Baba Yaga: Action Ficture Edition

November 16, 2024 6:03 AM

An enterprising MFA student at East Tennessee State University created a Baba Yaga "collectible figurine" as a thesis project. Ariel Adams' project involved designing the character, building it, and painting it, using a variety of analogue and digital tools. Her style and interpretation of the figure are interesting, not a 1:1 with the conventional depictions we most often see of Baba Yaga, and her thesis is absolutely worth a read, if you are interested in Baba Yaga, action figures, and/or character design.

I regularly run across serviceable theses or dissertations on Google Scholar, and I tend not to post them here. They're not always well written, and often the ideas in them are clearly embryonic, and it seems a kindness to give the student time to develop the work further. In this case, however, I was delighted by the thesis, and I thought it was fascinating on multiple counts.

Note: I do know the author of the linked Atlas Obscura piece a little bit, and I moderated a panel she was on recently at a writers conference. She's done a couple of Baba Yaga books recently, and they seem to have been well received.

posted by cupcakeninja (31 comments total)

Where is her HOUSE?
posted by mittens at 6:07 AM on November 16, 2024 [11 favorites]

I mean, my woman-in-her-late-40s goal is to live that Baba Yaga lifestyle but I have to confess the house part is proving tricky
posted by Kitteh at 6:14 AM on November 16, 2024 [19 favorites]

I know! It's definitely non-traditional, but it did make me stop and think about what my core image is for Baba Yaga. Is it the house and the chicken legs? Is it the pestle flying through the sky? I'm not sure, but when I saw the figurine, I felt a little chime of recognition, even as I was trying to reconcile what I was looking at with my expectations. That internal response is, for me, one of the signifiers of true art. Wildly subjective, of course, but there it is.
posted by cupcakeninja at 6:24 AM on November 16, 2024 [2 favorites]

Another Baba Yaga fan here, but did not know that she may have originally been a Slavic goddess and Earth Mother.
posted by kozad at 6:30 AM on November 16, 2024 [3 favorites]

The thesis is so much fun too. Like, it's got the voice of youth (I've been reading high school and college papers lately, and they share a kind of...formal informality, a natural conversational style wedged into a sort of stilted properness, like squeezing into sunday shoes for church), but she's so thoughtful about her aesthetic and technical choices (although wooo, content warning for surgery pics where she's designing the character's base, that was unexpected!)...the character's dirtiness because she's working with the machinery of her pestle, is just, like, yes, that makes perfect sense as a maybe steampunkish development from the original stories. I hope she goes on to do fun things!
posted by mittens at 6:36 AM on November 16, 2024 [6 favorites]

Was expecting a different Baba Yaga.
posted by SPrintF at 7:03 AM on November 16, 2024 [2 favorites]

As someone who has never seen the movies, what does John Wick have to do with Baba Yaga?
posted by Jon_Evil at 7:19 AM on November 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

It’s the Russian mob’s nickname for John, since he’s so terrifying. I feel like the screenwriters may have not in fact known that she was an elderly witch.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:27 AM on November 16, 2024 [16 favorites]

He's portrayed as a clever, virtually unstoppable super-duper assassin guy, especially in the first film in the series. Sometimes referred to as "Baba Yaga" or "the Baba Yaga," because once he has you in his sights, you're going down. Partly due to Russian gangsters/underworld stuff, but it is interesting that she's the go-to big bad to describe Wick.
posted by cupcakeninja at 7:28 AM on November 16, 2024 [3 favorites]

Where is her HOUSE?

Sold separately.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:04 AM on November 16, 2024 [13 favorites]

well I'd like to consult Hellboy on this before coming to hasty conclusions

I enjoyed the depiction in Spirited Away
posted by ginger.beef at 8:56 AM on November 16, 2024 [7 favorites]

They probably just googled "Russian boogeyman" and Baba Yaga was the first result. It sounds cool and for most people it'll be their first exposure to the name so it works for the movie's purposes and they just ignore the description.

Throughout all the movies people get told that John Wick is coming for them and they often react by uttering *the Baba Yaga* under their breath and nervously look around. Because he's such a good assassin that he could step out of any shadow at any time even if it seems impossible.

The sequels get really weird expanding on a whole international organization weirdly antiquated and ceremonial interactions. They're really just ways to move from one very well done action scene to the next. The stunt work in those movies is next level.

But the first movie is almost perfect. All we know is some Russian mobsters break into some guy's house and kill his puppy. Said guy then proceeds to have a very reasonable reaction and response.
posted by VTX at 8:59 AM on November 16, 2024 [9 favorites]

That's a nice piece of work. I only skimmed the thesis writeup but it's interesting seeing all the details of a character development process.

I've been keeping an eye on REKA, a cozy base-building videogame in early access.

Channel your inner witch! Build your cozy chicken-legged hut, practice witchcraft, and forage for ingredients in autumnal woodlands. Solve quests & uncover the great mysteries of the legendary witch Baba Jaga…

It's mostly about the hut, I'm not sure if the pestle makes an appearance.

Bonus link: Mussorgsky's Baba Yaga.
posted by Nelson at 12:19 PM on November 16, 2024 [2 favorites]

I do love Ravel's orchestration, but I REALLY love the original solo piano, link.
posted by Gygesringtone at 1:22 PM on November 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

What a cool thesis (and amazing art). I loved reading about her process. Thanks for sharing this!
posted by mixedmetaphors at 1:35 PM on November 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

The plot of one of the greatest fantasy novels in many years, Naomi Novik's Uprooted, turns on a Baba Yaga axis.
posted by jamjam at 2:09 PM on November 16, 2024 [4 favorites]

Seconding the Hellboy take on Baba Yaga, where she went from a random monster in a Hellboy short comic to one of the overarching presences in the story. Over time, Mignola expands her role and story, and gives a terrifying monster who eats children a depth, and finally, a deep sadness and sense of loss that's one of the things that makes the Hellboy series so profoundly good.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:04 PM on November 16, 2024 [5 favorites]

This is very cool—thank you for posting it! I enjoyed the author’s description of why she chose Baba Yaga, and her exploration in the lit review of what Baba Yaga represents and how she evolves through the tales.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 3:07 PM on November 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

Creating an actual image of Baba Yaga reduces her scariness, which may be good or bad depending on who you want to scare. Baba Yaga comes in the night, dark, you never see her, she is gone before a selfie can be taken, even if it is your last selfie.
posted by sammyo at 3:58 PM on November 16, 2024 [5 favorites]

As an Icelander, when I see someone take a stab at interpreting old myths and folktales through the lens of modern pop culture, my first thought is always that I hope it doesn’t get too popular. Even in Iceland and the rest of the Nordic countries the Marvel take on Norse mythology has really overwritten a lot of the original stuff in people’s minds, and if I think too much about I’ll end up cornering someone at a party and fulminate about how Thor had red hair, Laufey was Loki’s mother and not father, and speaking of Loki’s familial relations, he’s Odin’s fosterbrother and Hel’s (no ‘a’ at the end) father. Incidentally, Hel is traditionally described as her right half being that of a living woman, and the left a rotting corp… hey, don’t go! I can talk about other things! Do you want to hear about how Tolkien’s much more careful and knowledgeable borrowings from Old Icelandic literature nevertheless led to misinterpretations through the years? No? How about Wagner and… I have to leave the party? Why do I have to leave the party? I should know? But I don’t? This is just like when Grettir was outlawed… you don’t care? But it’s one of the great sagas! You see, Grettir was a really annoying teen, actually something of a juvenile delinquent, and… hey, no need to throw my coat out the door! Hey! Hey! Put me down! Put me down! Ouch!!! That hurt… hey, did you guys lock the door. The police are coming? Alright, alright, geez, I know when I’m not wanted, I guess I’ll wander off. I don’t even know you people, your door was just open and the party was fun. Anyway, don’t think I’ll ever come again. Geez Louise.
posted by Kattullus at 1:26 AM on November 17, 2024 [25 favorites]

I’m here for it, Kattulus!

Personal fan of Baba Yaga. She and her house live in a crossing of horror and cottage core. Yes, she might eat children who wander in the woods but it feels equally plausible that they were given treats and a story to tell the others to keep away because she doesn’t really like visitors. She loves her hovel so much that it has sprouted legs and will go to her. She is vengeful but also capricious. Do not get comfortable with Baba Yaga! I do a little hobby pottery and I’ve had Baba Yaga’s house rattling around in my mind for awhile. Something about the election and these times had me putting off my sculpted hare to create some cozy house ornaments with chicken legs. I’ll be finishing them with an iron oxide wash. Just a hint of blood.
posted by amanda at 7:31 AM on November 17, 2024 [6 favorites]

Now I'm a little worried that everyone will think the Baba Yaga is a highly stylized assassin in a suit.

That's really disappointing to hear. I think it's neat when books or movies borrow parts of their mythology from real sources. But, holy hell how is it not obvious that it's been twisted and shaped to fit the story it's being use in!

For myself, it just makes me curious about the actual source (because it's always much deeper and more interesting). So if I see you at a party Kattullus, be prepared for me to corner you to grill you about Norse mythology!

Wait!...come back...you need to tell me about Grettir! :)
posted by VTX at 8:34 AM on November 17, 2024 [2 favorites]

Personal fan of Baba Yaga. She and her house live in a crossing of horror and cottage core. Yes, she might eat children who wander in the woods but it feels equally plausible that they were given treats and a story to tell the others to keep away because she doesn’t really like visitors.

I’m a big fan too, but I think one of the functions of Baba Yaga is to be the scapegoat for famine driven pedicides, and of course her cottage has legs because no one can ever find it …
posted by jamjam at 11:42 AM on November 17, 2024 [5 favorites]

It's likely that the cottage has legs because it's a traditional Sami storehouse.
posted by quacks like a duck at 2:14 PM on November 17, 2024 [9 favorites]

I've played a symphonic band arrangement of Baba Yaga/Great Gate a couple of times and a similar arrangement of the entire suite. The lead-in and opening couple of bars of Great Gate is so incredibly moving. On a separate tangent, one of the things that is supremely irritating about the movement "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle" is that it requires a piccolo trumpet which is an immediate tax of $2k - 7k on the player, but to add insult to injury you also need a piccolo trumpet straight mute, so add another $50 on to that. I mean, it's practically a perfect orchestration for what the piece is trying to communicate and although I think that Ravel could have gotten away with using an oboe (although it wouldn't have the same percussiveness), that's a pretty steep price for 2 1/4 minutes of playing. On the good news front, while it's exhausting and there aren't many good places to take solid breaths, at least the grace notes are all 1 valve changes and HEY - why are you walking way? Don't you want to hear about how that even though it's on piccolo trumpet, you can get away with a 3 valve model instead of a 4 valve although you're going to be looking at a used horn at that point since three valve piccolo trumpets are out of favor. You know, throwing my coat at me was just a bit rude. I didn't even get the point about how yes, you need to spend the bucks because you get what you pay for. Would I help you bring in another keg from outside? Certainly. It's right out here is it? Aren't you coming to help? Oh hi Kattallus - sadly there isn't a lot of native trumpets in Iceland but we could talk about the langspil and fiðla...
posted by plinth at 8:14 AM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]

quacks like a duck's Sami storage shed is amazing! The poles the shed part is sitting on are tree stumps and it does indeed look as if they have chicken feet.

It’s very surprising to me that the Sami would have or could have built such a shed by lopping off the tops of a bunch of similar sized perfectly straight trunked trees all in a nice, evenly spaced clump, but I don’t see how they could possibly have cut the trees at ground level and then fixed them in place somewhere else and built on them. Maybe they pulled the trees down after digging around them to cut the lateral roots, and then cut the exposed root structure at its former ground level.
posted by jamjam at 10:35 AM on November 18, 2024

So maybe the tales of Baba Yaga eating hungry kids helped keep them from raiding the food storage shed?
posted by jamjam at 11:04 AM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]

Or encountering potentially dangerous wild animals that might be drawn by food odors?
posted by jamjam at 11:10 AM on November 18, 2024

Or maybe it's just another mundane and domestic "witch prop", the same as the cauldrons and brooms. You could imagine that back when these stories were first being told, the thing that's creepy is not that the props are weird, but that they're so familiar and prosaic, like discovering Aunty Betty doing satanic things with the hoover and the Magimix.
posted by quacks like a duck at 12:32 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]

The poles the shed part is sitting on are tree stumps and it does indeed look as if they have chicken feet.!

oh I missed that detail. Is it real?! How can it be real? Wow. Here's a second one, also with chicken feet. And a third (maybe be the same building).

Storage sheds elevated on poles is a common technology around the world. But I've never seen something with chicken feet.
posted by Nelson at 2:01 PM on November 18, 2024

traditional Sami storehouse

Mmhm. Yes. That's what this is. A traditional storehouse. For purposes. Would you like to see what treasures I keep inside? Come just a little closer, pleasures await.
posted by amanda at 10:08 AM on November 20, 2024 [2 favorites]