Monday, April 21, 2008

"Russian Idol" Reaction



Sorry guys, but this having a Russian theme, I just had to repost and comment. First of all, I want you to know that this wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There were some things I found funny. I was worried about it because having lived for over seven months in Russian culture, I thought I would hate it and think it entirely sterotypical. So here's Abigail's analysis.

Have you watched the video? Good then what I'm saying will make sense. The first thing I'd like to say is that Robin Williams has a bad Russian accent. A really bad Russian accent. It got slightly better by the end of the sketch, but it was still pretty bad. Secondly, for those of you who want to know. Most of the song he's singing isn't in real Russian. He says something like "I only...you..I love you" and then the rest of the song is nonsense. I was sitting here listening to it and my ears were trying to make sense of it before I realized that it wasn't anything. What did I find funny? Well, the whole "so you think you can drink" Thing was pretty funny. Oh and I loved the fact that he pronounced "Hollywood" as "Gollywood." That's actually how the Russians say it. The song title "Babushka, use my woman now" was mildly amusing just because babushka means grandma. I found it interesting that the Beetles were mentioned, not because of the whole Lenin/Lennon thing but because the Beetles are actually pretty popular here. The Lennon song "Yesterday" in particular. I can see what would be amusing about the whole Lenin/Stalin thing to an American audience but I didn't find it funny. Nor did I really care for the whole women looking like men thing. Anyone who knows Russians knows that Russian women are known for dressing up. All the time. Even in Siberia. Oh and the gay thing. Didn't find it funny at all. Maybe because Russians are weird about gay people. Maybe because it added absolutely nothing to the point of the sketch. I'm not sure. Oh and for reference, if anyone cares. "Russian Idol" in Russian is Fabrika Zvyozd Which is like "The Making of a Star" or something to that effect.

1 comment:

Joe Clifford Faust said...

The big stereotype being based on our perception of Russia as a Soviet state with all the related baggage. Although my favorite gag was the knock-knock joke. BTW, "Yesterday" was Paul McCartney's song - ask any Russian ;^)