Dumala’s “Metaphysical Movie” and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: Working with Animated Films in Literature Lessons

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Author: Olga S. Kochetkova

Information about the author:

PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Teacher of Literature, Letovo School, Zimenkovskaya St., 3, 108814 Sosenskoye, Moscow, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7182-8385

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For citation:

Kochetkova, O.S. “Dumala’s ‘Metaphysical Movie’ and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: Working with Animated Films in Literature Lessons.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 3 (27), 2024, pp. 253–268. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2024-3-253-268

Received: 13 Apr. 2024

Published: 25 Sept. 2024

Issue: 2024 no. 3 (27)

Department: DOSTOEVSKY ON STAGE, IN CINEMA, AND MEDIA

Pages: 253-268

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2024-3-253-268

EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/IOBJYP

UDK: 821.161.1.0

BBK: 83.3(2=411.2)

Keywords: Dostoevsky, Dumala, Crime and Punishment, animated interpretation, “metaphysical movie,” symbolism.

Abstract: The article presents the results of a comparative analysis between Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment and its animated adaptation, exploring how the cartoon can be used in 10th-grade literature lessons. It examines the symbolic language, significant visual and auditory imagery, and cultural codes that contribute to the “metaphysical” nature of Dumala’s animated film. The study analyses the powerful suggestive beginning of the cartoon, and the author argues that the Polish film director perceives Crime and Punishment as a novel of dreams, consciousness and subconsciousness, a novel of memory centered around a single hero, a search and meeting of the hero with himself, a novel of self-recognition in Another. The article addresses key questions such as: Why is there no speech in the cartoon? What role does the music play? How is the plot constructed? Which storylines did the director consider, and how are they interconnected? What is the significance of artistic details, techniques, and cinematography? These and other questions are answered in the article.

References

1. Dostoevskii, F.M. Sobranie sochinenii: v 9 tomakh [Collected Works: in 9 vols]. Comp., intro., comm. by T.A. Kasatkina. Moscow, Astrel-AST Publ., vol. 3, 2008. 716 p. (reprinting 2003‒2004). (In Russ.)

2. “Interv’iu. Petr Dumala: Voinushka pechen’kami zabavna, poka kto-to sluchaino kogo-to ne ub’et” [“Interview. Piotr Dumala: Cookie Warfare is Fun until Someone Accidentally Kills Someone”]. culture.pl, 31 Jan. 2017. Available at: https://culture.pl/ru/article/petr-dumala-voynushkapechenkami-zabavna-poka-kto-to-sluchayno-kogo-to-ne-ubet-intervyu (Accessed 9 Jan. 2024) (In Russ.)

3. Kasatkina, T.A. “Kommentarii” [“Commentary”]. Dostoevskii, F.M. Sobranie sochinenii: v 9 tomakh [Collected Works: in 9 vols], vol. 3. Comp., intro., comm. by T.A. Kasatkina. Moscow, Astrel-AST Publ., 2008, pp. 583‒655. (reprinting 2003‒2004). (In Russ.)

4. Norshtein, Iu. Sneg na trave [Snow on the Grass], vol. 1. Moscow, ROF Fond Iuriia Norshteina Publ., Krasnyi parokhod Publ., 2022. 368 p. (In Russ.)

5. “Piotr Dumala” [“Piotr Dumala”]. culture.pl, 17 Mar. 2021. Available at: https://culture.pl/ru/artist/petr-dumala (Accessed 10 Jan. 2024) (In Russ.)

6. Saraskina, L.I. “‘Prestuplenie i nakazanie’ v zarubezhnykh kinoversiiakh: transformatsii khronotopa” [“Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment on Foreign Screens: Transformations of the Chronotope”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Filologicheskii zhurnal, no. 2 (18), 2022, pp. 192‒226. (In Russ.) http://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-2-192-226

7. Fridlender, G.M. Realizm Dostoevskogo [Dostoevsky’s Realism]. Moscow; Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1964. 404 p. (In Russ.)

Reference list of video entries

1. Voina i mir [War and Peace]. Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, USSR, 1965.

2. Ezhik v tumane [Hedgehog in the Fog]. Directed by Iurii Norshtein, USSR, 1975.

3. Zbrodnia i kara [Crime and Punishment]. Directed by Piotr Dumala, Poland, 2000.