Star Wars Posters of Soviet Europe
January 30, 2018 5:14 AM Subscribe
That said, I have always been fascinated by Eastern European movie posters (and book covers, come to that). There is a distinct and unmistakable visual style, which is odd because rarely does any one resemble any other in its particulars. I cannot help but think that if I had grown up in these, the Hollywood default poster of a Great Big Head of the lead (maybe readying a pistol) would look pretty threadbare.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:42 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:42 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
1. I would rather see these movies than the actual ones.
2. There's definitely a set of Eastern European illustrative styles that tend to be less heroicizing/idealistic/romantic and more psychological/trippy/cynical/surrealism-inflected - less readily subsumed as kitsch.
3. Up through probably the seventies, I think there was a related illustrative tradition for SF in at least the Anglosphere, but much more literal - like the cover to John Wyndham's Out of the Deeps, which is sort of a literal illustration of the story which has been put through a surrealo-medical image editor. I feel like Anglosphere SF illustration has skewed much more toward the illustrative than the expressive, probably due to a combination of culture and marketing needs.
posted by Frowner at 6:02 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
2. There's definitely a set of Eastern European illustrative styles that tend to be less heroicizing/idealistic/romantic and more psychological/trippy/cynical/surrealism-inflected - less readily subsumed as kitsch.
3. Up through probably the seventies, I think there was a related illustrative tradition for SF in at least the Anglosphere, but much more literal - like the cover to John Wyndham's Out of the Deeps, which is sort of a literal illustration of the story which has been put through a surrealo-medical image editor. I feel like Anglosphere SF illustration has skewed much more toward the illustrative than the expressive, probably due to a combination of culture and marketing needs.
posted by Frowner at 6:02 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
I would rather see these movies than the actual ones.
Yeah, Jabba the Hut having a Kubrickian cosmic freak out would be something to see.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:11 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Yeah, Jabba the Hut having a Kubrickian cosmic freak out would be something to see.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:11 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
These are great and how I wish all movie posters were, instead of the common butt forward while looking over the shoulder.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:49 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Dip Flash at 6:49 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
These are great.
It also reminds me of how Star Wars is presented/interpreted in other parts of the world in very unique and interesting ways. Maybe this is a slight derail, I apologize, but I still feel like it should be shared here.
I recently pirated an HD rip of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the very first time we see certain main-line characters there's a caption that pops on screen (it's hard coded) next to the character that has their name, their relationship to other major/minor characters. Luke Skywalker, brother to Leia , etc. It was kind of fascinating to see this on screen. This is likely not the first time stuff like this has happened, maybe it's a common occurrence in other film markets.
I took some screen grabs.
posted by Fizz at 6:53 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
It also reminds me of how Star Wars is presented/interpreted in other parts of the world in very unique and interesting ways. Maybe this is a slight derail, I apologize, but I still feel like it should be shared here.
I recently pirated an HD rip of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the very first time we see certain main-line characters there's a caption that pops on screen (it's hard coded) next to the character that has their name, their relationship to other major/minor characters. Luke Skywalker, brother to Leia , etc. It was kind of fascinating to see this on screen. This is likely not the first time stuff like this has happened, maybe it's a common occurrence in other film markets.
I took some screen grabs.
posted by Fizz at 6:53 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
I would love to have that character cheat sheet option for movies! They could so easily make it a subtitle option - Character & Plot 101.
A superhero movie fiend friend ("fiend friend" is fun to type) took me to the Captain America: Civil War movie. It was the first Marvel movie I ever saw. As each new person was doing their thing, he would lean over and explain what was happening: "that's the winter soldier. He was brainwashed and is a good guy but Captain America is always sticking up for him a little too much and people don't trust him," etc. Just that little backstory turned it from random CGI wonder to a real live story.
posted by AgentRocket at 7:06 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
A superhero movie fiend friend ("fiend friend" is fun to type) took me to the Captain America: Civil War movie. It was the first Marvel movie I ever saw. As each new person was doing their thing, he would lean over and explain what was happening: "that's the winter soldier. He was brainwashed and is a good guy but Captain America is always sticking up for him a little too much and people don't trust him," etc. Just that little backstory turned it from random CGI wonder to a real live story.
posted by AgentRocket at 7:06 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Someone needs to make a Jabba the Hutt butt pose poster.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 7:09 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by I-Write-Essays at 7:09 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
I would love to have that character cheat sheet option for movies! They could so easily make it a subtitle option - Character & Plot 101.
The blu-rays for each season of Game of Thrones include this as a viewing option for people who haven't read the books. Every scene includes a helpful pop-up index of the onscreen characters, and you can instantly pause the action to view an interactive wiki entry for each one, along with historical and worldbuilding details. It's not strictly necessary, but is helpful for people just starting out.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:23 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
The blu-rays for each season of Game of Thrones include this as a viewing option for people who haven't read the books. Every scene includes a helpful pop-up index of the onscreen characters, and you can instantly pause the action to view an interactive wiki entry for each one, along with historical and worldbuilding details. It's not strictly necessary, but is helpful for people just starting out.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:23 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
I would rather see these movies than the actual ones.
I expect we will see a hat covered in lightsabers sooner or later.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:39 AM on January 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
I expect we will see a hat covered in lightsabers sooner or later.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:39 AM on January 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
I expect we will see a hat covered in lightsabers sooner or later.
And the First Order/Stormtroopers will still find a way to miss the broad side of a barn with their poor blaster skills.
posted by Fizz at 7:40 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
And the First Order/Stormtroopers will still find a way to miss the broad side of a barn with their poor blaster skills.
posted by Fizz at 7:40 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Somehow the most shocking thing in here is seeing the imperial ship tipped over on its side (top left corner of the Hungarian ESB poster, the one that looks like a National Geographic cover). My brain has trouble seeing them in any orientation other than horizontal (having spent most of my life apparently absorbing the physics rules that Faint of Butt elegantly & imaginarily deduced in the Last Jedi FF thread: “all ships of significant size share the same orientation when close by”).
I would buy that Yoda/Walker poster just above it in a New York parsec, though. That’s a great whiskery Yoda!
posted by miles per flower at 8:15 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would buy that Yoda/Walker poster just above it in a New York parsec, though. That’s a great whiskery Yoda!
posted by miles per flower at 8:15 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
these give me the creeps
posted by Hermione Granger at 8:44 AM on January 30, 2018
posted by Hermione Granger at 8:44 AM on January 30, 2018
And the First Order/Stormtroopers will still find a way to miss the broad side of a barn with their poor blaster skills.
They will be deflected by the waving of the lightcrest!
As practical as it is stylish!
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:33 AM on January 30, 2018
They will be deflected by the waving of the lightcrest!
As practical as it is stylish!
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:33 AM on January 30, 2018
I would rather see these movies than the actual ones.
You know, there's still time for Disney to hire Jodorowsky to direct a stand-alone Star Wars story...
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:36 AM on January 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
You know, there's still time for Disney to hire Jodorowsky to direct a stand-alone Star Wars story...
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:36 AM on January 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
No offense to Harrison Ford but I want to see the lizard creature version of Han Solo.
posted by Emmy Rae at 10:40 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 10:40 AM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Some of these really are very creative, especially the ones who took Vader's mask as sort of a jumping-off point for their own creative variations. I like that better than this illustration for the first volume of Star Trek TOS episode novelizations by James Blish, which had flames coming out of the Enterprise's nacelles and the shuttlecraft hangar.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:31 AM on January 30, 2018
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:31 AM on January 30, 2018
ricochet biscuit: the Hollywood default poster of a Great Big Head of the lead
I worked at a place once which had international and domestic movie posters up for various films they'd worked on. The North American posters were inevitably Great Big Head; the international posters were inevitably Something Exciting And Interesting. There was a study once which showed that people are much more likely to watch a movie if they recognize who's in it, which is why HERE'S WILL SMITH and HERE'S NICOLAS CAGE posters are so common. (It's also why - I was told this directly by an executive - famous people were used for the voices in The Nut Job.) I'm guessing that international audiences aren't expected to recognize Hollywood stars, so they need "and also something interesting happens."
posted by clawsoon at 12:18 PM on January 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
I worked at a place once which had international and domestic movie posters up for various films they'd worked on. The North American posters were inevitably Great Big Head; the international posters were inevitably Something Exciting And Interesting. There was a study once which showed that people are much more likely to watch a movie if they recognize who's in it, which is why HERE'S WILL SMITH and HERE'S NICOLAS CAGE posters are so common. (It's also why - I was told this directly by an executive - famous people were used for the voices in The Nut Job.) I'm guessing that international audiences aren't expected to recognize Hollywood stars, so they need "and also something interesting happens."
posted by clawsoon at 12:18 PM on January 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
Tibor Helényi is now on my "favorite artists" list.
posted by Liquidwolf at 2:05 PM on January 30, 2018
posted by Liquidwolf at 2:05 PM on January 30, 2018
Very cool post.
These definitely give me the creeps, but this Apocalypse Now poster linked in the article is just incredible.
posted by biscotti at 4:34 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
These definitely give me the creeps, but this Apocalypse Now poster linked in the article is just incredible.
posted by biscotti at 4:34 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
These are sublime.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:36 PM on January 30, 2018
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:36 PM on January 30, 2018
Frowner: "Up through probably the seventies, I think there was a related illustrative tradition for SF in at least the Anglosphere, but much more literal - like the cover to John Wyndham's Out of the Deeps, which is sort of a literal illustration of the story which has been put through a surrealo-medical image editor. "
This is a spot on observation.
Separately, I HATE that style of SF covers.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:16 PM on February 10, 2018
This is a spot on observation.
Separately, I HATE that style of SF covers.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:16 PM on February 10, 2018
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posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:33 AM on January 30, 2018 [17 favorites]