Thread: Чёрный юмор

есть ли идеи в отношении такого явления, как "чёрный юмор"?
как лучше перевести на англицкий: dark или black?
типа
маленький мальчик нашёл пулемёт / больше в деревне никто не живет.
есть на этом форуме специалисты по этой теме?[/b]

- Я на права не сдала.
- Что завалила? Практику, теорию?
- Пешехода завалила...



На задней части кузова грязного грузовика:
"Обгоняй! Кто-то ждёт твои почки..."



Окулист - пациенту:
- У меня для вас две новости. Хорошая и плохая. С какой начать?
- С хорошей, доктор.
- Скоро вы сможете читать без очков.
- Боже! Доктор! Это чудо! Но... как же... я ведь и в очках почти ничего не вижу... Как же я буду читать без очков-то?!
- Пальцами, мой дорогой, пальцами!



В комнату вбегает бледная горничная:
- Мадам! Ваш муж лежит без дыхания посреди гостиной, в руке у него какая-то бумажка, а рядом свёрток.
- Наконец-то прибыла заказанная мною шуба!

Originally Posted by Lampada

- Я на права не сдала.
- Что завалила? Практику, теорию?
- Пешехода завалила...

LOL! This one's not so easy to translate, because завалить can have a number of different meanings. But here's my best try (although I had to change the last line quite a bit):

"I didn't pass the test for my driver's license..."
"Did you fail the written part, or did you fail the behind-the-wheel part?"
"I failed to not kill any pedestrians."

P.S. After thinking about it some more, I think another way to render завалить here could be "Did you run into difficulties with the written test, or the driving test?" -- "I didn't run into difficulties; I ran into a pedestrian."

My translation of some "classics" from my childhood.

Как уместить пять младенцев в одно ведро?
Блендером.
А как их вынуть?
Соломинкой.

----

Что это: Маленькое, зелёное, быстро-быстро кружится, потом красное?
- Лягушка в блендере.

Что это: Маленькое, зелёное, медленно кружится, и вдруг взрывается??
- Лягушка в микроволновой печке.

Что это: Маленькое, чёрное-жёлтоватое, и пушистое?
- Та же лягушка, спустя неделю.

---

In fact, there was a whole "genre" of Dead Baby Jokes -- essentially, they were Elephant Jokes but with a sadistic element. And in some cases, the Dead Baby Jokes were changed into Dead Frog Jokes, to make them slightly less sadistic (although still disgusting).

Авиалайнер потерпел крушение над океаном. Капитан, штурман и стюардесса оказались на тропическом необитаемом острове.

Через неделю капитан сказал: "Довольно разврата!" - и застрелил стюардессу.

Ещё через неделю капитан сказал: "Довольно разврата!" - и закопал стюардессу.

Ещё через неделю капитан сказал: "Довольно разврата!" - и откопал стюардессу.

Игорь Иртеньев | * * *

Идет Винни-Пух с окровавленной лопатой, навстречу Кролик.
- Винни, а чего ты с лопатой?
- Да вот, Пятачка хоронил.
- А почему лопата в крови?
- А он, гад, два раза вылезал.
***
Винни-Пух приходит к Пятачку и говорит:
- Я хочу открыть кооператив "Медок". Ты мне поможешь?
- Ух ты! Конечно! Мед будешь продавать?
- Нет, мед я буду покупать, а продавать я буду свинину.
***
Винни Пух и Пятачок идут по дороге. Вдруг Винни Пух останавливается и дает Пятачку по морде.
- За что, Винни?!
- От вас, свиней, всего можно ожидать!

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

Винни-Пух приходит к Пятачку и говорит:
- Я хочу открыть кооператив "Медок". Ты мне поможешь?
- Ух ты! Конечно! Мед будешь продавать?
- Нет, мед я буду покупать, а продавать я буду свинину.

I love this one!

I would point out that, as far as know, there are no analogous jokes in English about Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, or about Tom and Jerry.

Possibly such jokes would be completely superfluous, because the original cartoons (especially from the "Golden Age" of the 1930s/1940s) were already full of sadistic violence, as well as sarcasm and sexual humor. See, for example, Tex Avery's famous parody of Красная Шапочка, from 1943:



So, possibly, the Винни-Пух cartoons became a natural inspiration for "underground" dark humor because the Soviet system of film censorship made it impossible for an animator like Tex Avery to flourish publicly?

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

So, possibly, the Винни-Пух cartoons became a natural inspiration for "underground" dark humor because the Soviet system of film censorship made it impossible for an animator like Tex Avery to flourish publicly?

You have a weird view on the USSR. That's not the censorship, it's just a philosophy of the Soviet society: little kids don't have to see any kind of violence. So the censorship is a secondary question.
P.S. If Americans like "sadistic" cartoons, because they grew up with them, they must like the shootings of kids too.

Originally Posted by Paul G.

You have a weird view on the USSR. That's not the censorship, it's just a philosophy of the Soviet society: little kids don't have to see any kind of violence.

So, Soviet animators were free to produce violent cartoons for adult audiences?

P.S. Please understand that in my view, there are different degrees of censorship. I'm not claiming that Tex Avery would have been sent to the Gulag if he had lived in the USSR; I'm claiming that the Soviet system would have prevented him from having any sort of distinguished career as a professional animator. He was a major success in the US because the American film industry was comparatively less censored than the Soviet film industry.

(There was definitely censorship of American movies, but the power of the censors was more limited, especially for smaller, low-budget studios working outside the Hollywood system.)

P.P.S. The history of film censorship in America is rather complicated, but the ru.wikipedia article about the so-called Кодекс Хейса ("Hayes Code") has a good introduction to the topic. One important point is that Hollywood studios often engaged in "self-censorship" because they feared economic boycotts organized by conservative religious groups -- it wasn't always because the state was censoring the studios with the force of official law. (State censorship occurred too, especially in WW2, but the censorship in the US was more often the result of "market forces".)

Мёртвая голова катится по дороге, и посиневшие губы шепчут: "Вот так сходил за хлебцем!"

Красная пашечка (А.Иванов) | Вокруг Смеха.ру

a podcast about Russian humor (in English)

Что это за самоцензура такая? Море крови и куча костей в каждом втором фильме. Хотя старые американские фильмы мне нравятся.

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

Что это за самоцензура такая? Море крови и куча костей в каждом втором фильме. Хотя старые американские фильмы мне нравятся.

The "Hollywood Self-Censorship" that I was talking about existed from the early 1930s until (officially) the late 1960s -- although the "peak years" of this self-censorship was during the 20-year period of 1935-1955 (approximately). And in the early 1960s, Hollywood slowly became more daring and experimental, and well-established directors began to challenge the authority of the industry's censors, although the so-called "Hays Code" was still officially in place.

During the peak years of this self-censorship, there were many bestselling novels as well as stage dramas on Broadway dealing frankly with taboo subjects such as divorce, adultery, homosexuality, rape, and so forth. (Note that, in general, there were no government laws forbidding Broadway producers or book publishers from addressing such taboos!) But in the Hollywood "экранизации" of these books and plays, the details of the stories were often changed, as required by Hollywood's self-censorship code.

For instance, the unhappy couple decides at the end of the film to stay married (although they divorced in the Broadway original); or the adulterous character in the film is given an "Anna Karenina"-style suicide ending that wasn't in the play; or in one case, a homosexual man was turned into a heterosexual who happened to be Jewish (so that a 1945 novel about a homophobic murder became a 1947 movie about an antisemitic murder), etc.

But by the end of the 1960s, Hollywood studios abandoned this self-censorship code and instead developed a system of age-ratings for movies (originally G, M, R, X).

Вспомнилось вдруг:

Стоит мужик с табличкой "Карусел - 5 рублей". Нашлись желающие прокатиться, заплатили. Мужик расставил их вокруг себя и начал раскручивать над головой топор на верёвочке, и приговаривает: "Карусел, карусел, кто успел - тот присел!"

But by the end of the 1960s, Hollywood studios abandoned this self-censorship code and instead developed a system of age-ratings for movies (originally G, M, R, X).

И, кажется, преуспели в коммерческом смысле. Но душевные фильмы попадаются всё реже.

Dark humor was always extremely popular among (Russian) kids from age 5 and onwards. I think most dark jokes I know I've learned before 14. ))
Sometimes it was quite dark. There was a series of jokes about WW2 concentration camps, popular among younger kids (I told quite a few of them too). I remember just one, but the idea was the same, just details differed. The prisoners in these jokes were kids, too. Their remarks were always told in very high pitched voices.

Начальник концлагеря объявляет:
- Сегодня мы будем есть котлеты!
- Ура! Ура!
- Ты, ты и...
- А можено я?!!
- Хорошо, и ты. Пойдете на фарш.

Concentration camp commander makes an announcement:
- Today we'll eat meatballs!
- Yay!
- You, you and....
- Can I?!!
- Ok, and you.. will be minced meat.


A bunch of jokes about dystrophics were good conversation starters in kindergarten and first grades of primary school (and they were not even considered dark). Only now, when I think that they were echoes of famines, they seem a little morbid.

Дистрофики в палате играют в прятки. Одного ищут, и никак не могут найти. Наконец он выходит из-за швабры.
Остальные дистрофики:
- Так нечестно! Мы же догововаривались за толстыми предметами не прятаться!

(contd)

Later there were some pretty funny Stalin jokes. A classic one (told in a thick Georgian accent):

Сталин делает доклад. Вдруг в зале кто-то чихнул.
- Кто чихнул? (молчание)
- Первый ряд, встать. Расстрелять!
- Кто чихнул? (молчание)
- Второй ряд, встать. Расстрелять! (робкие апплодисменты)
- Кто чихнул? (снова молчание)
- Третий ряд, встать! Расстрелять! (бурная овация)
- Последний раз спрашиваю, кто чихнул?
- Я, я! Я чихнул! (рыдания)
- Будьте здоровы, товарищ

Stalin makes a speech. Suddenly someone sneezes.
- Who's sneezed? (Silence)
- First row, stand up! Execute them!
- Who's sneezed? (Silence)
- Second row, stand up! Execute them! (weak applause)
- Who's sneezed? (Silence again)
- Third row, stand up! Execute them! (standing ovation)
- I'm asking one last time, who's sneezed?
- Me, me! (sobbing)
- God bless you, comrade!