Early Animation Nightmare Fuel

***WARNING: Some of the images I use may contain content that was a product of it's time. Just know that I do not condone the types of attitudes displayed in early cartoons as a way of living today, but I am looking at these images in the context of appreciating animation history, and in effect, history itself. I do not intend to demean anybody through the images I use for my blog.***

I want to reminisce on old cartoons.

No, I don't consider '90's cartoons old. Not 50's. I'm talking about pre- to early Mickey Mouse era work. What I want to talk about is old, OLD animation history that, while as an animator myself I appreciate for its historical impact, I will be the first to say... it's creepy. Like... really creepy.

From The Enchanted Drawing, 1895. Frankly, I don't understand

how people could sit in a dark room and watch this stuff without squirming

a little bit.

As an adult, it's much easier to say "Well, those are just cartoons, especially early cartoons... some of the drawings are going to be crude!" And I would agree, but I know as a child, there was a lot of imagery that just made me feel uncomfortable. To the point where I would go to sleep with the blanket over my head just thinking about it. I'm just thankful that I didn't see any of these twisted pieces of animation history as a kid.

While there's a lot of content that I could rifle through here, I am going to choose the creepiest of the creepy images from cartoons I have had the uh... pleasure... of seeing in all of the time I spend on YouTube.

Which is a lot of time.

Without any further ado, though... I want to introduce you to Tom and Jerry. 

You: "... I thought we were going to talk about Tom and Jerry."

In brief, a company called Van Beuren Studios came up with these brilliant, timeless characters in 1931, and their adventures charmed animators for a healthy 2 years, when they finally hung up their hats in July of 1933. According to this ever-reputable source. Interestingly enough, Joseph Barbera, of actual Tom and Jerry fame, started his significantly more successful career working at Van Beuren. Barbera no doubt donated blood and sweat to the decidedly non-cat and mouse duo until he left to work for MGM to pursue a series that was probably going to be slightly more successful than this Tom and Jerry. 

But I'm not here tonight to wax history. No, I'm here to talk about how creepy these cartoons are. For example, 1932's Pencil Mania, where the basic premise is that the little man uses what I can only assume is dark magic to conjure terrifying images out of thin air, is full of frightful things to make you wish you weren't going to sleep tonight. In one particular sequence, he conjures up a barbershop trio consisting of a tomato, a banana, and an expired potato. They begin to sing about... something... when all of a sudden they perform this inexplicable act of horror.

This might be a thing that's living in your closet right now. I would

go check if I were you.

In fairness, that's actually pretty tame compared to other pants-crappingly scary things they've had to face. We now come to an episode from 1931 called Wot A Night, where Tom and Jerry are taxi drivers who chase a couple of bearded men down for not paying their fare. And than they end up in an old dungeon. Mind you, I think that this is the obligatory "spooky" cartoon that most famous cartoon stars of the day had at least one run-in with, so scary ghosts and skeletons are par for the course. I assure you, though, that Tom and Jerry takes it to the next unfortunate level. Let me show you the first monster they run into upon entering this maze of imminent death. 

I don't care how brave you think you are... you'd just freeze in terror

if this thing came out of the dark and charged after you.

And speaking of coming out of the dark, after Tom and Jerry escape from a room full of skeletons obviously having a contest to see who can do the most uncomfortable dance to watch, they find themselves face-to-face with a gigantic shadow, when this happens.

"You will join us in our unholy choir."

They turn out to be skeletons (of course), but what makes these skeletons particularly terrifying is that, if you listen to what they're singing - outside of the entirely racially insensitive perspective - they are begging to be taken from the terror that is their Purgatory. Look at how their eyes are, for the most part, constantly facing up as they sing. Listen to the lyrics. Their inflection implies that they are ready to escape their present existence. If you'd like to think that I'm looking into this a tad too deeply, you might be correct... but consider, for one, that these cartoons were not made for a child audience. These are made to precede feature films, and as such, contain very adult messages. Does Purgatory seem a bit too outlandish now?

For another thing, consider this next and (thankfully) final sequence of the short. Tom and Jerry finally manage to find the exit to this portal to hell, where they confront the two men who they offered a taxi ride to. The two men spend 20 seconds pointing at the duo and than walk off screen, which is apparently the cartoon's code for "Lift up that shirt!" the little one does exactly that, when they come to the final revelation of this 7 minute nightmare...

Where they find out that they can never truly escape.

The point I want to make with this final sequence is that I think that, if my theory about the singing skeletons holds merit, that just by being in this castle, Tom and Jerry have died and they themselves have entered Purgatory. The cartoon ends on the note that they are running away, flailing their arms in a desperate attempt to escape, but the iris out indicates to me as a viewer that we never really find out if that is they manage to get out.

Also, judging by the happy cartoony flute music that accompanies,

trying to escape their eternal fate is also hilarious.

Once again, am I looking too far into this? I'll let you be the judge. 

Well... I spent a lot more time talking about Tom and Jerry than I was ever planning to. Oops. Well, this is an excuse to add yet another series to my blog. What are your thoughts overall, though? Is there an old cartoon that was your personal nightmare fuel? Let me know in the comments! 

And if you haven't yet, please Like the Matt's Musings Facebook page to keep tabs on when I update my blog, and we can definitely spend more time discussing more nightmare fuel together!

And now, the latest Animation Good, Bad, and Ugly

It's been awhile since I've complained about something, so I figured it's high time I filled my quota.

Me right now.

The Good

Disney UK has released the international trailer for Inside Out, and I must say it's been some time since a movie trailer has made me laugh. 

This post, however, with go without honesty if I didn't express my disappointment. I'm ashamed to say that I can no longer track the source... I think I read it on Cartoon Brew... but what I read online when the movie was originally announced suggested that this film would be a 2D / 3D hybrid. From all of the teasers that have been released, and this recent trailer, I am sad to see that there's nothing that supports this initial announcement.

This trailer almost entirely redeems itself, though... and I don't know if it's just a question of novelty, but as I've discussed in a previous post, my favorite stand up comedian, Lewis Black, stars as the role of Anger. And boy, he does not disappoint. I would be so bold as to say that he stole the show in this trailer. This is a movie I definitely plan to go see in theaters.

The Bad

Oh, Bento Box... why did you think this was a good idea?

Thanks to the magic of limited puppet animation, I can safely confirm

that Madea is actually more creepy than in live action form.

I have uh... issues with this movie. I've never been a gigantic fan of the Madea movies in the first place, mind you, but Bento Box did not facilitate her (his?) transition into animation well. And a lot of the problem for me is that I have no idea what they're going for visually. The characters look sort of like they're designed for a fully-animated Disney flick, mixed with a more stylized, exaggerated Bruce Smith (Dr. Facilier) flavor. The problem with that is that it doesn't work with Bento Box's limited animation approach... these characters are in desperate need of being more flexible, and for that reason it becomes painful to watch. Also, this is another one of those situations where there really isn't anything here that couldn't have been accomplished in live action, so animating this movie just seems like a waste of resources... and it's hard to tell if any of the crew was invested in doing this.

In short, Madea's Tough Love, in totality, just seems like a bad idea.

The Ugly

In the past year, the big dogs in the feature industry have been found out conducting the entirely unfair business practice of wage-fixing, where they chose to keep the wages of their animators and other staff as low as the company thinks they can get away with in order to maximize profits on their output. 

Well, Sony Pictures Imageworks decided to take it to the next level while reaching out to future animators at the CTN Expo. Look at the wonderful advice they're offering.

And by "wonderful," I mean the worst possible advice 

you can possibly offer to anyone ever. Image via Cartoon Brew.

Basically, what Sony is telling people is that seeking employment that would value their skill set is not only discouraged, but - get this - "unprofessional". And according to another article at Cartoon Brew, an animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit was nearly given the axe for comparing his wage against that of his colleagues. This leads me to believe that this is also a terrible, terrible practice that the same studios in heat for wage fixing are conducting. 

The bright side to this is that the studios are actually being exposed for this crime, but with Pixar CEO Ed Catmull being entirely unapologetic, borderline proud of being unethical, it could be some time before we see any positive resolution.

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Mickey's Christmas Carol - The Definitive Film Version

Well, here it is, guys... Christmas is just a couple weeks away. My personal favorite holiday, because let's be honest with ourselves: what could possibly be better than gifts and all the food you'd expect from Thanksgiving part 2.

You're not leaving this table until you put on ALL 50 pounds of that winter

weight, Billy.

Also, there is no other holiday that boasts such a fantastic array of themed movies like Christmas. Think about it: what is one of your most fond Christmas memories as a kid? If your answer is not huddling in front of the TV with your family to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the proper one, not the Jim Carrey version) or Santa Claus is Coming to Town, than you're either A) lying, or B) from a family that demonized technology. Or perhaps that classic film, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is more your flavor.

I'm just kidding. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer should be 

absolutely nobody's flavor. Unless you enjoy bitter.

It's hard to argue, however, that the most retold Christmas story of all time is Charles Dicken's classic novel A Christmas Carol. Since the beginnings of motion picture, A Christmas Carol was told again and again to all different generations of movie-goers. Most are considered classics, though a few slipped through the cracks and became forgettable.

And creepy. Let this be a lesson: Jim Carrey and Christmas is 

a combination for disaster 100% of the time.

Though which one is the definitive retelling? There is a veritable slew of versions to pick from... and I'm ashamed to say that I have not sat down and watched all of them (yet). People will argue that the Muppets Christmas Carol is the best retelling. I'm sure there's even a school of thought supporting the newest version of the film as the candidate. 

For me, however, there's only one version that sticks out in my mind every time.

Mickey's Christmas Carol. 

Go ahead - scoff. 

Let me break this down for you. First, all of the characters work immaculately well within their respective roles. Donald Duck is a fantastic Fred, though this retelling doesn't give a whole lot of time to develop him... but I'm pretty sure nobody's watched any of the movies to follow the adventures of Fred. The secondary characters are also great, and work well within their roles... my particular favorites are Rat and Mole playing the charity workers.

But let's focus on the characters that matter to the longevity of the story. Obviously, Scrooge McDuck was going to play... well... Scrooge. Prior to this film, Scrooge has been featured in a multitude of Carl Barks' Donald Duck comics, and has been featured in one other film to my knowledge.

Our friends in the US government could use a sit-down to study this film.

Scrooge already possesses most of the character traits that the role requires... probably because he's already Scrooge's duck counterpart. He was predestined for this role.

Bob Cratchet is played here by the world's most beloved mouse. And why wouldn't he? Of course Mickey would be so loyal as to work an unreasonable number of hours at a fraction of the pay for his miserly overlord - and he would do it with a smile on his face. He sees the bright side of all things, even in the face of cruel and unusual poverty and a dying, crippled Tiny Tim, because that's just the kind of character that Mickey Mouse Bob Cratchet is. That puts the kind of low-life character Scrooge is in perspective, and that's what makes Mickey's role work so well in this retelling.

Now, let's talk about the spirits. Goofy, admittedly, is a bit of a strange Jacob Marley. And for years, I've always thought his voice and the character choice in general was off-putting, but just tonight as I was re-watching, I came to a revelation:

It's Goofy, but it's not really Goofy.

If you're familiar with the Disney shorts from the late 40's and into the 70's, you're probably familiar with this iteration of Goofy. This is actually Mr. George Geef, the everyman family guy who doesn't really get himself into too much cartoony trouble, but would prefer to live the straight, normal life of waking up on a Sunday morning, laying in his hammock and reading the paper until 2 PM. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I have come to believe that Jacob Marley was played by Goofy, but not the Goofy we automatically picture inside our heads. I believe that the writers entirely intended Marley to be George Geef, the misguided but hard working foreteller of Scrooge's fate. 

Finally, we come to the actual spirits themselves. Jiminy might have been able to play any of the three spirits, as he served as Pinocchio's adviser down temptation and choosing between right and wrong. He serves best, though, just as Disney cast him. It's already too late for Scrooge to change his past, and the spirit of conscience-ness is here to remind him that he messed up when he foreclosed the honeymoon cabin. The ghost of Christmas present isn't my most favorite, played by Willie the Giant from Fun and Fancy Free. He was animated really well, though, and he serves as the bridge to a pretty important moment in the movie, which is when Scrooge is introduced to Tiny Tim and realized that maybe he should consider giving Cratchet the opportunity to not have to live like a hobo, as Scrooge watches him literally splitting peas for his entire family.

But it's the ghost of Christmas future that makes this movie memorable. Just in case any of you out there forgot that Pegleg Pete was capable of being just as menacing at literally any of the Disney movie villains, I suggest going back and watching him perform in Mickey's Christmas Carol. The choice to shroud him in darkness and silence is a fantastic catalyst for the vision of the solemn moment where we discover that Tiny Tim loses his battle with... whatever disease he was afflicted with, and lowly Cratchet has to leave behind the only material memory that he possesses. And than the spirit sadistically reminds Scrooge that he stopped being important to anybody by throwing him into the fiery nightmare pit that is Scrooge's grave.

That's after we spend an intimate minute and a half listening to Peter

Lorre weasel talk about how unloved Scrooge was.

The cast of characters fit in perfectly well with what most people consider to be the accepted story of A Christmas Carol, which is where I feel that adaptations like the Muppet Christmas Carol fall short. Also, I feel that another distinction between Mickey and Kermit's versions is that for all of the silliness that could possibly ensue with a Mickey Mouse retelling of the story, there's something about this version that's dignifying. It takes itself at least somewhat seriously... particularly, when Scrooge is faced with the life he's helped Cratchet fall into, and than when we meet the ghost of Christmas future. I personally did not feel that the Muppets version captured any of the more serious moments as powerfully, and I think that's a lot of what make it fall flat to me.

If you disagree and want to loudly tell me exactly how wrong I am about

everything I've said here, please feel free to comment :) I will accept all comments!

In summary, though, just everything works about Mickey's Christmas Carol, and it has yet to be topped by any other version of the story... at least in my eyes. I, personally, have made it a part of my Christmas tradition every year, and if you haven't seen it yet, I highly encourage you to pick up a copy, or find other ways to view it if you're poor. 

I still have yet to watch the Chuck Jones / Richard Williams version of the story, though... I should do that this year. Until that point, though, Mickey's Christmas Carol still reigns supreme.

With screen grabs I've seen around the net like this one, I can barely

contain my excitement. Or my laughter. Let's be honest - look how ridiculous

this is.

And God bless us, every one.

Happy holidays! :>

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