Cheburashka and Friends: The Rootless Cosmopolitan as Ideal Soviet Citizen
Journal: CU Scholar (University of Colorado Boulder)
Year: 2019

The Soviet Union’s primary animation studio, Soyuzmultfilm, birthed the furry, googly eyed, and mysterious character Cheburashka in 1969. In his debut film, Crocodile Gena, Cheburashka is smuggled into the Soviet Union in a crate of Israeli oranges. This beginning marks Cheburashka’s struggle in understanding where he socially belongs in the Soviet Union as he faces alienation and discrimination from Soviet society that parallel the Soviet Jewish community’s struggle post-World War II. Each film