I managed to get some more commentary onto Anthony's Animation Talk channel. This time it was for a cartoon called Catty Cornered. As I mentioned in the video, this is one of my Top 5 Sylvester & Tweety shorts and if you have ever seen this cartoon in its entirety you could probably see why. My dialogue starts at about the 16:30 mark but I'd still recommend watching the whole video. It's loaded with info and insights that you wouldn't want to miss.
Oh hey, I did another commentary on Anthony's channel more than a year ago but I never got around to posting it here for some bizarre reason. I participated in a massive pastiche of commenters for the cartoon Rabbit Fire. For those who don't know, that's the first of three "duck season / rabbit season" cartoons. There are many guest commentators plus a guest appearance from the original director's daughter. I forget exactly where exactly my bit starts. I guess you'll have to watch the whole thing to find out. Whatever! Enjoy!
That's right. The good people at Ferris Wheelhouse invited me back to do some more commentary on Looney Tunes videos. I and host Trevor Thompson had such fun last time and it looked like most of the response to those videos was positive, so we got back at it again. The two of us recorded them just last week. We did all Pepe Le Pew cartoons. His plan is to release them all on every Saturday in February in time for Valentine's Day. So February looks like it could be a fun and romantic month. Everyone can curl up with a significant other and bask in the amorous glow of Pepe's raging hormones accompanied by commentary by me and the self-appointed Looney Tunes critic.
"Cwitic eh? Wook at him swandering me! I'll bwast him to smiveweens wif my...."
Hold it! No! No, Elmer. I'm not doing that routine in this blog post this time. For one, it's somewhat redundant. For two, the last time I did that I............ broke somebody.
Please observe a moment of silence for the that person's two lonely brain cells who died that day.
Now on with it. The commentary we did was...
"Why that doggone stubborn little.... I'LL GET THAT CRITIC!! WAGHWAGHWAGHWAGH!!!!"
Donald, you're at a different studio. You have nothing to worry about.
"If that Trevor Thom[stone] ever dares to critique me I'll bring down a slab of bronto-ribs on his head!"
Jeez, Fred. Are cartoons from every other studio going to vent for the sake of their delicate egos now or....?
"Oh! A critic on the internet! Is-is-is-is is that what's happening now? Why don't you just SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD??!! RIGHT NOW!! COME ON!!!"
Okay! Back through the timeline portal you came from Rick. Mr. Poopy Butthole says "hi".
Yeesh! That was a mess. Anyway, like I said, expect to see new commentary from me and Trevor in February. In the mean time though, I'll embed all of the commentaries we did the first time. Whether it's your first time seeing them or your 10,000,000,000,000,000,000th time, enjoy!
A while back on this blog I posted a video in which I did some commentary on a WB cartoon with the good people at Ferris Wheelhouse. Well, embedded above is some more commentary I did but this time for the Elmer Fudd cartoon Ant Pasted.
What a neat coincidence that I got to talk about this cartoon in particular because it allowed me to revisit a theory I have about this cartoon that I posted on this very same blog a way long time ago. I opined that this cartoon was a subversive satirical attack on Joe McCarty's communist witch hunt.
"WHUT?! DUH WB WENT N GONE N MADE SPORT A ME?? WHY I OUGHTA....."
I'll walk you through my thought process with screen captures this time (something I couldn't do for that old post). {begin animation nerd dissertation now}
The cartoon starts with Elmer Fudd celebrating the 4th of July by lighting fireworks and throwing them. Elmer Fudd represents Joe McCarthy and the fireworks represent Joe's aggressively overt patriotism.
However, one of Elmer's fireworks lands next to an ant colony injuring one of the ants. The ant, in this moment, represents an average American citizen does not quite share the same zeal as Mr. McCarthy and so feels overwhelmed by it.
When Elmer sees his fireworks have disturbed the ants, he's inspired to throw several of his lighted explosives directly at the ants. This of course represents McCarthy's Human Unamerican Activities Committee going after anyone they considered "communist subversives" (whether they had evidence or not).
Although one aspect is different from the real history of that era. Back then, anyone who found themselves snared by the HUAC net had no choice but to go along with the proceedings which would get them blacklisted in some way. In the cartoon in question here, the ants answer this onslaught with full militarized retaliation.
My comparison to McCarthy with this cartoon is further solidified for me when at one point during the battle Elmer Fudd shouts "Why don't you ant go under gwound where you bewong!"
I mean, that's why Joe started his crusade in the first place, so that he could drive all he considered undesirable to go underground and (to his hope) out of society.
But, like I said, the ants retaliate against Elmer in a highly successful attack that has Fudd running for his safety.
His retreat is all for naught because the ants manage to obliterate him with his own explosives. The cartoon ends with the ants throwing a patriotic salute to Elmer's (Joe's) destruction.
It would be of no surprise to me if my hypothesis of Ant Pasted were proved correct. One of McCarthy's biggest target of interest was Hollywood, which the WB animation department was very much a part of. You can bet everyone there was worried that no stone would be left unturned and soon HUAC would be coming after them. I do think they did throw in some nods to patriotism for the soul purpose of keeping these men away from them.
One example I can think of off the top of my head is Forward March Hare in which Bugs Bunny accidentally joins the army. When the general informs Bugs that the army is not equipped to accommodate rabbits as soldiers, Bugs responds with, "Isn't there something a patriotic rabbit can do for his country?" I'm sure Joe pleasured himself after hearing Bugs say that.
Another example I recall is a gag in the cartoon Fowl Weather. Sylvester cranks up a little toy soldier and sets it marching in front of the hens in the henhouse. The hens all stand up to salute. This gives Sylvester a chance to look for Tweety who may be hiding among the baby chicks (spoiler: he was). Although, I think this may have been another subtle jab at Joe.
And of course there are the three cartoons that were commissioned to be economic lessons:
By Word of Mouse
Heir Conditioned
and Yankee Dood It
I looked through some of the comments of that video and found this dissenting assertion that I'd like to address:
OK, whoever made this comment (I cropped out the name so nobody finds and harasses this guy) contradicts himself a bit. He says that the president ant declaring war may be a caricature of Harry Truman since he was president when production of this cartoon began at some point in the early 1950's but was released after Eisenhower had since won the 1952 election by the time of its release in 1953. However, he then claims this cartoon was more about the Korean War coming to an end. Ant Pasted was released May 9 of 1953 while the Korean War was halted with a cease fire in September of that year. How could the director Friz Freeing be inspired to make a cartoon about the end of the Korean War at a time when Truman was still president and still determined to keep that war going? And yet he thought my comparison to Joe McCarthy was "off base" even though that was a deeply pressing concern in that time period starting way further back in the late 40's. Meh. What's the point of addressing this guy's ramblings any further?
Forget it, Jake. It's the Youtube comment section.
Well really neither of our statements hold much weight because who knows what the director of Ant Pasted, Friz Freleng, would say about our hypotheses if through some miracle of science he could still be alive today. Maybe he would say "No, this cartoon was me telling Arthur Godfrey that he's a son of a bitch and should stay away from my wife." But we'll never know, and what does it matter in the grand scheme of time and space? No matter whose assessment is true or not, I think most animation enthusiasts can agree that many of the WB cartoons are some of the best and most clever short films of all time. The fact that different people can read different things into what are essentially basic premises whose structure is used as a showcase for quick gags. That's all part of their genius. Whatever your opinion is, definitely continue to enjoy the cartoon Ant Pasted with or without commentary.
Recently, my little nephew Michael has started a crazy habit of laughing like Elmer Fudd. I'm not sure how much exposure he's had to Elmer (if any) which makes this phenomenon all the more curious.
Well, there's no sense is wasting an oppurtunity like this. I guess I'd better "Fudd-ify" my nephew:
So there you go.
Wait, do I detect the rolling of eyes and the exclamations of "aw, geez, not another one of those nephew posts"? If that's so, I'd like you to kindly get your child-hating arse off my blog. Thank you.
I'd like to take some time and bandwidth to talk about an underreated classic Ant Pasted. Not only is it a well executed cartoon with impeccible timing that only Friz Freleng could achieve, there's something below the surface as well. It is also a scathing attack upon Senator Joe McCarthy and his Un-American Activities Committee stuff. Here's what I've noticed:
Joe McCarthy is represented by Elmer Fudd (who better to do so?). The fireworks Elmer lights and throws around represent the extreme patriotism that McCarthy and senators like him (then, now, and at any other time in political history) shamelessly display in order to feel righteous. The ants here represent those that were victimized and blacklisted by all this.
Unfortunately, in real life, the blacklisted individuals were at the mercy of this committee and all they could do was wait it out and survive however thye could. Some even committed suicide. But, the victimized ants in this cartoon actually retaliate, something I'm sure Freleng and everyone who was blacklisted wished they would have done.
If you're thinking that all this is no big deal, keep in mind that this cartoon came out in 1953. The blacklist was in full swing at this time. Any little insignificant part of your past that could even be remotely construed as being linked to Communism got you in front of that committee pleading your case in front of a group of cold heratless suits ready to find you guilty no matter what. So, for Friz to actually slam these guys through animation or whatever is quite a bold move indeed. Thankfully, I don't think Joe McCarthy ever caught on because Friz disguised his attack with a blanket of patriotism. He made the ant's retaliation seem like it was being done for America. And in a sense it was. Those Communist hearings were a dark period in American history. The sooner those ended the sooner America could seem more like a police state run by tyrants.
Well, I think I've said enough about this cartoon. I now invite all who have read this to view the cartoon for yourself and see if you agree with me or not. So, with that, I now present Ant Pasted:
