It's so strange that they single out the Navajo, one of the few tribes that actually got to keep the majority of their original lands (which were taken at one point but by the 1930s had been continuously given back).
Probably cause they were the most cohesive and visible as a group among the indians in the US at that time and place.
Very prophetic, brilliantly delivered, as ever. Thank you. 👍😎👌
Insane how Hollywood hasn’t changed much in nearly a century.
this man had a great way with words, also kudos to the translator
Two men.
This guy's observations and summation of Americans seriously cracked me up a few times. Like happy sad laughter. Truth is hilarious and hurts.
Americans must laugh
I know that some of the observations were rather harsh and held an element of truth but I felt an affection for Americans coupled with exasperation 😊
Love your channel dude.
(5:40) I was in California only once, ten years ago. It started raining the day we got to San Francisco, and rained increasingly harder until we got to San Diego a week later. from where we finally went back to Arizona, finally giving up.
Outstanding! (Just subscribed) In school I was taught how wonderful America is. "Limitless Wealth and Limitless Poverty" still true today!
This is very nice! If I translate some texts in portuguese and spanish for you and your channel would you be interested in them?
What a nice offer!
*puts into Google Translate*
Hope this is something of interest to them
Yes please!
@@FortoFight hahahah
Funny how as an American I still unironically agree with many of his assessments.
A nationalist blindly loves and accepts his country as is, and takes personal offense to any attempt at change. A patriot loves his country, and wishes to see it flourish through change and improvement.
@@nobodyburgen4594 No. A nationalist is someone who is anti-globalist and who believes in the self determination of his nation. A nation is not the same as a country. A nation is a population of people who share the same language, spirituality, way of life, culture, identity, and history. Nationalism is also the stance that countries are the manifestation of the political will of nations.
'All of these pictures are beneath the level of human dignity'. Now that's an elegant way of calling films trash.
California! A truly Horrifying land....
“I’m sending you home”
“To England?”
“No, to California. I want you to suffer”
what about texas.
The bastard child of Yuri Bezmenov and Kirk Douglas.
@A. Côrtes Doubt.
Good thing us California's like the state ,its for us not you . If your a tourist then you got no right to say shit about our state and you should be happy we allow you to visit the Golden state that EVERYONE IN THE WORLD WANTS TO COME TO
"Hollywood smells of petrol and old ham". 100% true to this day meat packing plants and freeways, with all the runnoff mixing in the aqueducts.
It's been fun reading the comments. Funny how passionate some are explaining what the video is and isn't. My 2 cents, it was very interesting.
I must passionately insist that it was NOT interesting.
Seems like the impression that old American movies gave, lives very much on nowadays - only in the endless sitcoms that are pure pain to watch (for a European)
Sitcoms are painful to watch for many Americans as well. In some circles, from the sophisticated to the religious reactionaries, it is a point of pride to avoid sitcoms, many movies, and possibly owning a tv.
What a somber, yet hauntingly reflexive and humble ending.
Gave you a thumbs up and I hope to finish your video(s). The narration is excellent.
"oh cable, my new found friend... please do not leave me as I do not know how I am to live without you"
Meanwhile in the Soviet Union the "Great Purge" has started where between 1936-1938 700,000 to 1.2 million people are shot, starved or worked to death by the Soviet authorities.
simply wonderful video!!! I live in LA and my impression has always been the same as contained herein.
This is brilliant! What a treasure chest of 1st person everyday historic literature.
“Beautiful girls with unpleasant spiteful eyes filled the city.”
Sounds about right...
They're in Moscow now too lol
Just like today. 🤔😉
Bloody everywhere here
Yea only more so now
I love this channel, commenting for the algorithm
San Francisco: Limitless wealth and limitless poverty.
Things really stay the same the more things change
Emperor Norton agrees
And piss and shit everywhere