Transformation of the image of Baba Yaga performed by George Millar in the films of Alexander Rowe

Abstract

The image of Baba Yaga in the folk culture of the ancient Slavs is considered as an object of research in this work. As an important part of folk culture, Russian folk tales take upon themselves the responsibility to broadcast traditional moral qualities and form the basis of a person's evaluative and emotional attitude to the world. The subject of the study is the transformation and interpretation of the image of Baba Yaga performed by the People's Artist of the RSFSR Georgy Millar in the film tales directed by Alexander Rowe. The authors set a goal to identify specific features in the interpretations of the image of Baba Yaga by George Millar and to identify the typology of these images. The methodological basis of the article is content analysis, comparative, statistical, historical and cultural analysis of the films narrator Alexander Rowe. The authors, when considering the problem, achieve the following results: Georgy Millar starred in 16 Alexander Rowe's fairy tales, while performing 27 roles; he played Baba Yaga in 4 fairy tales; only the first is the canonical image, the other three images are the personal merit of Georgy Millar. In the process of developing the problem, the authors identify comparative criteria of Baba Yaga images: external features, behavioral characteristics, character traits. The novelty of the research consists in the unconventionality of the indicated approach, as well as in a comprehensive analysis of the palette of creative possibilities of actor Georgy Millar. As a result of the study, the authors come to the following conclusions: 1) the centuries-old image of Baba Yaga is very complex and often contradictory, so it can be transformed and interpreted; 2) Georgy Millar created 4 different images of the same character - Baba Yaga "Witch", Baba Yaga "Old Housewife", Baba Yaga "Mother" and Baba Yaga "The lady."