September 29, 2008
- I don’t know if others have noticed, but Pepe Le Pew is a glaringly insulting portrayal of the French people and all things Gallic. The cartoon relies on the stereotype that the French don’t bathe, hence Le Pew being a skunk, a rather malodorous animal. (Some people might think that the cartoons portrayal of the French as oversexed is a stereotype but, as anyone who has been to France knows, this is an astonishingly real picture of the French.) He speaks with a funny accent, too! It is completely galling! Could it get any worse? At least there was never an episode of Pepe capitulating to the Nazis. Vive l’amour!
-Contributed by Mark C.
- Brendan S. mentions several characters seen in the feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit? that were created after 1947, the year the film takes place. I read an interview with the filmmakers where they stated their excuse for this was that these characters were hanging around Toon Town in that year until they were “discovered” a few years later by the studios, as if they really existed and shared the same legends as live action movie stars. A bit of dramatic license. I think a bigger problem is the glaring lack of Tom and Jerry in the film. I guess they couldn’t get the rights to these characters.
-Contributed by Mark C.
- Is it just me, or does Panthro of the Thundercats seem like a feline representation of a black man? It’s interesting to me that even when human protagonists are replaced with somewhat more bestial protagonists, that animation directors would feel the need to express racial diversity. If you ask me, Thundercats was already demonstrating diversity by depicting feline humanoids, which have been grossly under-represented on television and elsewhere. (I mean, just because they don’t exist doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be represented, right?)
-Contributed by YHN
6 Comments | 
Mini-Analyzations, Pepe Le Pew, Thundercats, Tom and Jerry, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, anthropomorphica, ethnicity, racism, stereotypes | Tagged: capitulating, Gallic, malodorous, Panthro | 
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Posted by The Editor
September 21, 2008
There’s a delightful article by Adam Gopnik in the latest (September 22, 2008) issue of The New Yorker about some controversies surrounding the Babar series. Here’s a clip:
In the past few decades, a series of critics on the left, most notably the Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman, have indicted Babar in the course of a surprisingly resilient and hydra-headed argument about the uses of imagery and the subtleties of imperialist propaganda. Babar, such interpreters have insisted, is an allegory of French colonization, as seen by the complacent colonizers: the naked African natives, represented by the “good” elephants, are brought to the imperial capital, acculturated, and then sent back to their homeland on a civilizing mission. The elephants that have assimilated to the ways of the metropolis dominate those which have not.
Fascinating. As is the rest of the article, which among other things touches on: a wholly different controversy regarding the fate of Babar’s mother, the occupations of animals, nationalistic representations of order and disorder in children’s literature, and Matisse.
Freeing the Elephants >Catena Ex Situ
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Babar, anthropomorphica, ex situ, politics, racism, villains, violence | Tagged: Celesteville, imperialist propaganda, Matisse | 
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Posted by The Editor
September 17, 2008
Nota bene: We apologize for the lack of updates lately. We are a bit short-staffed as a couple weeks ago one of our editors left for a weekend trip to visit her relatives in Innsmouth, Massachusetts, but she hasn’t returned yet. If you read this, please call or e-mail us: we are worried about you.
Contributed by E. Lewis
To sum up the plot of The Secret of NIMH, Mrs. Johnathan Brisby (we never learn her first name) is desperately trying to save her young son, Timothy, from death. Timothy, a sickly boy, had come down with pneumonia right before the plow comes. To be spared from the evil plow, the family must move but because Timmy’s so sick, he cannot leave the house–hence a plot.
In just that small summary, can you see a gapingly humongous plot hole? Just think, the plow comes year after year, it is nothing new, and yet year after year, all the animals get into an uproar. Now you’d think, if you have to move to a safe location each year because the plow is coming, you’d just relocate to the safe place. Wouldn’t that be so much simpler then packing up everything, getting into a tizzy and rushing about the place praying the plow doesn’t get you? They frankly deserve to die if they are that stupid. I know, I know, if common sense were being used, we wouldn’t have a movie.
To the animals the plow is a sort of Armageddon, an end-all dooms day where everything is destroyed and to save your life, you must heed the warnings and promptly leave. Those who linger will be destroyed. Period. Actually, Armageddon isn’t quite right, the plow is more of a hurricane. Meteorologists track the impending hurricane and warn the designated strike zone to leave the area. People go about boarding up their houses and they take their most precious belongings and family and get out. That is, they do if they’re smart. There are always some who make the news because they’ve seen hurricanes before and nothing’s made them leave and some little silly winds and rain sure ain’t gonna do it. And they sit in their houses until the wind blows the roof off and the rain drowns them all. The plow is that hurricane, there are specific seasons where hurricanes are prevalent and likewise, there are seasons in which the plow becomes active. The smart animals get out before they are destroyed, the stupid ones hang about until the last minute thinking maybe it won’t hit this year. If you are stupid enough to stick around year after year, don’t complain when everything is taken away. Hence you see I have no compassion for the Brisby family. With that many children, you’d think they wouldn’t live right in the path of the plow.
3 Comments | 
The Secret of NIMH, death, from the archives | Tagged: armageddon, hurricane, Mrs. Brisby, plot hole | 
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Posted by The Editor
September 9, 2008
Over at Jim Hill Media, the eponymous webmaster received this e-mail query:
Can you please help me win a bet at work? A co-worker of mine says that WALL-E makes a brief cameo appearance in “Ratatouille.” More importantly, this guy has bet me $100 that I’ll never ever be able to find that robot in this movie. I’ve watch my kid’s “Ratatouille” DVD three times now and haven’t seen hide nor hair of WALL-E yet. So if I offer you a percentage of my winnings, will you please tell me where I can find this robot in the movie?
J.H. has done more than answer this guy’s question: he has written an exhaustive article detailing almost all of the Pixar self-references he could find. Some of them are so hard to spot, you need an expert like Mr. Hill to do the legwork for you. So, click over to brush up on your Pixar minutia and picayune intelligence. It’s how I would impress my co-workers if they would ever talk to me.
A Special “Where’s WALL-E” Edition of Why For? >Catena Ex Situ
5 Comments | Ratatouille, WALL-E, ex situ | Tagged: eponymous, picayune intelligence | Permalink
Posted by The Editor
