Political positions come and go but talking animals, evil witches, and mythical princesses endure. David MacFadyen argues that Soviet socialist animation between 1936 and 1999 was a fundamentally emotional, not propagandistic, enterprise that requires a reconsideration of Soviet art in general. Of particular interest are the relationships between "realist" Russian animation and USSR politics and the lasting success of Disney in the Soviet Union. MacFadyen further analyses Soviet animation through phenomenology, arguing that the latter is a viable alternative not only to dogmatic Marxism but also to the ideological vacuum of post-Soviet times. The book include a comprehensive bibliography and filmography as well as a rich collection of images.