The Allegorical Aidahar: An Animated Look at Kazakh National Identity

The little-known Kazakh animation film, Why the Swallow’s Tail is Forked (1967), written and directed by Amen Khaydarov, not only holds the position as the aboriginal Kazakh animation film, but is also acclaimed as the greatest work of Kazakh animation by critics, academics, and contemporary animators. The film, based on the traditional Kazakh folktale of the same name, was significantly altered by Khaydarov in his auteurist direction and screenplay resulting in a radically different retelling. However, Khaydarov’s unique variant of the folktale resonated with viewers of the period as well as with viewers today. It was also released at a pivotal moment in Kazakh nationalist thought as it coincided with the first rumblings of the pastoral nationalist narrative of the late 1960s. In this paper I argue how certain motifs are changed, added, and removed from the original folktale by Khaydarov, consciously or unconsciously, to incorporate new allegorical elements in the folktale.

This essay is informed by a multitude of theorists and follows a methodology specific to film studies. I perform a close reading of the film, shot by shot, and in the spirit of Eric Hobsbawm, deconstruct alleged “traditional” Kazakh elements. Following the close reading, I use theory from the ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino in analyzing the constructed nature of national identity. This will be supported using concepts I borrow from Benedict Anderson, the prominent theorist on nationalism, the folklorists Roman Jakobson and Petr Bogatyrev, the filmic folklorist Juwen Zhang, and the philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Following the deconstruction of Kazakh identity more largely, this essay will turn to the concept of allegory, as defined by Paul de Man but balanced by James Clifford, and will show how specific readings of the audio, visual, and folkloric aspects of the film are justified given the previous close reading. Ultimately, I will return to the film and display it as a construction of a specific nationalist narrative, one that holds surprising elements of suffering, submission, and trauma, thus shedding light on the broader pastoral nationalist vision.