The Image of the Russian Solider in Finnish Comical Songs

Authors

• Mikko-Olavi Seppälä

Keywords:

kupletit, venäläissotilaat

Abstract

The article analyses popular Finnish racial comic songs depicting Russian soldiers during the Russian Civil
War. Gaining independence from Russia in 1917, Finland lacked a national army, and the stereotypical
soldiers in popular theatre, both Finnish and Russian, were clown-like mocking images. In addition, Russian
characters represented the boisterous iconography of the exotic other. Along with the liberated Russian
soldier, many comic songs represented a Finnish working-class maiden as his concubine. This sensual image
combined transgressive Russian soldiers with the Finnish working class and thus offered an appealing
interpretation of the traumatic Finnish Civil War of 1918.