ivanov, Twister’s cultural relevance goes way beyond when it was written and certainly recyclable for the Cold War.

When I was at school – it was part of Soviet literature HISTORY. Just after Pushkin tales. Nothing more. BTW could you remind when segregation was droped in US?

This is the beauty of texts they can be interpreted and reinterpreted regardless of the authors original intent.

Will consult with my daughter if she ever heard about Mister-twister.

As for who is Batman and Joker, well if you’re asking which one the US and Russia is, I think that they are interchangeable.

very diplomatic answer I think when you were writing the text you knew кто is who…

That is the beauty of the hero/archenemy dynamic, at some point the lines between the two are blurred.

I’m not an expert neither fan of the comics culture…

Red Dawn is a downright classic and personal favorite… It’s absolute genius.

When I saw it for the first time (and the only one) – I was laughing all the time. It’s absolute idiotic. Till last moment I couldn’t believe it was not comedy.

A virtual guide to guerrilla warfare for the young American patriot: pick-up trucks, hunting, guns, football and freedom.

Seems to me that US instructors used this guide in the training of Georgian army. Well, Georgian “army” is not known for its military achievements anyway. Osetians, on the contrary, has many Героев Советского Союза.

-I haven’t seen Mister Twister, but it reminds me of ‘Circus’ (Цирк), in which an American circus performer has to flee to Stalinist Russia after giving birth to a black baby. I think her evil manager was German, though. Anyway, the best scene is at the end, when the circus crowd – comprised of all the nationalities of the USSR – sings about the fraternity of peoples and passes around the performer’s black baby.

The GWOT films just can’t muster that kind of patriotic pizazz.

The main personage in Marshak’s poem is ‘Mr. Twister’ himself, not Mr. Cook, who is only a travel agent.

Marshak may have done some good work translating English poetry but ‘Mister Twister’ is one of the most nauseating hack jobs in all of literature, especially because it was written by a talented poet.

The poem itself may have been considered somewhat poignant in 1930-s, but it is very telling it was still used for anti-US propaganda in the 1960-s, when sweeping social and racial reforms in the US were proceeding at great speed.

Soviet state was stagnant from the start and simply couldn’t absord and relate to its subjects that there can be Civil Rights movements making great progress all over the capitalist world. This sclerotic tendency was only getting worse with time and was one of the main reasons of the USSR collapse.

As for who is Batman and Joker, well if you’re asking which one the US and Russia is, I think that they are interchangeable. That is the beauty of the hero/archenemy dynamic, at some point the lines between the two are blurred.

PS. Who is Batman and who is Joker, Sean?

Don’t worry Aleks, I did a rush job on my teflon suit as soon as Pajamas asked me to write something.

As the Joker endearingly told Batman in the Dark Knight, “Kill you? I don’t want to kill you. What would I do without you? … You … you complete me.”

1. I’m not sure that Batman needs Joker.
2. If I agree that Americans consider themselves Batmen I don’t think that Russians think about themselves as Jokers…and much less Batmen