(source)
Caption: “Why do you always insist on making me have to punish you?” *sigh* “Come on, Petrushka, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Here is your Russian history/culture lesson for today. If you are feeling depressed today, I would advise saving this post for later so you don’t read this and feel worse.
The first time I saw this piece of fan art and the caption with it, I got curious, since I’m a fan of Russian things. This is a rough summary of what I’ve learned and the conclusions I came to:
Petrushka is a puppet character in Russia kind of like Pierrot and Punch (Punch as in Punch and Judy). The name itself is a diminutive or nickname of Pytor (Peter). The character Petrushka appeared in the 18th century and started out as adult entertainment focused on slapstick comedy. As puppetry became more geared towards younger audiences, Petrushka evolved to be more geared towards children. Petrushka stories in the Soviet era depicted him as a pro-government people’s hero (Wikipedia Aug 13 2019).
Petrushka was the subject of a ballet of the same title by Igor Stravinsky, where the puppet Petrushka competes for the love of a beautiful ballerina against a Moor(ish swordsman). Petrushka is a clumsy, awkward underdog who, spoiler alert, doesn’t get the girl. (article)
If you haven’t made the connection yet, this is where the three mechanical dolls (clown, ballerina, swordsman) in the first act of The Nutcracker came from--the sources I’m finding name them as their western counterparts Harlequin and Columbine, but Tchaikovsky was Russian and would have at least known the story of the Petrushka-Ballerina-Moor love triangle, and so would his Russian audience.
Re: the above image with quote--the puppet that the trainer is holding, of course, symbolizes Bucky as a Hydra/Soviet puppet. He is also crumpled on the ground, and the caption hints that he has failed somehow in his training, perhaps been too clumsy for the liking of his handlers. The manner in which the trainer is holding the puppet behind him is reminiscent of a whip, illustrating the master-slave relationship.
Bucky Barnes in the comics started out as a young sidekick to Captain America and (I would assume) a comic relief; in The First Avenger Bucky starts out as an older brother figure to Steve Rogers. After his first capture by Hydra Bucky finds himself in a subverted position, both suffered torture and the discovery of finding his best friend a super-soldier taller than he is. In Steve’s shadow, Bucky is observant and blunt but people don’t take him seriously. While once he had been found attractive to women and succeeded in picking up dates, when he meets Peggy Carter she has eyes only for Steve. However, Bucky is a sniper, and with a good vantage point and deadly aim he keeps an eye on things that other people would miss.
As the Winter Soldier, of course, say whatever he wants, Bucky is eventually silenced into submission, he is punished for failure to comply with orders. It would make sense for some of the Winter Soldiers’ handlers over the years to have referred to the Soldier as ‘Petrushka,’ if they reminded him of a poor, abused puppet--particularly one that was used by the Soviet government to defend the Communist empire.
Post-Hydra, Bucky is merely the man who was the Winter Soldier that is now trying to find a normal life again. He has little memory of who he was before so unlike Steve he doesn’t meet the 21st century with culture shock, but instead wariness. But he is also kind of innocent since he doesn’t know what things are or how to navigate everyday life outside of being a super-assassin that was locked away all the time. Sometimes he doesn’t completely understand what is going on. He is alarmed or confused by things that other people take for granted, even in a world of superheroes and villains with crazy powers and technology.
There is also the fact that his brain has been damaged from years of endless electrocution and not to mention PTSD and what have you on top of that. So he is mentally ill and that makes him more sensitive and vulnerable than the average person.
TL;DR Bucky Barnes fits the fool/clown/jester/trickster archetype
Also note, Petrushka is paired in some stories with a ballerina--hmm, who do we know of that A) has an association with the Winter Soldier and B) is a Russian Ballerina?
Articles on this archetype:
The Fool or clown
Crazy Wisdom
The Archetype of the Clown--Emphasis on Hopi Koshare, also this post was written the day Robin Williams...yeah
Ivan the Fool from Russian folklore (Wikipedia 8/13/19)
If people have more insight into clowns/fools or Russian folklore, or you’ve actually read the comics, you are more than welcome to add to this discussion