(My partner was Nadia.)
History has the ability to tell
powerful stories. These type of stories can become personal and very dear to
the heart depending on who tells the story. We decided to do our Historical Piece
on a family living in communist Russian in the late 1940s. This story carried a
dark gloomy feel because Russia during this time was withheld from
expressionism and freedom of speech. Our story took place in the heart of
Russia: Moscow. Moscow was the home to many
of the political problems that existed in the U.S.S.R. We felt this was the
ideal place for our characters to change, suffer, and fail.
Propaganda was a big influence for us as we created our story. We wanted to have historical accuracy and we knew by including Russian propaganda, we would be able to accomplish this. Using Russian propaganda was eye opening because we as Americans have only really seen American propaganda from the cold war. We used the poster “Us vs Them” which suggested Russia was great and powerful and that America was weak and undesirable. (http://io9.com/the-most-sensational-and-lurid-soviet-propaganda-poster-1464264698) The poster itself presented false beauty of communist Russia. We felt this was appropriate because it completely contradicted what the family felt in our story. At the end, the family wants to go to America, which is completely contrary to what the traditional Russians thought at the time.
Propaganda was a big influence for us as we created our story. We wanted to have historical accuracy and we knew by including Russian propaganda, we would be able to accomplish this. Using Russian propaganda was eye opening because we as Americans have only really seen American propaganda from the cold war. We used the poster “Us vs Them” which suggested Russia was great and powerful and that America was weak and undesirable. (http://io9.com/the-most-sensational-and-lurid-soviet-propaganda-poster-1464264698) The poster itself presented false beauty of communist Russia. We felt this was appropriate because it completely contradicted what the family felt in our story. At the end, the family wants to go to America, which is completely contrary to what the traditional Russians thought at the time.
In the reading “The Veil”, Marjane
Satrapi discusses how unfair certain revolutions and governments can be. In the
first strip of this comic, viewers can see how Satrapi is unhappy once the
government ways are enforced upon her. Her giant smile transformed into a
frown. We liked this idea of political power to create personal imprisonment
and this was heavily placed into our story. The veil in this short comic was
symbolic to the lack of freedom. The
government in our story also represented the lack of freedom.
This story was very personal
because it was based off of one of our relative’s lives (The family member is our second historical source). There was more power
to it because it was told directly to one of us. Just like the video “My
Grandmother Ironed the Kings Shirts,” there was a stronger emotion attached.
The story had its’ own character and own problems that could only be relevant
to that particular story. Being able to
connect to an ancestor’s culture and life brought more passion and emotion to
this story. It is different hearing a story from someone who actually lived
through these historical times. Historians
do a good job telling facts but those who actually lived through it tell great
stories.
Overall, historical pieces are
empowering and have the ability to tell amazing stories. Stories can be told in
numerous ways but those that stick to their cultural roots can be the most
powerful.
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