Ex Situ: Inside Lightning McQueen

July 30, 2008

Excellent illustrator Jake Parker alerted us to this article from his blog, Agent 44. The meat of the thing really is fairly autoexplanatory, so I’ll preface it with his own quote:

Where does the machine end and the flesh begin? So, to make everything piece together a little better in my head I drew up what I think the internal structures of Lightning McQueen might look like:

Delightfully creepy! I’m sure the question of how the characters actually procreate will be answered in Cars 2. Be sure to click below to head over to the original article, wherein Mr. Parker gives some thoughts on Cars and his amazing vivisection.

Inside Lightning McQueen >Catena Ex Situ

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Mini-Analyzations

July 28, 2008

  • I’m surprised no one has mentioned this: the lack of biological parents in cartoon shows. Think of all the characters who live with someone other than their parents: Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby living with Uncle Donald then Uncle Scrooge in DuckTales. Gosalyn and Darkwing Duck in Darkwing Duck, Robin and Nightwing living with Batman. Also, Penny and Uncle Gadget. No explanation is given about their parents’ whereabouts. When I was a kid I wondered where they were. I think if cartoon creators have a handle enough to show orphans, they should go the full monty and explain where mom and dad are.
    - Contributed by Mark P.
  • Yet another common device that cartoon manufacturers use is to add a character to a show that is there solely for the purpose of comic relief (usually, it backfires, though). This character is quite frequently of some other species, &c. than the main character(s). Examples are Slimer in The Real Ghostbusters, Snarf in ThunderCats, Alexander in Josie and The Pussycats, Blip in Space Ghost, Orko in He-Man, Chim-Chim in Speed Racer, Godzuki in Godzilla, and Needler in The Pirates of Dark Water.
    - Contributed by The Editor
  • What’s the nature of ghosts in The Real Ghostbusters? Are they extra-dimensional critters, traumatic psychic residue, or is the team actually capturing the souls of the deceased with proton lightning and cramming them in a basement nuclear reactor? That seems awfully blasphemous. Perhaps it’s symbolic of people’s willingness to ignore their past, or maybe a commentary on modern urban life being “soulless.”
    - Contributed by Blake

6 Comments | Batman, Darkwing Duck, DuckTales, Godzilla, He-Man, Inspector Gadget, Josie and The Pussycats, Mini-Analyzations, Space Ghost, Speed Racer, The Pirates of Dark Water, The Real Ghostbusters, Thundercats | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
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Ex Situ: How Avatar: The Last Airbender Uses Color

July 23, 2008

Unfortunately, the staff’s busy schedule has prevented them from ever seeing a single episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Alas, as we hear little but good things about it. One of the editors over at Toon Zone, Ed Liu, obviously has more free time than we do, for last year he wrote a truly epic analysis of the color palettes of seemingly everybody. How epic? It had to be split into two parts. Here’s one snippet:

Interestingly, darker hues of green can be associated with decay and putrefaction because the mental association shifts from vegetation to mold. The Dai Li agents of Ba Sing Se are colored in a much darker green than the rest of the citizens of the Earth Kingdom. The on-screen reason for this hue is just a uniform color, versus the lighter greens of regular soldiers. However, the fact that they are also the instruments of the inner decay affecting the city is an interesting coincidence.

And for good measure, here’s another:

In contrast, Zuko takes much longer to adopt Earth Kingdom greens and yellows. Fire Nation brown and red continue to dominate his clothing for the remainder of the season, even when he’s on his date with Jin in “Tales of Ba Sing Se.” The only time he ever puts on full Earth Kingdom green and yellow clothing is at the very end of the season in “The Guru”, when his extremely un-Zuko-like behavior even raises the suspicions of Uncle Iroh. It’s extremely short-lived, though — by “The Crossroads of Destiny,” Zuko is wearing Fire Nation colors again when he and Uncle Iroh visit to the Earth King’s palace. It’s the first hint we get how he will ultimately turn on the Avatar by the end of the episode.

If this floats your boat, and if you’re still reading this then it really should, then head on over and read the full article.

Color Coding: How “Avatar the Last Airbender” Uses Color (Part 1) >Catena Ex Situ

Color Coding: How “Avatar the Last Airbender” Uses Color (Part 2) >Catena Ex Situ

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The Dr. Seuss Code

July 19, 2008

Having done much research (i.e. reading to my daughter) on the works of Dr. Seuss, I believe I have discovered the single, overarching plot which dominates his oeuvre. Once you get past the neologistic anapestic tetrameter, many of his plotted works can be boiled down to the following:

One character annoys another character.

I believe that the works which encompass this single theme are meant as assorted and diverse commentaries on Sartre’s quote “L’enfer, c’est les autres.” My wife, Mrs. The Editor, believes that this theme is so prevalent because kids think that it’s funny.

Below is a collection of Dr. Seuss works which appear to fit into the same plot pattern, without excessive plot reductionism. If any readers discover more, please make note in the comment section.

  • The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (Bartholomew annoys the King)
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (the Whos annoy the Grinch)
  • The Cat in the Hat (the Cat annoys the kids and fish)
  • The Cat in the Hat Comes Back (the Cat annoys the kids and fish, again)
  • The Big Brag (the rabbit and bear annoy the worm)
  • Green Eggs and Ham (Sam-I-Am annoys the main character)
  • Fox in Socks (the fox annoys Mr. Knox)
  • The Lorax (the Lorax annoys the Once-ler)
  • Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! (Marvin K. Mooney annoys the narrator)
  • Great Day for Up! (the whole world annoys the narrator)
  • The Butter Battle Book (the Yooks annoy the Zooks, and vice versa)
  • Gerald McBoing-Boing (Gerald annoys everyone)
  • Ten Apples Up on Top! (the lion, dog, and tiger annoy the bear family)
  • In a People House (the bird and mouse annoy the people)

7 Comments | Dr. Seuss | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
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Ex Situ: Sinbad and the Big MacGuffin

July 16, 2008

Kevin Koch, whose SynchroLux blog we will be citing again, worked as an animator on the DreamWorks film Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. Oh, he liked the work just fine. However, he doesn’t feel that enthusiastic about the final film product. Specifically, he has issues with a subpar MacGuffin:

I never really bought into the premise of the film, and ultimately neither did the audience. I could go on at length about some of the story and character failings, but I’ll lay out my thoughts on one major problem. It had the biggest MacGuffin in the history of film. Not just a big MacGuffin, but a MacGuffin that needed to be really important to the story.

Don’t know what a MacGuffin is? Well, you should. And Mr. Koch will tell you all about it. So click below for a fine discussion of Robert Ludlum’s The Sinbad MacGuffin.

Sinbad and the Big MacGuffin >Catena Ex Situ

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From the archives: When Bugs Bunny Loses

July 14, 2008

Contributed by BugssBunni.

Usually, Bugs Bunny is always the good guy and he triumphs in the end. Yet there are a few exceptions. I wish to discuss the cartoons in which Bugs Bunny is defeated in a race by a turtle. I know that one of them is “Tortoise Beats Hare,” the other I’m not sure what it is called.

In these two cartoons, Bugs Bunny is pictured as an arrogant rabbit who has TOO much confidence in himself. He is outraged by the thought that a turtle can beat him in a race. He finds it insulting and embarrassing to all rabbits. We see a side of Bugs Bunny hardly ever shown — it seems in this cartoon that he is slightly conceited and over-sensitive. These two character traits are inferred in Bugs Bunny’s character only once before, in the Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde episode. When Dr. Jekyll/Hyde asks Bugs if he drank the formula, Bugs Bunny become overly defensive and has the attitude of “how can you think of such a thing about me.”

In “Tortoise Beats Hare,” we all cannot help being slightly upset with Bugs Bunny. We are not used to him acting arrogant and we are disappointed. I think it is the only cartoon in which Bugs appears to be “the bad guy.”

I noticed another thing. In most cartoons, we all feel triumphant for Bugs when he defeats a “maroon” such as Yosemite Sam or Daffy Duck or Elmer Fudd. And yet we never actually are upset with the “maroons” even though they are the bad guys. Honestly, how many of you out there hate Elmer Fudd? It doesn’t seem like Bugs Bunny himself actually hates Elmer, just loves playing tricks on him. I don’t think anyone hates Elmer, despite that on numerous occasions he has actually tried to murder or heroic rabbit. But even though no one hates the bad guys, we still feel that it is justice when Bugs Bunny defeats him. No one ever feel mad at Bugs for being nasty to Elmer Fudd. We always feel triumph for the victor and sort of an affectionate feeling for the antagonist. No one feels upset at the bad guy.

However, in “Tortoise Beats Hare,” the theme is entirely different. Bugs Bunny seems like the antagonist, and we cannot help feeling slightly disgusted with him. We are not used to his arrogance and we are annoyed — we all know that he knows better. It is one of the only times where we are upset with the antagonist.

Yet, even stranger, we cannot help feeling even more disgusted with the tortoise. We all feel contempt to him and that it was unfair the way he tricked Bugs Bunny, and we are upset when Bugs loses the race. Yet when Bugs Bunny tricks people and the bad guy loses, we are not upset with Bugs, and we don’t say, “I wish Elmer won!” Why in this case are we upset with the protagonist?

The answer is that even though we are annoyed with Bugs Bunny in this animated short, we easily forgive him. We know that it is not usual of Bugs, so even though he acted conceitedly, we are biased towards him because we all like him. Even though we all know he deserves to lose the race, we can’t help thinking that he should win anyway. Why should he win? Because he’s Bugs, Bugs our favorite rabbit, and he always wins. We can’t help feeling that he should win just because he’s Bugs. We expect him to be the good guy, so we are upset that he isn’t, but we still wish he was.

This is also why we are mad at the tortoise. We feel that Bugs Bunny should have won, and the tortoise stole that position. That is the difference between this cartoon and others. We never want Elmer to defeat Bugs Bunny, so we don’t mind when Bugs defeats him. That doesn’t mean we always want the protagonist to win, because here the protagonist is the tortoise, but we want Bugs Bunny to win. We feel Bugs has the right to win, and we all can’t help loathing the tortoise for grabbing the limelight.

3 Comments | Bugs Bunny, from the archives, villains | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
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Ex Situ: Your Guide to the WALL-E Controversy

July 10, 2008

Well, here we were, all planning to write up an article tonight linking to and discussing the assorted controversies surrounding the release of Pixar’s newest precious stone, WALL•E, only to find out that The Onion‘s excellent The A.V. Club has beaten us to the proverbial punch. Such is the cutthroat cosm of over-analyzationing. The A.V. Club categorizes the controversies into four groups:

  1. It promotes liberal fascism!
  2. It’s prejudiced against fat people!
  3. It’s hypocritical!
  4. It’s too popular!

The staff here was quite fond of WALL•E, and did not find it to be too preachy or damning about anything. We thought it was a charming satirical fantasy encouraging responsible awareness and making connections with others, wrapped around a chewy nougat of sweet romance and amazing character animation. Also, we are so not tired of posting articles about it.

Your Guide to the WALL•E Controversy >Catena Ex Situ

2 Comments | ex situ, politics, stereotypes, WALL-E | Tagged: , , | Permalink
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Mini-Analyzations

July 8, 2008

  • Anyone else read WALL•E as a sort of white flag between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates? How, in the future, all that’s left is a tough, very primitive PC is all that’s left in the vast wasteland of Earth and here comes this sleek and sexy Mac that is better in every way, and yet at the very end, the two have to band together for the future of mankind? The one damning thing is that WALL•E sounds like a Mac when he boots up. Hmm…
    -Contributed by Doc Happenin
  • After reading the post about WALL•E I just wanted to throw something out there that I’ve been thinking about. I was compelled to contribute to your finely crafted blog when I followed the link and saw him on a pile of trash and in the heap was a discarded doll of Sully. [Ex Situ: Is WALL-E Environmental or Hypocritical?]
    Pixar is very pro-environmental and for this to be stated – “I don’t have a political bent, I don’t have an ecological message to push” – is a slap in the face. If we use Monsters, Inc. as a case study we can prove that they do, in fact, have a political and environmental slant.
    The main premise of Monsters, Inc. is to uproot the current system of energy consumption and production and to find alternative means for generating energy. Fear wasn’t a viable energy source anymore because it was fading fast while, obviously, by the end of the film they made laughter seem to be endless and more efficient. It reeks (no pun) of the fight between fossil fuels and alternative energy – be it wind, solar or whatever. aside from this, the rest of the movie is wrought with big business maneuvers, corporate scandals and cover-ups and a communist finale – Sully, a worker, takes control of the company.
    I think they do push their agendas and do it in a way that most people never fully catch on. It’s propaganda with crayons and celebrity voices and they send it home with your kids happy meals.
    -Contributed by Raymond K.
  • Seven Samurai → The Magnificent Seven → ¡Three Amigos! → A Bug’s Life
    -Contributed by The Editor

1 Comment | A Bug's Life, knock-offery, Mini-Analyzations, Monsters Inc., WALL-E | Tagged: | Permalink
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Ex Situ: Biblical Themes in WALL-E

July 6, 2008

Nota bene: We wish to apologize for the lack of updates in the last few days. Our red-headed Editor has been busy with a curious new part-time job on Fleet Street which keeps him occupied from ten to two each day.

One thing Pixar films are not is shallow. Their enduring appeal partly rests on the myriad themes and intelligent designs which wimple softly in the flow like brook trout in the streams in the mountains. This is also quite true of their latest delightfully delightful film, WALL•E. For those of you who have not seen this amazing film as of yet, please do so immediately, and we shall wait for your return to continue our article.

The percolatory Cartoon Brew has brought to our attention an interview in Christianity Today with WALL•E director Andrew Stanton. In this interview, Mr. Stanton explicitly discusses some of the biblical themes and influences in the film. What follows is a sample:

I wasn’t using the Noah’s Ark story as a guide, but through circumstances, I loved the parallels of EVE almost being like this dove, of going down for proof that it’s time to come back. It just worked in that allegory, so I ran with it.

A lot of the discussion is the same stories about WALL•E and Pixar that have been reiterated in every recent interview, but what’s left makes for an interesting read.

The Little Robot That Could >Catena Ex Situ

2 Comments | ex situ, WALL-E | Tagged: , , | Permalink
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Ex Situ: The Lorax’s Real Message

July 2, 2008

The pugilistic Super Punch blog has decided that the underlying message of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax isn’t quite as obvious as it seems…

We were all clearly supposed to come away with the message that protecting nature is good and building factories is bad. According to Wikipedia, the book has even been banned for being too anti-industry. But after reading The Lorax a few dozen times to my son, I’ve realized the story is actually a pretty damning indictment of the Lorax, and the environmentalists he represents.

Super Punch: The Lorax’s Real Message >Catena Ex Situ

1 Comment | Dr. Seuss, The Lorax | Tagged: , | Permalink
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