Symbolism And Humor In The Death Of Stalin By Armando Iannucci

Joseph Stalin’s almost thirty-year long reign over the Soviet Union has long been infamous for its cruelty and terror, but less is known about the frantic period that occured after Stalin’s death in 1953, in which members of Stalin’s committee raced against each other to win his vacant seat. This power-vacuum, is what director Armando Iannucci set out to explore in his film, The Death of Stalin. Although the film is not perfectly accurate, Iannucci manages to portray both the brutal chaos and absurdity of this moment in history through the use of symbolism and humor. While there is not an overt use of symbolism in the film, a few examples of it can be found. For example, in the beginning of the movie, Stalin and his committee members

Although many of the jokes are crude, centered around body humor, or are dark, like Khrushchev's theatrical account of people’s reactions to a grenade being thrown at them, they are a tools of influence and power. In fact, the latter establishes the audience’s understanding of the rivalry between Khrushchev and Beria. After Beria sneaks a tomato into Khrushchev’s pocket, Khrushchev laughs it off at the party, but in the privacy of his home, Khrushchev confesses his pique with Beria, and continues to reference back to it at several points in the film. In this way, the tomato becomes a symbol of the competition between Khrushchev and Beria. In addition to this, tomatoes also symbolize power. Wishing to join in on the joke, Malenkov attempts to make his own grenade-related joke with a tomato as well, but it falls through, leaving an awkward and embarrassing silence. This could be considered as foreshadowing of how Malenkov is unable to thrive in positions of power, and is a basis for his unsure and superficial behaviour as Stalin’s replacement. Like the tomato, words also symbolize power. In the movie and in real life, Stalin and his administration killed a horrific number of people during the time of the Soviet Union