Cheburashka

Cheburashka (Russian: Чебурашка), also known as Topple in earlier English translations, is a fictional character created by Soviet writer Eduard Uspensky in his 1965 children's book Gena the Crocodile and His Friends. The character subsequently appeared as the protagonist in a series of stop-motion animated films by Roman Kachanov (Soyuzmultfilm studio), the first of which was made in 1969,[1][2][3] with songs composed by Vladimir Shainsky.[4]

For the aircraft nicknamed after this character, see An-72/An-74. For the 1971 film, see Cheburashka (film). For the 2023 film, see Cheburashka (2023 film).

A celebratory 25-ruble coin of Cheburashka and Gena the Crocodile, released in 2020
A Soviet postage stamp featuring the Gena the Crocodile animation

Even today it is still renowned in the former Soviet Union, and it has been called as "Soviet Mickey Mouse" by external observers. Although only four short animated movies have been produced featuring Cheburashka, it is still a national symbol in the former USSR and Russia, and it's famous outside of it. One reason for its popularity is its slogan, "it doesn't matters where you are from, but kindness".[5]

Story

Cheburashka is an iconic Russian classic cartoon character who later became a popular character in Russian jokes (along with his friend, Gena the Crocodile). According to the creator of the character, Eduard Uspensky, Cheburashka is an "animal unknown to science," with large monkey-like ears and a body resembling that of a cub, who lives in a tropical forest. He accidentally gets into a crate of oranges, eats his fill, and falls asleep. The crate is eventually delivered to a grocery store in an unnamed Russian city (hinted to be Moscow), where the rest of the main story unfolds.[6]

The puzzled store manager finds the creature in the crate when he opens it, and takes him out and sits him on the table. The creature's paws are numb after staying in the crate for so long, and he tumbles down (чебурахнулся, cheburakhnulsya, a Russian colloquialism meaning "tumbled") from the table, onto the chair, and then onto the floor. This inspires the store manager to name him Cheburashka. Words with this root were archaic in Russian; Uspensky gave them a new lease on life. (The Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language of Vladimir Dahl gives the meaning of "cheburashka" as another name for the roly-poly toy.[7])

Animated series

Live-action film

Characters

Cheburashka and friends

Cheburashka is male, has a bear-like body, and is about the size of a 5-year-old child. He is a toddling creature with huge round ears on the side of his head that droop when he is discouraged. He has feet without legs, big black eyes, a snub nose. His voice is high-pitched and childlike. Cheburashka is an optimist as he only sees the best in people and is chirpy even in the gloomiest situation. Sergei Kapkov, animation historian and managing editor of Soyuzmultfilm, has said that Cheburashka "is absolutely useless and hopeless. He is like a stranger who doesn't understand a thing but just has one global idea, and that is to make friends and have others ... make friends with each other."[8] For Leonid Katz, an art historian in Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel, Cheburashka represents the "ideal". As he notes, "In the film he is completely innocent. He represents all that was lost, all that was maybe impossible, all that was dreamed of".[9]

After being turned down by the zoo as an "animal unknown to science," Cheburashka gets hired as a window display for a discount store selling factory seconds because he resembles one, residing in a phone booth. In the tale, he befriends an anthropomorphic crocodile named Gena, who wears a hat, a bow tie, and a coat, and plays the accordion. Gena works in a zoo as a zoo animal. Gena's favorite songs are "Such a Pity that One's Birthday Happens Only Once a Year" and "The Blue Train Car", both of which are extremely popular with children.

Antagonist

Cheburashka and Gena have their adventures made more difficult by a character named "Старуха Шапокляк" (Old Lady Shapoklyak). She is a mischievous but charming old lady. Shapoklyak is tall and thin, wears a hat, a dark-coloured dress, and bloomers, and carries around a pet rat, Lariska, in her purse to help her play pranks on people, though near the end of some stories she turns around and helps the protagonists. The chorus of her theme song contains her motto, "One won't ever get famous for good deeds."

Cheburashka in 1965, in the first edition of the book.

The rights to the Cheburashka character and image have been heavily debated in court.[10] In 1994, Eduard Uspensky (the writer) copyrighted the character's name and image and proceeded to sell the rights to various countries. Leonid Shvartsman, the art director of the animated films, has tried to prove in court that he was the creator of Cheburashka's visual appearance and that this copyright should be separate from the rights for the literary character. On 13 March 2007, Shvartsman and his lawyer lost a 4.7 million ruble lawsuit against BRK Cosmetics and Eduard Uspensky. Shvartsman alleged that Uspensky sold the rights to the Cheburashka image (which was allegedly not his to sell) to BRK Cosmetics, which used it on packets of toothpaste. The defence argued that the artist who drew the character for the packets had never seen the animated films and, despite the fact that the character on the packets was an exact copy of the one in the animated films, had created the character himself after the impressions left from reading Uspensky's books. Vladimir Entin, defender of Shvartsman's interests, suspected that the jury had to have been bribed in order to hand such an unlikely verdict, but admits that there is no proof.[11]

Cheburashka sightings
The Antonov An-72 is said to resemble Cheburashka when viewed from the front.

Cheburashka is now a staple of Russian cartoons, and there are several licensed products on the market, such as children's joke books and stuffed toys. He is also one of the few Russian animation characters to be the subject of numerous Russian jokes and riddles. The popularity of Cheburashka grew a lot after it became an animated movie.[12]

The word "Cheburashka" is also used in a figurative sense to name objects that somehow resemble the creature (such as an An-72 aircraft which, when seen from the front, resembles the character's head) or are just as pleasing as it is (e.g. a colloquial name for a small bottle of lemonade – from the brand name "Cheburashka"). There is also a rocket launcher called Cheburashka, used during the Russo-Ukrainian war.[13]

Soviet censors tried to stifle the Cheburashka movies, because it was making fun at nitpicking bureaucrats, factory directors, and the Young Pioneers, because Cheburashka and Gena couldn't join them, because they didn't knew how to lit a fire and march. The phrase "only the best can be on the Pioneers" was added as a compromise.[9]

Cheburashka was also chosen as the official mascot with the main mascots for the Russian Olympic Team in the following games:

Cheburashka also became known in some countries outside the former Soviet Union (and of the Soviet Bloc). He became very popular in Japan after an animated film series about him was shown in 15 cinemas all over Japan and was watched by about 700,000 between summer 2001 and spring 2002. In 2008, the Cheburashka films (as part of the "Ghibli Museum Library") were made available to Japanese cinemas[14] on the same date as Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.[15] An English-dubbed edition of the first 3 animated films was released in 1987, titled The Adventures of Charlie and Cubby.[16] During the 2018 Armenian protests Cheburashka was used from many protesters as a symbol to mock Serzh Sargsyan due to the similarity on their appearance. Among others, during a protest, a protestor masqueraded as Cheburashka urged Sargsyan to resign, while another one lit his on fire.[17][18]

"Drutten och Gena", Sweden
Screenshot from "Drutten och Gena"

In the 1970s a series of children's television shows, radio shows, records and magazines were produced in Sweden with the characters Drutten and crocodile Gena. These two characters were based on a couple of Cheburashka and Gena dolls bought on a trip to the Soviet Union, so they were visually identical to Cheburashka and Gena. ("Drutten" means "one who has tumbled down", as one meaning of the Swedish colloquial verb "drutta" is "to fall or tumble down".)

But that is where the similarity ends. The two characters sang and told different stories from those in the USSR, lived on a bookshelf rather than in a city and are hand puppets operated in live action rather than stop motion. Only occasionally Swedish public service TV would broadcast a segment of the Russian original, dubbed in Swedish. So, while many Swedes may visually recognize Cheburashka, they will generally not associate these characters with the ones Russian children know. The first episode premiered in 1973. Around 600 to 700 episodes were shown in Sweden in total, in a series of many years[19] and the last episode was screened as a special in 1988.[20] The animated series was broadcast on Sveriges Television.

Collectibles

Cheburashka dolls and other collectibles are produced in Russia, Japan and China. United States National Champion figure skater Johnny Weir is known to be an avid collector of Russian Cheburashka items.[21]

The white and red Olympic mascots were made in three sizes – 14 cm, 18 cm and 27 cm – and wear a sponsor's jersey with the "Bosco Sport" logo on the chest.

T-shirts with Cheburashka are common, including several versions with the character drawn as Alberto Korda's Che Guevara photograph, labeled "Che Burashka".

Tommy Cash, Estonia

Estonian musician Tommy Cash (rapper) has compared himself to the beloved character, stating "I got huge ears, big eyes, call me Cheburashka".[22]

Cheburashka films

Ivan Maximov had said in a 2004 interview[23] that Pilot Studio had been planning to make a Cheburashka feature film and that the scenario had been written out and possibly some footage shot, but that it had been frozen for lack of funds. Cheburashka's popularity in Japan is such that on 4 April 2006, TV Tokyo broadband issued a press announcement[24] that it (in partnership with Frontier Works) has acquired the rights to remake the Cheburashka shorts as a feature film. It is unclear if this was the project that Pilot Studio had been forced to abandon. It was announced that the film, like the original shorts, will be based on puppet animation enhanced with modern stop-motion technology and computer graphics effects (similar to the plans for the Pilot Studio film), and would be shot simultaneously in English and Russian.

In March 2009 it was announced that the new Cheburashka animation would consist of a new animated series, called Cheburashka arere?, which ran for 26 3-minute episodes. Cheburashka arere? premiered on the Nori-Suta 100% television program on 7 October 2009.

The new film, only titled Cheburashka[25] is produced by both Ffango Entertoyment[26] of South Korea and Frontier Works of Japan. Directed by Makoto Nakamura and written by both Mikhail Aldashin and Michiru Shimada. The film opened on 8 December 2010 in Japan. The film's theme song is titled "Orange", performed by Kaela Kimura.

The compilation film of the Japanese remake shorts titled Cheburashka was released in Russia on June 15, 2014.

In September 2021, a full-length film titled Cheburashka was announced with filming beginning in Sochi, and shooting locations also planned in Moscow, Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk. Dmitry Dyachenko directed, with Central Partnership and Yellow, Black and White producing. The film was released on January 1, 2023.[27] Cheburashka is the highest grossing film in the Russian box office history. Olga Kuzmina voiced Cheburashka, while Sergei Garmash portrayed Gena, a gardener (the film version of Crocodile Gena).[28]

See also

References
  1. "Список фильмов" (in Russian). Official E. Uspensky website. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  2. MacFadyen, David (2005). "Filmography – Krokodil Gena (1969)". Yellow Crocodiles and Blue Oranges: Russian Animated Film since World War Two. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 236. ISBN 0-7735-2871-7
  3. "Cheburashka Classics Archived 2011-05-12 at the Wayback Machine". Frontier Works, Inc. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  4. Soundtrack composer for legendary Soviet cartoon dies aged 92 TASS, December 26
  5. Palumbo, Jacqui (24 September 2018). "How Cheburashka, the 'Soviet Mickey Mouse,' achieved international fame". CNN. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  6. Balina, Marina; Rudova, Larissa, eds. (2013). Russian Children's Literature and Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 166. ISBN 9781135865573.
  7. Dahl, Vladimir (1882). "Чебурашка". The Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language: Er-Ve (in Russian). Спб.: Изд. Т-ва М. О. Вольф. p. 603. OCLC 1661885.
  8. Dixon, Robyn (29 May 2020). "Cheburashka was the beloved misfit of Soviet animation. It's now a missing treasure for Russia". The Washington Post. Moscow. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  9. Ντίξον, Ρόμπυν (29 May 2020). "Cheburashka was the beloved misfit of Soviet animation. It's now a missing treasure for Russia". Washington Post. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  10. Sheveleva, Aleksandra (December 13, 2006). "Чебурашку разбирают в суде" (in Russian). BBC News Online. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  11. Anufrieva, Anna (13 March 2007). Как заработать на Чебурашке. Delovoy Peterburg (in Russian). Archived from the original on 22 March 2007.
  12. "Ο συγγραφέας που μεγάλωσε γενιές Σοβιετικών". Η Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών (in Greek). 17 August 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  13. "Discover firepower Russian Cheburashka thermobaric rocket launcher striking Ukrainian forces | Ukraine - Russia conflict war 2022 | analysis focus army defence military industry army". www.armyrecognition.com. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  14. "映画『チェブラーシカ』全四話完全版公式サイト". www.ghibli-museum.jp.
  15. Takai, Shinichi. "崖の上のポニョ – スタジオジブリ｜STUDIO GHIBLI". www.ghibli.jp.
  16. "The Adventures of Charlie & Cubby (1987) – - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related – AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  17. "Cheburashka". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  18. "Protests In Yerevan: The Face Of Change". hromadske.ua. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  19. "Drutten och Jena (Volume)". Comic Vine. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  20. "Aftonbladet puls: Vart tog ni vägen - Drutten och Jena?". wwwc.aftonbladet.se. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  21. Johnny Weir Online: The Official Site, Q&A, July 2006, archived from the original on 4 May 2009
  22. TOMMY CASH – PUSSY MONEY WEED, July 2021, archived from the original on 22 December 2021
  23. Rasskazova, Tatyana (16 August 2004) "Иван Максимов: по дешевке «Симпсонов» не сделаешь Archived 2007-02-28 at the Wayback Machine" (in Russian). Ogoniok 33 (4860). Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  24. Ozler, Levent (12 April 2006). "Cheburash : Animation Phenomenon Goes to TV Tokyo Broadband". Dexigner. Archived from the original on 16 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  25. "Russia's Cheburashka Character Gets Japanese TV Anime". Anime News Network. September 3, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  26. "The future looks bright for companies that moved into the Gyeonggi Digital Content Agency". Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  27. "Съемки полнометражного фильма о Чебурашке стартовали в Сочи" ["Filming for the full-length film 'Cheburashka' started in Sochi]. TASS (in Russian). Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  28. Al'perina, Susanna. "Чебурашку в полнометражном фильме озвучит Ольга Кузьмина" ["Olga Kuzmina will voice Cheburashka in the full-length film]. Rossiyskaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 25 November 2021.
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