The Law of the Wolf: How the Kukryniksy Trio Represented the Enemy as a “Wild” Animal in Cold War Political Cartoons in Pravda, 1965–1982
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17409/kpt.v1i1.97Abstract
This article examines how the Soviet Kukryniksy trio used wild animals in their political cartoons to depict the enemies of the Soviet Union. The primary material of this research consists of Kukryniksy’s 39 wild animal cartoons published in Pravda during 1965–1982. For my theoretical and methodological framework, I rely on frame analysis and propaganda theory. My aim is to demonstrate what kind of symbolic functions wild animals have in these cartoons and what kind of characteristics they attach to the enemies depicted. Furthermore, I aim to examine in what kind of frames the world was to be seen according to the Soviet propaganda machine, and how these frames were created with the use of wild animal characters. In these cartoons wild animals are used to reveal the “true” nature of the enemy. The animal’s symbolic functions may derive from the linguistic or other cultural contexts. The cartoons depict the enemy mainly as deceptive and ruthless, but simultaneously predictable to the Soviet Union. They also represent the enemy in a belittling light in order to retain the frame of the superiority of the Soviet Union over its enemies.
References
Baker, S. (2001). Picturing the beast: Animals, identity, and representation. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Beglov, S. I. (1984). Vneshnepoliticheskaia propaganda: Ocherk teorii i praktiki. [Foreign policy propaganda: A study in theory and practice]. Moscow: Vyshaia shkola.
Bonnell, V. E. (1999). Iconography of power: Soviet political posters under Lenin and Stalin. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Buzek, Antony. (1964). How the communist press works. London: Pall Mall Press.
Chekhov, A. P. (1884) Khameleon. [Chameleon]. Retrieved from http://www.antonchekhov.ru/pdf/Hameleon.pdf
Cooper, J. C. (1995). Dictionary of symbolic & mythological animals. London: Thorsons.
Duus, P. (2001). Weapons of the weak, weapons of the strong: The development of the Japanese political cartoon. The Journal of Asian Studies, 60 (4), 965–997.
Ellul, J. (1973). Propaganda: The formation of men’s attitudes. New York: Vintage Books.
Goffman, E. (1986). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. The American Journal of Sociology, 95, 1–37.
Gombrich, E. (2002 [1982]). The image and the eye: Further studies in the psychology of pictorial representation. London: Phaidon.
Hall, J. (1979). Dictionary of subjects & symbols in art (revised edition). Boulder: Westview Press.
Jowett, G. S., & O’Donnell, V. (2004). Propaganda and persuasion. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Khevesi, M. A. (2004). Tolkovyi slovar’ ideologicheskikh i politicheskikh terminov sovetskogo perioda. [Defining dictionary of ideological and political terminology of the Soviet period]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia.
Kukryniksy. (1965, October 20). Krokodilovy slezy... [Crocodile’s tears]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1965, December 22). Pochti po basne Krylova “Vorona i lisitsa” [Almost according to Krylov’s fable “The crow and the fox”]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 1.
Kukryniksy. (1966, January 20). “Gorilla”: Organizuiu eshche odin perevorot i poluchu diplom [“Gorilla”: I’ll organise one more coup and get a diploma]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 3.
Kukryniksy. (1966, May 13). V saigonskom zooparke [In a Saigon zoo]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1966, May 22). Opasnyi triuk [Dangerous stunt]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1967 May 5). Grezy Shtrausa [Dreams of Strauss]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4
Kukryniksy. (1967, June 26). — Razve on pokhozh na agressora!.. [— He hardly looks like an agressor!..]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1968, October 29). Ozhivshii sterviatnik [Revived vulture]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1968, December 16). Zakidyvaiut seti... [Casting a net...]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1968, December 25). V ob’’iatiiakh Shtrausa... [In Strauss’ embrace...]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1970, January 18). KIena i Volk [Kyena and wolf]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1971, February 6). Akuly Pentagona [The Pentagon’s sharks]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1971, April 29). Zlobnoe karkan’e [Spiteful croaking]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1971, May 5). Imperialisticheskii mukhaslon i ego prognivshie bivni [Imperialist fly-elephant and his rotten teeth]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1973, January 14). Nashli pribezhishche [Found refuge]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1973, December 9). Gorilly “za rabotoi” [Gorillas “at work”]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1974, January 26). Griazeperedatchiki [Mud-transmitters]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1974, February 17). A EES i nyne tam... [EEC – all talk and no movement...]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1974, May 17). Sniukhalis’ [Recognised by scent]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1976, April 17). Ikh “piatiletka” [Their “five-year plan”]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1980, June 4). Ovechkoi volk prikinulsia, reshiv, chto vse v poriadke. / No chem prikryt’ zverinye povadki? [The lamb-wolf acted as if everything was in order. / But how do you cover up animal habits?]. [Cartoon with Dm. Demin’s poem]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1980, December 28). Ikh lozh’ eshche otchetlivei vidna, / Kogda iz mukhi delaiut slona [Their lies are even more visible, / When they make an elephant out of a fly]. [Cartoon with Dm. Demin’s poem]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1981, June 19). Vashingtonskaia spetsodezhda [Washington coveralls]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1982, February 25). Klev skvernyi: / Ryba poumnela, / Da i primanka / ustarela. [Biting bad: / The fish have learnt, / And the bate / is outdated]. [Cartoon with Dm. Demin’s poem]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1982, July 8). Khameleonovy ulovki / Zadumany dlia maskirovki [Chameleon’s tricks / Designed for masking]. [Cartoon with Dm. Demin’s poem]. Pravda, p. 5.
Lamb, C. (2004). Drawn to extremes: The use and abuse of editorial cartoons. New York: Columbia University Press.
Lasswell, H. (1971 [1927]). Propaganda technique in World War I. Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press.
Lasswell, H. D. (1995 [1934]). Propaganda. In R. Jackall (Ed.), Propaganda (13–25), Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Ozhegov, S. I. (1978). Slovar’ russkogo iazyka. [Dictionary of Russian language]. Moscow: Russkii iazyk.
Pöppel, L. (2007). The rhetoric of Pravda editorials: A diachronic study of a political genre. Stockholm: Stockholm University.
Ritvo, H. (2014). How wild is wild? In: C. Mauch & L. Robin (Eds.), The edges of environmental history: Honouring Jane Carruthers (19–24), RCC Perspectives 2014 (1). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85963
Roxburgh, A. (1987). Pravda: Inside the Soviet news machine. New York: George Braziller.
Shandra, V. A. (1982). Gazeta, propaganda, zhizn’: Voprosy teorii i metodiki. [Newspaper, propaganda, life: Questions on theory and methods]. Moscow: Mysl’.
Snow, D. A., & Benford, R. D. (1988) Ideology, frame resonance and participant mobilization. International Social Movement Research, 1, 199–200.
Snow, D. A., Rochford Jr., E. B., Worden, S. K., & Benford, R. D. (1986). Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation. American Sociological Review, 51 (4), 464–481.
Sokolov, N. — Kukryniksy (1998). Vspominaiu... [I remember...] Moscow: AST.
Steuter, E. & Wills, D. (2009). At war with metaphor: Media, propaganda, and racism in the war on terror. Lanham: Lexington.
Tumarkin, N. (1994). The living & the dead: The rise & fall of the cult of the World War II in Russia. New York: BasicBooks.
Tynianov, Iu. (1924). Slovar’ Lenina polemista. [Dictionary of Lenin polemist]. Lef, 2, 81–110. Retrieved from http://www.ruthenia.ru/sovlit/j/2961.html
Vishnevskii, S. (1965 December 22). Opasnyi sgovor [A dangerous arrangement/agreement], Pravda, p. 1.
Werness, H. B. (2004). The continuum encyclopedia of animal symbolism in art. New York: Continuum.
Beglov, S. I. (1984). Vneshnepoliticheskaia propaganda: Ocherk teorii i praktiki. [Foreign policy propaganda: A study in theory and practice]. Moscow: Vyshaia shkola.
Bonnell, V. E. (1999). Iconography of power: Soviet political posters under Lenin and Stalin. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Buzek, Antony. (1964). How the communist press works. London: Pall Mall Press.
Chekhov, A. P. (1884) Khameleon. [Chameleon]. Retrieved from http://www.antonchekhov.ru/pdf/Hameleon.pdf
Cooper, J. C. (1995). Dictionary of symbolic & mythological animals. London: Thorsons.
Duus, P. (2001). Weapons of the weak, weapons of the strong: The development of the Japanese political cartoon. The Journal of Asian Studies, 60 (4), 965–997.
Ellul, J. (1973). Propaganda: The formation of men’s attitudes. New York: Vintage Books.
Goffman, E. (1986). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. The American Journal of Sociology, 95, 1–37.
Gombrich, E. (2002 [1982]). The image and the eye: Further studies in the psychology of pictorial representation. London: Phaidon.
Hall, J. (1979). Dictionary of subjects & symbols in art (revised edition). Boulder: Westview Press.
Jowett, G. S., & O’Donnell, V. (2004). Propaganda and persuasion. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Khevesi, M. A. (2004). Tolkovyi slovar’ ideologicheskikh i politicheskikh terminov sovetskogo perioda. [Defining dictionary of ideological and political terminology of the Soviet period]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia.
Kukryniksy. (1965, October 20). Krokodilovy slezy... [Crocodile’s tears]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1965, December 22). Pochti po basne Krylova “Vorona i lisitsa” [Almost according to Krylov’s fable “The crow and the fox”]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 1.
Kukryniksy. (1966, January 20). “Gorilla”: Organizuiu eshche odin perevorot i poluchu diplom [“Gorilla”: I’ll organise one more coup and get a diploma]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 3.
Kukryniksy. (1966, May 13). V saigonskom zooparke [In a Saigon zoo]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1966, May 22). Opasnyi triuk [Dangerous stunt]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1967 May 5). Grezy Shtrausa [Dreams of Strauss]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4
Kukryniksy. (1967, June 26). — Razve on pokhozh na agressora!.. [— He hardly looks like an agressor!..]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1968, October 29). Ozhivshii sterviatnik [Revived vulture]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1968, December 16). Zakidyvaiut seti... [Casting a net...]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1968, December 25). V ob’’iatiiakh Shtrausa... [In Strauss’ embrace...]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1970, January 18). KIena i Volk [Kyena and wolf]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1971, February 6). Akuly Pentagona [The Pentagon’s sharks]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1971, April 29). Zlobnoe karkan’e [Spiteful croaking]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1971, May 5). Imperialisticheskii mukhaslon i ego prognivshie bivni [Imperialist fly-elephant and his rotten teeth]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1973, January 14). Nashli pribezhishche [Found refuge]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 4.
Kukryniksy. (1973, December 9). Gorilly “za rabotoi” [Gorillas “at work”]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1974, January 26). Griazeperedatchiki [Mud-transmitters]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1974, February 17). A EES i nyne tam... [EEC – all talk and no movement...]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1974, May 17). Sniukhalis’ [Recognised by scent]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1976, April 17). Ikh “piatiletka” [Their “five-year plan”]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1980, June 4). Ovechkoi volk prikinulsia, reshiv, chto vse v poriadke. / No chem prikryt’ zverinye povadki? [The lamb-wolf acted as if everything was in order. / But how do you cover up animal habits?]. [Cartoon with Dm. Demin’s poem]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1980, December 28). Ikh lozh’ eshche otchetlivei vidna, / Kogda iz mukhi delaiut slona [Their lies are even more visible, / When they make an elephant out of a fly]. [Cartoon with Dm. Demin’s poem]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1981, June 19). Vashingtonskaia spetsodezhda [Washington coveralls]. [Cartoon]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1982, February 25). Klev skvernyi: / Ryba poumnela, / Da i primanka / ustarela. [Biting bad: / The fish have learnt, / And the bate / is outdated]. [Cartoon with Dm. Demin’s poem]. Pravda, p. 5.
Kukryniksy. (1982, July 8). Khameleonovy ulovki / Zadumany dlia maskirovki [Chameleon’s tricks / Designed for masking]. [Cartoon with Dm. Demin’s poem]. Pravda, p. 5.
Lamb, C. (2004). Drawn to extremes: The use and abuse of editorial cartoons. New York: Columbia University Press.
Lasswell, H. (1971 [1927]). Propaganda technique in World War I. Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press.
Lasswell, H. D. (1995 [1934]). Propaganda. In R. Jackall (Ed.), Propaganda (13–25), Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Ozhegov, S. I. (1978). Slovar’ russkogo iazyka. [Dictionary of Russian language]. Moscow: Russkii iazyk.
Pöppel, L. (2007). The rhetoric of Pravda editorials: A diachronic study of a political genre. Stockholm: Stockholm University.
Ritvo, H. (2014). How wild is wild? In: C. Mauch & L. Robin (Eds.), The edges of environmental history: Honouring Jane Carruthers (19–24), RCC Perspectives 2014 (1). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85963
Roxburgh, A. (1987). Pravda: Inside the Soviet news machine. New York: George Braziller.
Shandra, V. A. (1982). Gazeta, propaganda, zhizn’: Voprosy teorii i metodiki. [Newspaper, propaganda, life: Questions on theory and methods]. Moscow: Mysl’.
Snow, D. A., & Benford, R. D. (1988) Ideology, frame resonance and participant mobilization. International Social Movement Research, 1, 199–200.
Snow, D. A., Rochford Jr., E. B., Worden, S. K., & Benford, R. D. (1986). Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation. American Sociological Review, 51 (4), 464–481.
Sokolov, N. — Kukryniksy (1998). Vspominaiu... [I remember...] Moscow: AST.
Steuter, E. & Wills, D. (2009). At war with metaphor: Media, propaganda, and racism in the war on terror. Lanham: Lexington.
Tumarkin, N. (1994). The living & the dead: The rise & fall of the cult of the World War II in Russia. New York: BasicBooks.
Tynianov, Iu. (1924). Slovar’ Lenina polemista. [Dictionary of Lenin polemist]. Lef, 2, 81–110. Retrieved from http://www.ruthenia.ru/sovlit/j/2961.html
Vishnevskii, S. (1965 December 22). Opasnyi sgovor [A dangerous arrangement/agreement], Pravda, p. 1.
Werness, H. B. (2004). The continuum encyclopedia of animal symbolism in art. New York: Continuum.
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
2015-10-14
How to Cite
Kangas, R. (2015). The Law of the Wolf: How the Kukryniksy Trio Represented the Enemy as a “Wild” Animal in Cold War Political Cartoons in Pravda, 1965–1982. Cultural Policy Research Yearbook , 1(1). https://doi.org/10.17409/kpt.v1i1.97
Issue
Section
Articles
