Surogat (Also known as Ersatz or The Substitute) and Ruka (The Hand) both came out in the 60s (In 1965 and 1961 respectively) and were both produced by European studios. However it is the similarities that stop right there as both animations have very different messages that they had wished to show to their viewers, as well as how it was presented to them.
To start off, both already differ from one another in terms of animation technique and art style. Surogat was a cel-shaded animation with a stylishly simplistic and far more fun cartoony art style as compared to Ruka; all characters and props were drawn as very basic geometric shapes and were flatly colored save for the painted backgrounds that were textured in a nice contrast of attractive vibrancy.
Ruka on the other hand uses stop motion puppets, while the animation does have some rather intricately pretty details such as the puppet’s clothing and its quaint little home; it is easily overshadowed by the overall gloomy setting and lighting used throughout. The puppet that is used for the main character is incredibly heart breaking to look at in all its fragility (With its large, sad eyes), even when it was still being happy and contented with its life and before things had taken a really bad turn.
While both animations do not actually contain any proper form of dialogue, Surogat used far more entertaining and exaggerated sound effects to not only bring out the animation’s humorous tone, but to also further enhance actions and situations that are about to take place as well. Ruka limited its sound effects, going more for the usage of dramatic music, giving the overall animation short a dark, suffocating and depressingly spiraling sort of ambience as the story progresses.
As mentioned in a previous post, Ruka is a protest against communism, the hand, being the antagonist, symbolizing the repressive regime of the communist government, ever intent on taking complete control over the lives of those it rules over. And the puppet, symbolizing those very lives, a society suffering under the hand's control and struggling with all its might to break free.
Surogat’s balloon world (Complete with squeaky balloon sounds) setting already implies of the artificiality of the life the obnoxious main character was living, and despite how fun and how in control of it (Well most of the time) he was of it all, none of it was truly real, possibly symbolizing the beliefs of a society of people at the time who refused to see the truth of a harsh reality before their eyes, only seeing what they desired with rose-colored glasses, eventually though, the denial would consume them.
Again both presentations were done differently for the animation shorts, Ruka was actually straight to the point in its grim message, with no humor whatsoever with no pity at all given to its character as it never had a chance of winning. Surogat, despite it also having a meaningful message of its own, was presented in a far more entertaining and light hearted manner for the enjoyment of the viewers.
When you consider all of that, aside for some mildly adult (If not really clever visual gags) content seen throughout the short, I find that Surogat can be enjoyed by a larger audience as compared to Ruka, that was clearly aimed at a more adult audience for its serious message and complete lack of humor.
Both videos can be viewed at the provided links below:
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