Comrades and Comedy

What continually astounds me are the personalized accounts and genuine people that Bernstein keeps meeting along the way, especially the emotional connectivity I begin to feel as a reader for the communist or left party. For most of my life I grew up thinking “Communism=bad” given that my parents emigrated from Poland during a time of communist uprising. Simply by association as a child I learned to think that they were escaping this horrible political transition and I felt the gravity of the situation as I heard the story.
Traveling with Bernstein through Europe and through his own personal acquaintances I am encountered with vivid characters of townspeople and directors and other Hollywood personalities. I think this is the idea that Julianne tries to get across in her post as well, this idea of “goodness.” That here in the midst of opposite political quotas we can still have humble and in all honesty good people whatever side they may take. Personally I have been moved by these stories and ashamed of my own stereotypical political tendencies of anti-communism. It is not that I have been moved to become a communist myself but rather come to an understanding of the other side and that I think is a relative and crucial point of Bernstein’s entire memoir. We are compelled by stories of Kazan and Yugoslavian soldiers and let in their shoes so to speak.
Not only are we moved throughout the communist conflicts but also brought to an understanding of the cruelty and unfairness of a blacklist system and its ban on whatever particular taboo idea. We have traveled through Bernstein’s “artist’s crisis” and seen just how difficult the system has been to put a limitation on arts and expression. I still am impressed with Bernstein’s ability to cross the red tape and manage to publish works if any at all. Interestingly enough this idea of the ability of comedy to let leftist ideas come to the movie screen intrigues me even more. Is it that the jokes were not interpreted correctly that allowed leftist ideas to be published in this way? What is the power and functionality of humor in this situation?