Reitherman Reruns and Clampett Cheats

March 28, 2009

robinhood_bar

Mark Mayerson and Thad Komorowski (whose blogs I should have added to my BlogRoll a long time ago, recently rectified) posted an excellent video each on the subject of animation re-use. The first, posted by Mr. Mayerson, shows many examples of Disney animation re-use, particularly in the films of director Wolfgang Reitherman. Warning: this video is set to a jaunty chanson française.

The second, created by Mr. Komorowski, shows many examples of extensive animation re-use in cartoons by famed director Bob Clampett. Warning: this video is set to awesome music by Raymond Scott.

I find this stuff fascinating, especially the Disney one. It’s like rotoscoping². It also appears that dancing is difficult/laborious/expensive to animate from scratch. But: why bother completely re-doing something picayune but complicated like a dancing scene when the audience hasn’t seen the original version in years? The re-use of animation in the dancing scene is certainly not the biggest problem occurrant in Disney’s Robin Hood, nor the most egregious example.

3 Comments | 101 Dalmatians, Beauty and the Beast, Bob Clampett, Robin Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Aristocats, The Jungle Book, The Sword in the Stone, ex situ, knock-offery | Tagged: , , | Permalink
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Ex Sitibus: A Super Mario Triptych

March 24, 2009

mario_bar

Just to temper our postmodern ennui, we’re shaking things up a jot here at J. Cart. Overanal. Below we have three over-analyzationy links concerning Mario, who despite being a workaday fungal-plumber is really quite the Homo Universalis.

  • One: a brief, unwieldily image-based thesis on the symbology of Super Mario Bros., including a blunt, presumptive explanation for the meaning of life. Just click on the image to expand it legibly. (The true origins of this thesis have defied our gumshoeing; if anyone knows we’ll link to it properly.)
    mariodeep
  • Two: another masterpiece by the quasi-intellectuals at McSweeney’s, in the approximate vein of these other ones. Here we have an editorial by Dr. Mario himself, lambasting the Mushroom Kingdom’s corrupt and inefficient health care system.
    Dr. Mario Weighs in on Universal Health Care > Catena Ex Situ
  • Three: yonder at The Minus World, we have a cleverly-conceived, confusingly both underwritten and overwritten, and woefully trying-too-hard-to-be-funny report about the frequency of Princess actualization.
    Study Shows The Princess is in Another Castle 7/8ths of the Time     > Catena Ex Situ

Addendum: The calculation to find the Princess Probability isn’t even accurate. Taking into account the Warp Zones, there are  many different paths Mario might take during the course of the game, each with a different total probability of the Princess being in a castle, hereafter referred to as P(Princess).

In World 1-2, there is a Warp Zone to Worlds 2-1, 3-1, and 4-1. In World 4-2, there are two Warp Zones, to 5-1, 6-1, 7-1, and 8-1 in toto. So let’s break the Mushroom Kingdom into two sets: A and B, where each possible path to get to World 4-2 is in A and each possible path to get from World 4-2 to the end of the game is in B.

Here is a chart enumerating each path in A, where an “X” indicates a completed castle, NC is the total number of completed castles for that path, and NP is the total number of Princesses being in a castle for that path:

Path World 1 World 2 World 3 NC NP Notes
A_1 X X X 3 0
A_2 X X 2 0 Warp from 1-2 to 2-1
A_3 X 1 0 Warp from 1-2 to 3-1
A_4 0 0 Warp from 1-2 to 4-1

And a similar chart for set B:

Path World 4 World 5 World 6 World 7 World 8 NC NP Notes
B_1 X X X X X 5 1
B_2 X X X X 4 1 Warp from 4-2 to 5-1
B_3 X X X 3 1 Warp from 4-2 to 6-1
B_4 X X 2 1 Warp from 4-2 to 7-1
B_5 X 1 1 Warp from 4-2 to 8-1

So the total number of paths possible is:

\displaystyle \sum_{i, j} A_i+B_j=20

(which really is just A\times B=20)

To calculate the probability of The Princess being in another castle, P(AnotherCastle), we can calculate P(Princess) and subtract it from 1 to give us:

P(AnotherCastle) = P(\overline{Princess}) = 1-P(Princess)

P(Princess) is equal to the number of Princesses being in a castle in all possible paths, divided by the number of castles in all possible paths:

\displaystyle P(Princess)=\frac{\sum_{i, j} NP(A_i+B_j)}{\sum_{i, j} NC(A_i+B_j)}=\dfrac{20}{90}=\dfrac{2}{9}

(Note that \sum_{i, j} NP(A_i+B_j)=20, since each possible total path A+B results in 1 Princess being in a castle.)

So instead of  P(AnotherCastle)=\frac{7}{8}, the correct calculation is:

P(AnotherCastle)=1-\dfrac{2}{9}=\dfrac{7}{9}

Furthermore, since each path has a \frac{1}{20} probability of being taken, we can calculate the expected values for the number of times the Princess is in another castle and the number of Princesses being in a castle:

E(AnotherCastle)=\dfrac{70}{20}=3.5

E(Princess)=\dfrac{20}{20}=1

To summarize: on an average full game of Super Mario Bros., one should expect:

  • The Princess to be in another castle about 78% of the time
  • The Princess to be in another castle 3.5 times
  • The Princess to be in a castle 1 time

We here at J. Cart. Overanal. feel this probabilistic description is far superior, assuming we didn’t screw up the math. Comments or complaints about wonky symbol useage are welcome below.

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Leave a Comment » | Dr. Mario, Super Mario Bros., ex situ, philosophy | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
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Ex Situ: Dora and Caillou and the War Against America’s Kids

March 13, 2009

dora_bar

The good ol’ Blasphemin’ Cap’n, previous of How the Simpsons have Lost their Way, has hoisted up another gem from the depths of his intellect:

Dora the Explorer and Caillou are calculated subversive propaganda machines brought forth by foreign governments to undermine the sanctity and security of the United States.

While the research may be dubious and the logic may also be dubious, Cap’n raises intriguing hypotheses. Excerpt with regard to Caillou:

The storyline revolves around a, 4-year bald “big boy”, named Caillou. Caillou either whines or speaks in a baby voice. He’s rarely in trouble with his hopelessly perky and indulgent parents, who are at his constant beck and call. The family dynamic here is the exact opposite of the Mexican Dora Project. The undermining aspect of the authoritarian love is not limited to his overseeing parental units, but all adults that he encounters. An all knowing “adult” to look over his every misstep advocates the advancement of an authoritarian “Nanny State.”

And with regard to Dora the Explorer:

Also, and more genius, is the subtexual context in Dora the Explorer’s lack of parental figures that creates erosion of the American family unit. The lack of effectual parental figures, save for the once-in-a-while-product-placement crossover of her older brother Diego, creates the illusion to a younger age set that parental supervision is not only unnecessary, it in fact, dilutes fun. Any parental involvement in a child’s activity should be shunned and greeted with disdain.

This is especially worrisome in the light of the ominous and foreboding “tween Dora” which was recently announced to the horror of parents everywhere (including myself). This is surely a more insidious scheme: to transform America’s youth into a horde of quasi-self-sufficient purchase-happy fashionitas.

The War Against America’s Kids > Catena Ex Situ

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3 Comments | Caillou, Dora the Explorer, ex situ, politics | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by The Editor