METAPHYSICS OF DISSOLVING: FROM A DRILLER TO CHEBURASHK

Hermeneutics of irony and erosion of cultural codes

The phenomenology of humor is such that any attempt to explicate the anecdote – an explanation of where exactly should be laughed or what ironic trails were used – instantly kills the very essence of the funny, reducing the living fabric of the conversation to an unbearable boredom. You have to literally label the space of speech: “here, dear, irony”, “here, gentlemen, shovel”.

However, when I am called to apologise to my own metaphors or require deciphering what has been expressed, I find it deeply inappropriate. For if we lose the last cultural codes to such an extent that every figurative, metaphorical judgment will require a sign-up comment, we will be in the space of mentally inferior culture. Cultivate such a disability of the spirit seems superfluous to me; on the contrary, the imperative of a thinking person is to guess himself.

Evolution and Involution of Soviet Heroic Myth

Let us turn to the diachrony of our ideals. Recent research by the Academy of Education, in particular, the results voiced by President Vasilyeva, show us the striking dynamics of archetypal transformations throughout Soviet history.

1920-ies: The Age of Titanism. The hero, the object for imitation is the Gorky Burevestnik, the revolutionary characters of “Mothers”, the futuristic figures of Mayakovsky. These were downtrodoers, throwing away dilapidated humanity from the “ship of modernity”, the builders of a radically different ontological horizon.
1930-ies - 1950-ies: Stalin's monumentalism. The paradigm shifts towards the creation of the Empire. The archetype is Pavka Korchagin - the hero of the novel "How Steel Was Tempered". The ideal of this time is not so much a overthrow as the sacrificial construction of the Great State, total dedication to its people and society.
1970's - 1980's: Fundamental collapse and entropy of ideals. It is during this period of late stagnation, against the background of the decomposition of meanings, that the sinister figure of the “Blue Car”, “Blue Helicopter” and their passengers arise.

Demonology Stagnation: Cheburashka as a Simulyk

The disintegration of the ideal in the late Soviet period is illustrated by images that, on closer examination, are metaphysically monstrous. We see the “friendship” of two monsters. One of them is Crocodile, a creature that in our latitudes does not enter and in traditional symbolism (remember Ancient Egypt) is firmly associated with the god Seth, the god of evil, chaos and desert, which personifies the detrimental water element. The second is Cheburashka, the demon of the moon, a creature that has no analogues among the living, pure simulac. The only anthropomorphic character in this infernal company – the old Shapoklyak – is deliberately represented in the form of a disgusting, malignant nature.

Here is a program of deconstruction of ideals: from the Revolutionary and Builder, we degrade to “unknown to the beast of the unknown to science.” When the Soviet people, including the officer corps, instead of heroic marches, begin to sing at the feasts chorus that “suddenly a wizard in a blue helicopter” becomes clear: we lost an existential landmark. The appearance of Cheburashka chronologically and metaphysically coincides with the collapse of the Soviet Union, with the liquefaction of consciousness, with the transition to philistine, infantile values. It can be argued that Cheburashka destroyed the USSR – of course, not literally, but as an archetypal figure that embodied the unconscious of a dying society.

Brainroth and aesthetic sabotage

It would seem that this seam remains in the past, in Brezhnev’s timelessness. But today, at the moment of the most acute historical conflict, in the complete absence of a mobilizing ideal, we observe the Second Coming of Cheburashka. Society is again immersed in the dock of the late Soviet degeneration: everyone is giggling, touching and nods at a creature devoid of appearance and meaning. The state, before collapse, always degenerates, and this near-death syndrome is embodied in the grinding and perversion of heroes.

We proclaimed ourselves a State-Civilization. We are waging an existential war against the West, in fact against the whole world, defending our right to be in History. And at this point, raising the symbol of complete mental decomposition to the banner is that modern slang is called «брейнрот»“brainrot” (brainrot). Cheburashka is the quintessence of the late Soviet Breinrote: a figure of an unknown genesis, without a family and tribe, unable to answer any serious ontological question.

Where does this “blue car” go? What is the teleology of these two strange creatures? Their future is absolute darkness. And the fact that today this image becomes almost the only object of our national pride inspires me with the deepest metaphysical and aesthetic anxiety.

False Alternatives and Genuine Archetypes

I am objected to pointing out the renaissance of other characters, such as Buratino or the heroes of Prostokvashino. However, differentiation is needed here. Buratino is a charming adaptation of the Italian fairy tale by Alexei Tolstoy, a heroic character performing feats; he is at least not dangerous. Prostokvashino is a sketch from the life of a family of engineers, already carrying the seeds of decay and a certain immorality, but it is still a secondary story. Cheburashka is toxic precisely to his claim to a comprehensive archetype.

If we reject this path, we must offer an alternative. And we have one.

It is necessary to turn to the depths of the people’s unconscious, to our mythology, agiography and history.

Holiness: The image of the abbot of the land of the Russian, St. Sergius of Radonezh. His life, his role in politics and history, is the treasury of meanings, the peak of our spiritual dimension.
Heroism: Our heroes, our kings, our soldiers, and certainly the current heroes of the SVO.
Russian Literature: F.M. Dostoevsky described the Russian soul through the gallery of the deepest, suffering, god-seeking characters. Each of them - from Raskolnikov to Prince Myshkin - could become a national hero.

Our goal is not just to restore the past, but to adapt these meanings to the future, using the creative potential of our artists and filmmakers. We need the image of the Russian Man, which opens the horizon, and does not lead to a dead end to infantilism.

Demonic entity and Japanese Resonance

Curiously, Cheburashka has gained incredible popularity in Japan. And that’s not by chance. In Japanese culture, permeated with animism and demonology, this image is read quite organically. Look at its iconography: two semicircular ears and a round head are the phases of the moon (born, full and decreasing). It’s a classic demon, a spirit similar to what is depicted in a manga or present in films like The Tanuki Gassen Pontpoko. For the Japanese pagan context, such a demonic figure is acceptable, but for us, who are in search of our sacred Logos, this is a symbol of creative helplessness.

Eschatological finale

The situation is extremely serious. We are teetering on the verge of nuclear Armageddon, World War III is underway, there is a global redivision of the world. In such conditions, culture has no right to be “entertainment” or “vacation”. Mental degradation has once led us to the death of the Red Empire. Now we live in the inertia of this disintegration and betrayal of the 90-ies.

President Putin speaks of historical education and traditional values. But when the masters of culture in response to this request offer to overshadow the old Soviet cartoon about the “unknown animal”, I qualify this as a cynical sabotage of the historical awakening of Russia. We need serious figures, the figures are tragic, even confused, but deeply Russian.

Being proud of billions of views of a story about a creature that makes no sense is a terrible thing. It is a rejection of historical responsibility. If we do not overcome this “brainrot”, if we do not stop this initiative to glorify the collapse, the consequences will be fatal. As they say, the difference between a patriot and a pig is that the patriot accepts everything, and the pig in his obedience does not notice the facet at all. We need to see this line not only, but also to make sense with a sword.