Nr. 2 (19) anul VI / aprilie-iunie 2008 - ROMDIDAC

Gopo’s aesthetics of simplicity is basically an anti-Disney stance. Minimal
lines merely suggest rather than represent character and story. Eliminating
the richness of chromatic spectrum, the multitude of human expressions,
and unnecessary descriptive details he succeeded in creating a comfortable
ambiguity around his work. Dumitru Capoianu, the composer of the soundtrack,
recalls, in an interview from 2004, that
In all his movies, Ion Popescu-Gopo managed to fake out the censors. He
succeeded in getting the film through the restrictions of the censorship, latching
on to what was permissible and without arousing the authorities’ animosities
and without alarming the ones who were watching. His production of films is
like tight-rope walking. Against an argument attacking one of his sequences he
always had a counter-argument, even in the same sequence. 7
Ex Ponto nr.2, 2008
Protected by his international success, Gopo’s ideas were not only
tolerated by authorities, but also praised by party hacks. Mihnea Gheorghiu,
for example, wrote enthusiastically about Gopo by applying the communist
rhetoric to a sincere appraisal to emphasize their substantial contributions to
Romanian culture. To play safe, Mihnea Gheorghiu himself had to identify the
same major theme the censorship might have focused on in each of the works
the office examined. “Progress,” “history of mankind,” its “crucial problems”,
and “the rational artist” became words which meant almost nothing but the
fact that the respective work met the ideological standards.
Another relevant coincidence is the moment when the cartoon was
broadcast in Romania. In 1957, Romanians had only a couple of opportunities
to see it: on TV, but chances were very low as TV sets had barely started
selling in Romania, and in theatres, where, however, only the most educated
used to go. In 1963 when Gopo published his book Movies, Movies, Movies,
the TV set became such a popular commodity that the import of TV sets
increased by 51% since 1960. The cartoon was broadcast either immediately
before or after the publication of the book for the public to be able to connect
them and “learn” the lesson the Office of Propaganda wanted them to get at
that time: Romania had become a sovereign socialist country and its art had
overcome the strict Zhdanovite aesthetics and conquered the West and beat
the Russians, who otherwise were very hard to defeat. Since then, The Short
History was broadcast many times under communism.
Gopo created 14 more cartoons, directed 5 movies, and published many
articles on animation and cinematography. He was never censored because
he practiced self-censoring which prevented his works from being rejected by
the Office of Censorship. Due to his ability to back up his work ideologically, the
Romanian Communist Party even rewarded Gopo in its own way by inviting
him to take part at the highest level of political meetings where the future of
Romanian culture was decided. Such an invitation could not have been ignored
or turned down. Although Gopo was not a collaborator and he was actually
constantly watched by Secret Police, the Communist Party placed him in the
same political forum alongside party hacks (a selection of the most infamous
names: Suzana Gadea, Miu Dobrescu, Florea Ghita, Matei Ani, Viorica
Neculau, Dumitru Radu Popescu) trying to suggest that Gopo might have
been one of them. In 1987, he participated in the Third Congress of Political
Education and Socialist Culture and was among those who had to applaud and
rhythmically cheer Ceausescu’s name. He also signed the documents issued
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