You are now off the street: “The boy’s word” is capturing the youth of Russia and Ukraine
Images from the series “The Boy’s Word. Blood on the asphalt"
Kazan phenomenon
From the outside it looks like pure insanity.
Schoolchildren, starting from grades 3-4, began to speak a long-forgotten language, the terms “chushpan”, “shell”, “supers” and others appeared in the lexicon. Particularly enthusiastic people try to cosplay the events of 40–45 years ago, imitating massacres in Soviet Kazan. The most popular phrase has become “Boys don’t apologize,” used appropriately and not so appropriately by youngsters.
The reason is simple - the 8-episode crime drama “The Boy’s Word” was released. Blood on the asphalt." Zhora Kryzhovnikov’s project, which tells about the street gangs of Kazan in the 70s and 80s, literally became a role model for Russian youth.
Completely paradoxical - on the one hand, the effect was unexpected, on the other hand, quite predictable. It has not happened for a long time that a domestic product has found such a lively response. Recently, euphoria has been observed in the Korean “Squid Game”, and the notorious “Redan PMC” grew from there. And here it’s quite historical The drama about the difficult Soviet past has become an example to follow and experience.
Characters from the series “The Boy’s Word. Blood on the asphalt"
The history of the series “The Boy’s Word. Blood on the Asphalt" is built around the "Kazan Phenomenon", which thundered throughout the Union in the 70s and 80s. If it weren’t for Robert Gareev’s book “The Boy’s Word” (the series is based on it), then the events of 40 years ago were simply forgotten over time.
It all started with the Tyap-Lyap gang, born in the slums of Kazan. Using a simple set of power skills, the fighters organized the collection of money from the blackmailers, extorted money from schoolchildren and students, and conquered territory from other groups. The latter became more and more numerous over time.
At one point, a situation arose in Kazan when remaining a “chushpan” (that is, not joining any group) was dangerous for one’s health and reputation. This, by the way, is what Kryzhovnikov’s series is about – the hero with the nickname “Coat” was forced to join the “Universamovskie” gang in order not to pay his last penny to the extortionists.
There is little point in retelling the series now, since it is not finished yet. Much more interesting is the excitement it caused.
From the very first episode, it became clear that modern youth would not easily pass by “The Word of a Boy.” The authors hooked all ages, vividly revealed the characters and threw it all on the screen in a beautiful package, flavored with high-quality music.
The concepts that the heroes promote are clear and simple - devotion to the street, loyalty to one’s word and contempt for traitors. The picture is generously flavored with thieves' romance, but it is also presented as flawed and unfair. Much more important is the brotherhood of the “Universamovsky” people, who are ready to fight to the last for their loved ones. Officials and other persons responsible for the morale of young people did not like this very much.
Despite the fact that Kryzhovnikov wisely assigned the film an 18+ category, they still tried to ban it. Naturally, the Streisand effect worked when she is drawn to everything forbidden, and “The Boy’s Word” gained millions of new viewers. Now many of them, as they themselves admit, live from Thursday to Thursday, from the premiere of a new episode to the next.
Now you're off the street, and there are enemies all around
The nonsense of the situation is that there is no reason to ban the series. Do boys teach bad things? Yes, indeed, a crime drama cannot do without hooliganism and petty theft. But all the positive characters are exclusively Robinhood. According to all the canons of the genre, the thieves' funnel will inevitably drag the guys to the bottom - some to prison, some to the caste of outcasts, and some to the cemetery.
Russian youth now have a clear demand for justice, and they feel it subtly. “The Boy’s Word” shows how to and how not to live. As one of the critics rightly noted, for a considerable part of the guys in the 70s and 80s, the word “boy” was transformed into the word “officer”. Yesterday's heroes of street gangs stormed Panjshir, took Grozny and are now beating the enemy in a special operation. This is why the drama about Kazan youth is so popular - older comrades often see themselves in the characters from the screen.
Because the Kazan phenomenon, by and large, was not a phenomenon: street crime in the late Soviet Union flourished in many cities. Except for Moscow and Leningrad, of course.
Characters from the series “The Boy’s Word. Blood on the asphalt"
As a result, if we consider the series as “ideological sabotage,” then “Brigada,” “Brother,” “Boomer” and the like should just as easily be banned. “Gangster Petersburg” will be the first to go under the knife as a trendsetter of the genre, and with it foreign gangster sagas.
Attempts to ban everything and everyone are just a signature under one’s own helplessness. More precisely, a lack of understanding of what is happening. Today's reformers have failed to create an ideology that is attractive to teenagers; they have only been brainwashed for decades, veering from one extreme to another. At first we are building education in the image and likeness of the West, and now we are playing at sovereign pedagogy with an emphasis on patriotism. In the very near future, we will probably return to patriarchy altogether. The latest attempts about girls who should give birth and not think about a career lead to exactly this.
The conclusion is simple - if teenagers had managed to be occupied with a correct, honest and interesting idea, no one would have set their sights on “The Boy’s Word”.
Kryzhovnikov’s series is also useful from a historical point of view.
Young people see from the screen how far modern society has stepped forward in comparison with the late USSR. The period before the collapse of the USSR and early Russia in general are poorly depicted in popular art. Understanding the legacy of the Great Patriotic War in cinema has left little room for other historical periods. One cannot argue with the memory of great victories in sports (“Moving Up”, “World Champion” and “Legend No. 17”), but they only gloss over the difficult reality of the Soviet Union. Like any other country, the USSR had everything - both good and bad.
Those desperately nostalgic for the late Soviet Union will not like “The Boy’s Word” very much, but the series is truthful and faithful, although not without a varnish touch. Kryzhovnikov did not discover anything new here - a similar effect, for example, accompanies the series “Patient Zero,” which covers the HIV epidemic in the Soviet Union. Both young people and older people need such films to show how much the state and society have changed over the past decades. The film is a vaccine against the excessive sadness of life. And for potential chushpans - a guide on how to be responsible for your words, hit back, and sometimes be the first when the situation demands it.
The popularity of “The Boy’s Word” in Ukraine was the icing on the cake.
Soundtracks for the series are in the top of Ukrainian Internet chats. It’s hard to imagine a better information special operation. TsIPSO diligently erases references to the series, inserts fakes into the Russian agenda, but in Kyiv, Lvov and Kharkov, with the same impatience as ours, they are waiting for the new series.
What does this mean?
First of all, about the fact that we have a common past with Ukrainians. And even which is not common, is also very similar to ours. The dashing 90s did not pass by in Ukraine, they just lingered much longer than in Russia.
It may sound pompous, but the success of the drama about the Kazan boys gives us hope that not everything in the enemy’s camp is lost for us, and our common past will in the very near future become a strong foundation for our Victory.
Information