Laughter and the Comic in the Soviet Film Comedy of the 1960s-1970s

The author of the article notes the influence of the research of Russian folklorists and cultural historians on the interpretation of the 20th century art and captures the humanitarian trend towards searching for primarily archetypal situations and images in contemporary art, Soviet film comedy included. The article highlights the importance of the concepts by V. Propp and M. Bakhtin for the current perception of works of art and urges us not to limit ourselves to this, but to place new accents — to look for differences between the ancient and modern worldviews, between the impersonal solutions to dramatic situations and characters types, on the one hand, and the author’s aesthetics and individual interpretations of the world and man, on the other hand. Based on the material of the comedy films by L. Gaidai and E. Ryazanov, the fairy tale film An Ordinary Miracle by M. Zakharov, the author shows how far the artistic messages of these directors are from the archaic concepts of laughter and comedy, from the ideas of carnival freedom and harmony, which, however, does not deny the use of satire drama structures, palliata, and paired archetypical characters. This refers to the cultural layering of the images of Shurik, Nina, Saakhov, and the comical trio of the Coward, the Fool and the Pro. In addition, the article analyses the role of the water element in the comedy The Irony of Fate... and gives a detailed interpretation of the non-normative behaviours of Zhenya Lukashin and Ippolit possessing only external signs of carnivality. Conclusions are drawn about the dramatic heuristicity of laughter in the comedy films by Gaidai and Ryazanov, which had adaptive psychological functions and also contributed to the internal self-reflection of the Soviet audience.