A story about a nuclear American family, as told by Uzbeks

A few weeks ago, I found out about this great Soviet cartoon from the 80s about an AI-powered smart home belonging to a nuclear American family. It’s based on a Ray Bradbury story from his Martian Chronicles, which I read decades ago and no longer remember. What’s cool is that the cartoon was made by a Soviet Uzbek film studio. And comically enough, it is set in 2026, in our current year of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ray Bradbury was printed widely in the Soviet Union. He was very popular there, and loved. I only hope…eh…that his story is not too prophetic.

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This cartoon is cool, too, because it is an example of the peculiar brand of Soviet “colonialism.” It’s true that the Bolsheviks sought to dominate and modernize what in their arrogance they saw as backwards and primitive steppe nomads of Central Asia, a push that led to horrible catastrophes and suffering — like the Kazakh famine that killed millions. But the colonialism wasn’t the traditional model that people are used to. It wasn’t just about extracting resources and value and sending it all to the center while leaving the periphery naked and impoverished. It was an ideological kind of colonialism that sought to build a new Soviet Man of the locals. And that meant not only building out massive cotton plantations in Uzbekistan, but also building a new Soviet society, which included a well-funded local film industry where locals could produce beautiful cartoons (like this one) that rivaled in quality anything being pumped out by the capitalists in Hollywood. And of course, the violent modernization along Bolshevik lines wasn’t restricted to the periphery. The Soviets did it to the center, too. So…is it colonialism when you do it to yourself?

Anyway, that’s about the extent of my knowledge of this issue. I’m sure I’m simplifying things a lot. Enjoy the cartoon!

—Yasha

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