Ion Creangă’s creation in the vision of director Ion Popescu-Gopo

Abstract

The Romanian director Ion Popescu-Gopo (1923-1989) remained in the history of world cinema as the creator of the Little Man, which became his brand in the field of animation. But his creation is rich enough, including not only animated films, but also fiction films. He is the only director, who in the years ‘60-’80 dared to interpret the stories of the classic of our literature Ion Creangă, starting with The Story of Harap Alb (The White Moor, 1965), The Story of the Pig,(The Story of Love, 1976), The Old Man’s Daughter and the Old Woman’s Daughterl (Maria, Mirabela, 1982),The Bag with Two Coins (The Wager, 1984). The director re-reads the writer’s stories from a modern cinematic perspective, experimenting not only with the ideational message, but also with the production techniques, combining the actors’ play with animated images (Maria, Mirabela or The Wager).