Cubans nostalgic for Soviet era cartoon heroes

Cubans nostalgic for Soviet era cartoon heroes
Published: 1 Sep 2013 at 12.49
Online news: World

More than two decades after they vanished from Cuban TV with the fall of
the eastern communist bloc, quirky Soviet-era cartoons are fueling a
wave of nostalgia for middle-aged Cubans.

The "Russian cartoons" as Cubans tend to call them -- though they were
from several different allied countries -- have inspired T-shirts
honoring old shows like the Soviet "Mashinka and the bear", Poland's
"Lolek and Bolek", and the Hungarian hit "Gustavo."

Of course, it is a generational thing. The shows were broadcast in Cuba
from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Some older Cubans remember Disney characters from before the 1959
revolution, like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck who, not surprisingly,
never won the Cold War Cuban government's seal of approval.

And today's kids see a few Cuban cartoons -- and some select
international programming.

But for middle-aged Cubans, their childhood heroes came from the Warsaw
Pact.

These Soviet-era characters -- along with more made in East Germany or
Bulgaria -- are touchstones that still hold a surprisingly warm place in
the hearts of Cubans who grew up in a far-flung ally of the Soviet Union.

But, despite their communist roots, the revival of interest in the
cartoon characters was driven by commercial ambitions.

"I realized that people were getting really into it, and I thought it
might go OK as a business," said Darwin Fornes, who designed the
brightly colored T-shirts cranked out at a factory in colonial-era Old
Havana.

Despite tough economic times in Cuba, "sales have been better than
anybody would ever have guessed," he told AFP.

Cubans are relentless punsters, and Fornes named his business
"Chamakovich" -- a mix of the Cuban slang for a kid "chamo" and the
Eastern European-sounding "kovich."

"These images mean so much to me. They bring my childhood flooding back.
That's what happens to everybody who gets caught up in them," said the
designer, 28, wearing a yellow T-shirt with the wolf and hare from "Nu,
pogodi!" -- translated as "I'll get even, eh".

He had a first lot of 300 T-shirts made and was happy to see them sell
out fast -- though Cubans earn the equivalent of under 20 dollars a month.

"People see what we are offering, and I send them to our stand at the
street fair," said Fornes whose idea mushroomed out of the interest
people had when he spotlighted the cartoon characters on his Facebook page.

"Chamakovich" has drawn enough attention to have earned a spot on a
state news program, which in the only Communist-run country in the
Americas has not until now put much focus on local business development.

Cuba's government under President Raul Castro, 82, still controls most
of the economy, but Cubans are allowed to seek self-employment in a wide
range of professions.

Some older Cubans never cared for the artistically uncomplicated
Soviet-era cartoon imports, and many parents at the time joked that
naughty kids would be punished by being forced to watch them.

But "those of us who were kids when they were on TV enjoyed them a lot,"
smiled Fornes.

Plenty of Cubans on the island and abroad who agree with him have
started collecting images, T-shirts and videoclips of their childhood
classics.

Dainerys Machado, a journalist, said she recently downloaded 10
gigabytes of the Soviet-era cartoons as a blast from the past.

Source: "Cubans nostalgic for Soviet era cartoon heroes | Bangkok Post:
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http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/367435/cubans-nostalgic-for-soviet-era-cartoon-heroes