March Madness: Rasputin, Pt. 2
In the first part of our look at YouTube’s look at Rasputin (the Mad Monk of Russia — not to be confused with the horrible Eddie Murphy character Rasputina), we focused mainly on how this charismatic and crazy character was portrayed in the movies. But what we do we know about the real guy? Quite a bit. People apparently loved to write about him when they met him. Rasputin was a guy you either loved or hated. There wasn’t any middle ground with him.
So, how was he mad? Besides telling the family of the Tsar that everything was fine? And not washing his hair?
He saw visions that may or may not have been alcohol-induced. He followed the advice of his visions. He as born in a part of Siberia which is actually better in the winter than the summer. (The insects were intense and the roads turned into gooy mud). He became well-known as a rabble-rouser and probably went into a monastary every now and then as part of a jail term for theft.
And then he met the flagellents.
It’s actually very difficult to find anything on YouTube about Rasputin’s relgious beliefs or what he saw in his visions. You do find a lot about songs written about him and movies featuring him. He was considered a psychic and a healer. So, discovering what is fact about his mental illness from what is fiction is next to impossible to discover on YouTube.
So, let’s go with fiction, shall we? Let’s end with complete madness — line dancing to a pop song “Ra Ra Rasputin”. I think ol’ Grigori would’ve loved it — or, at least, all of the women in the group.
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