January 5, 2010
I can’t really say much more about this Metaphilm article than is already expressed in the following excerpt:
In the film Fight Club, the real name of the protagonist (Ed Norton’s character) is never revealed. Many believe the reason behind this anonymity is to give “Jack” more of an everyman quality. Do not be deceived. “Jack” is really Calvin from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. It’s true. Norton portrays the grown-up version of Calvin, while Brad Pitt plays his imaginary pal, Hobbes, reincarnated as Tyler Durden.
Click below to read about the other eerie parallels between Calvin & Hobbes and Fight Club, including Susie Derkins, Moe, and G.R.O.S.S.
The Return of Hobbes
> Catena Ex Situ
Leave a Comment » | 
Calvin & Hobbes, death, knock-offery, philosophy, psych | Tagged: Fight Club | 
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Posted by The Editor
June 12, 2009
[Editor's Note: I found this Ex Situ via the indispensable The Disney Blog.]
Mr. Michial Farmer at Ladder on Wheels has written an excellent two-parter about themes of darkness and anxiety in Disney and Pixar movies (including Up). It’s practically a survey of disturbing things in Disney and Pixar movies. The first part is all about how dark the early Disney features were, and how they lost some of that darkness after (roughly) World War II:
…All of the early Disney features—for our purposes, let’s define “early” as prewar, which would allow us to work with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi—are shiny and beautifully drawn, but all of their prettiness only serves to hide the deep, existential dread at their cores.
While Mr. Farmer has a good point, I do think he neglects some of the darker imagery of The Rescuers, The Black Cauldron, The Lion King, or even Lilo & Stitch. Though the darkness in these films isn’t quite as fundamental or thematic as most of the pre-WWII examples he gives.
His second part is all about how Pixar’s stories are successful partly because they have embraced those mature themes which have been largely absent from the post-war Disney films. Here’s part of his discussion of Finding Nemo:
Finding Nemo, on the other hand, begins with a reference to and amplification of the central terror in Bambi. Here Marlin’s wife dies a terrible death just as they’re planning their life together, and the Barrucuda who eats her also goes ahead and takes out all but one of her eggs. Marlin—understandably, although the film doesn’t seem to acknowledge that!—becomes a picture of anxiety, protecting his disabled son (a nod to Dumbo, though Nemo doesn’t get the brutal mocking that his elephantine counterpart does) from the world that took his wife with little to no warning.
It’s very true that Pixar does not shy away from including more sophisticated and mature themes. It’s certainly part of the reason why Pixar movies resonate strongly with both kids and adults. Pixar also does not make the mistake (common among the filmgoing public) of mistaking “dark/edgy” for “dark/mature.” A lot of cartoon and comic fans seem to think it validates their love of the artform if disturbing stuff is haphazardly included, whether or not it actually adds anything symbolically or thematically. Pixar probably learned its lesson after that first disastrous “edgy” draft of Toy Story.
Deep in the Big Black Heart of the Sunshine State
Part 1 >Catena Ex Situ
Part 2 >Catena Ex Situ
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Leave a Comment » | A Bug's Life, Atlantis, Bambi, Bolt, Brother Bear, Cars, Chicken Little, Cinderella, Dumbo, Fantasia, Finding Nemo, Home on the Range, Lady and the Tramp, Lilo and Stitch, Meet the Robinsons, Monsters Inc., Pinocchio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Song of the South, The Black Cauldron, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Incredibles, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, The Rescuers, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Up, WALL-E, death, ex situ, morality, philosophy, villains, violence | Tagged: World War II, The Island, angst, ontological, existential dread | Permalink
Posted by The Editor
April 9, 2009
[Editor's note: This incredible, epic article has been floating around the web for about a year; it's originally from one of the memers at 4chan (though it is suspected to have actually been written by either Francis Bacon, Mary Anne Evans, or George Eliot). Recently over at deviantART, an individual known only as BellicoseBreakfast took it upon itself to edit and proof the article for improved readability and coherence, and post it on the deviantART forum. For this, we are most grateful. Rather than merely link to a forum, diaphanous and mercurial as feline affection, we have taken the liberty of reposting it below in its lengthy entirety, with a merciful page break.]
Have you ever noticed that the pacing, tone and story development of Pokemon changes after Ash is hit by lightning in the early episodes, how Ash and his world were relatively normal until after the incident?
I have a theory.
The accident with the bike put Ash into a coma. Days later he was found and was hurried to the hospital and treated with heavy medications, which is why Team Rocket became less menacing. The medication took effect and stabilized his coma dreams so that instead of being terrifying, they became idyllic, allowing him to live out his Pokemon master fantasies.
After the beginning episodes, the series is the result of Ash’s subconscious mind fulfilling his desires, as well as attempting to escape reality. Should Ash realize he’s in a coma, he would wake up, but suffer brain damage, so he must take down all of his mental barriers one by one until he can come to grips with who he is and escape his coma (since his mind will not allow him to escape until he’s come to terms with himself).
Further evidence comes from the realization that even though his journeys take him vast distances, he never travels on a bike due to having developed a phobia.
The coma and fantasy explains why he doesn’t change much physically. It also explains the worldwide socialism, as he thought up a safe system of government that would run smoothly and keep the world going, allowing his adventures to work like they do. It also explains how a child can go off on his own into a world full of dangerous and untamed animals, and why town has the same police officer and every Pokemon centre has the exact same nurse. Joy and Jenny he knew from his hometown, and they act as a safety net or anchor, allowing him to feel safe no matter where he goes. Joy and Jenny represent stability. The professors represent Ash’s ideals, which is why Gary became a professor. The fantasy also explains why every time he enters a new region, virtually no one has heard of him, despite his conquests. How could Paul, the rival of the Sinnoh area, not know of someone who has placed in at least the top 16 of all three leagues and has destroyed the Orange League and Battle Frontier?
Read the rest of this entry »
682 Comments | Pokemon, cross-dressing, death, homosexuality, villains | Tagged: 4chan, coma, Meowth, Pikachu, raging inferno of disobedience, Squirtle, Team Rocket | Permalink
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.
4 Comments | The Secret of NIMH, death, from the archives | Tagged: armageddon, hurricane, Mrs. Brisby, plot hole | Permalink
Posted by The Editor
August 30, 2008
- Another cartoon in which characters have been seen to die is Gargoyles, although I only remember it happening once onscreen. In the episode “City of Stone”, Demona has turned everyone in the city into a stone statue. She then goes on a rampage, blasting the statues apart with vicious glee. It was one of the most disturbing images I’d ever seen in supposedly children’s television.
- Contributed by Kender D.
- The image of her viciously blasting the stone humans wasn’t nearly as disturbing as the way she blasted them. She shattered many of the ones she blasted, but one in particular caught my attention. She blasted the arm off a young woman! She didn’t take the time to shatter her, she just blasted the arm off! “So, Ms. Johnson, how did you lose your arm?” “A humanoid lizard with a hatred of humanity blew it off.” When she turns back to flesh, to her only a moment has passed, yet her arm is gone, leaving a bleeding stump.
- Contributed by BlueNight
- In reply to the whole “City of Stone” death business, Greg Weisman made it pretty clear that a major wound like losing an arm in statue form, would simply mean that the person simply never transmutes back into flesh. Also, there was a significant character death at the end of “Avalon Pt. 3″: the Magus. After the fight with the Wyrd sisters, it’s pretty obvious that his little nap isn’t temporary. “Future Tense” also had a lot of fun killing off all the major characters. Broadway’s death, especially, was very well done.
- Contributed by Jing-Jen Sun
- OK, God forbid that Disney should actually make a teen-oriented show. Gargoyles was great and it handled its death sequences very well. Demona is a psycho killer. She doesn’t care about the lives of humans, so she shot some when they were statues. Big deal. Didn’t see anyone complaining that a whole clan of Gargoyles was killed in the beginning of the show. (oh, and the woman would have awaken to find she had no arms, but wouldn’t have any bleeding stumps, it would just be a stump.) Hey, stuff like that happens. Teens understand this and don’t appreciate all the sugar coating that goes on on teen-oriented shows. The Magus’s death was handled very well. It was tragic, but not pointless. And the deaths in “Future Tense” were all just a dream, made to put a little shock into Goliaths system.
- Contributed by Brooke H.
1 Comment | Gargoyles, anthropomorphica, death, from the archives, villains, violence | Tagged: bleeding stump, Goliath, humanoid lizard | Permalink
Posted by The Editor
June 14, 2008
We previously published A Freudian Analysis of Beavis and Butthead, but limiting one strictly to Freud nowadays is like limiting one strictly to gauche. That’s why Jeff Schwartz has written a psychoanalytic analysis of Beavis and Butthead, although he inexplicably does “not believe the psychoanalysis of fictional characters is useful.” The only rational explanation of this opinion is that his essay was written before the existence of The Journal of Cartoon Over-analyzations. Below, there is a representative excerpt of the essay:
The threat of castration, represented by Woman’s lack, is essential to subject formation, and Beavis is clearly outside of this system. Not only does his reflection tell him Bjork has a “schlong,” but when he and Butthead watch another video, which features a (supposedly) nude woman in a bathtub, Butthead expresses the hope that the woman will stand up, revealing her body to them. Beavis thinks that she will not, speculating that “she’s embarrassed because she has a stiffie.” Butthead attempts to explain that women cannot get erections, but the existence of humans without penises is unimaginable to Beavis.
On the Couch with Beavis and Butthead >Catena Ex Situ
3 Comments | Beavis and Butt-Head, death, ex situ, homosexuality, violence | Tagged: Cornholio, Freud, Oedipus Rex | Permalink
Posted by The Editor
May 26, 2008
We know that most of you out there in academia are currently thinking:
Traumatizing anime? Isn’t that some sort of redundant tautology?
While it’s true that for every single Kiki’s Delivery Service there are about seventeen Sister Lovecraft’s Ninja Maid Story Neko Octopus Ninja Room, one must realize that “traumatizing” is truly a relative term. Only the crème de la crème of subjectively disturbing, stomach-turning sequences have descriptions like this:
- Aforementioned naked chick proceeds to get the hell out by tearing off the head of any guard unfortunate enough to be in her way. One has his legs ripped off; another is lobotomized by a ballpoint pen. All of this is done by a pair of horrifying invisible nightmare arms sprouting from her back.
- After determining that guards’ blood is in fact a kind of magenta neon paint, Lucy finishes by beheading a clumsy secretary and using her corpse as an improvised meat-shield before going on her merry naked way.
Now what self-respecting 16-year-old male wouldn’t think that was The Awesomest Thing Ever? Answer: none. But we digress.
The 5 Most Traumatizing Anime Sequences in Recent History: A Scholar’s Guide >Catena Ex Situ
Leave a Comment » | Akira, Elfen Lied, Fullmetal Alchemist, Kiki's Delivery Service, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sailor Moon, anime, death, ex situ, villains, violence | Tagged: Sister Lovecraft's Ninja Maid Story Neko Octopus Ninja, traumatizing | Permalink
Posted by The Editor
May 24, 2008
- A discovery while viewing Underdog- It’s rather baffling to observe that Underdog, his alter-ego Shoeshine Boy, Sweet Polly Purebred, Riff Raff & Tap Tap the Chisler (an evil Underdog look-alike) are the only anthropomorphic dogs in an otherwise all-human city. And no one bats an eye over this!
-Contributed by Brendan S.
- There was one major exception to the “nobody dies” rule in G.I. Joe. I refer to, of course, the memorably haunting two-part “alternate universe” episode. A group of Joes went through a dimensional portal to a world where Cobra had taken over. This episode contained several shocking scenes (like a Cobra Commander statue replacing the Statue of Liberty), but none more so than scenes of the Joes coming across their own skeletons, or rather those of their counterparts from that dimension. In that universe, the entire Joe team had been killed, and we saw the remains to prove it. One other note: being an 80′s cartoon, that episode’s obvious underlying message was, “this is what will happen if the Commies ever take over the U.S.” A similar theme, with aliens replacing terrorists, was later taken up in Exo-Squad (easily the most disturbing “children’s” cartoon I’ve ever encountered.)
-Contributed by Christopher H.
- One thing that always bothered me was that back when Scooby‘s villains were just people in scary costumes: why did they have super strength? I mean, you would see them pick up insanely heavy objects like sofas or filing cabinets and throw them like they were pillows, or they would smash through wood or metal doors, or even walls with their bare hands. They should have been very seriously injured, but they just kept on going like it was nothing.
-Contributed by Tim M.
- The only problem I have here is the origin of Sancho Panda. I understand he’s a parody of Sancho Panza from Don Quixote but Pandas have never been found in Spain where the show takes place. Plus, I’m not too sure of this, but Coyotes aren’t exactly numerous in Spain either.
-Contributed by Dante W.
Leave a Comment » | Don Coyote, Exosquad, G.I. Joe, Mini-Analyzations, Scooby-Doo, Underdog, anthropomorphica, death | Tagged: alternate universe, Don Quixote, Sancho Panda, skeletons | Permalink
Posted by The Editor
May 9, 2008
Back in March of 2000, The Humanist magazine published an article by Lucia K. B. Hall entitled “Toy Stories for Humanists?” This interesting article presents thematic elements in both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 from a humanistic perspective. The author is convinced that each movie contains “a carefully thought-out and detailed humanist message.” Here’s an excerpt:
Seen as such an allegory, Toy Story becomes a carefully wrought description of two opposing world views: naturalism and supernaturalism. Woody and the other toys in the playroom represent the naturalistic world view. They are mechanisms–material objects that have a material source, a real-world history and origin (Mattel or Playskool or such), and no function other than to be just what they are. Woody embodies basic American Pragmatism. He’s a toy, a mechanism, a material being; he knows it and is content with it.
The article itself is hosted at The Free Library, and is linked below.
>Catena Ex Situ
Leave a Comment » | Toy Story, Toy Story 2, death, ex situ | Tagged: Buzz, humanist, pragmatism, Woody | Permalink
Posted by The Editor
April 25, 2008
Contributed by The Editor.
One of the best parts of the delightful animated movie Monster House is that it is essentially undatable. The film relies on character and situational humor rather than modern pop-culture references. A movie like Shrek, which relies heavily on pop-culture references, is pinpointed at a certain date. Twenty years from now, will people get references to Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible? However, just because a movie doesn’t rely on overt pop-culture doesn’t mean that we can’t determine when it takes place. Even without the caption at the beginning of the movie, we can tell that The Iron Giant takes place in the 1950s.
So, when does Monster House take place? I contend that the movie takes place c. 1987. I also believe that the exact date was made deliberately fuzzy, so it wouldn’t quite feel like it’s taking place at any precisely definable year.
- Technology:
- Z uses a cassette tape, not a CD.
- Skull uses a pager, not a cell phone.
- Cars: The cars in the movie are decidedly not modern. Furthermore, they look much like late 1980s car models.
- Video games:
- Thou Art Dead is graphically similar to other platform arcade games of the late 1980s (c.f. Ghosts ‘N Goblins (1985), Altered Beast (1988)).
- There is a short clip of Chowder playing a home game system, the graphics of which resemble the quasi-abstract style of some Atari 2600 or Intellivision games.
- Tone: The tone of the movie seems highly influenced/inspired by 1980s “kids in danger” movies. (c.f. Explorers (1985), The Goonies (1985), Monster Squad (1987)) Hallmarks of these types of films are:
- The kids go on an adventure without their parents. Often adults actually hinder or interrupt the adventure.
- Supernatural or sci-fi elements are common. The filmmakers were not afraid to make these elements somewhat scary, even at the risk of frightening younger members of the audience.
- The kids are in real danger of getting killed.
The staff here at The Journal of Cartoon Over-analyzations encourages intelligent readers to add examples or counterexamples of the principal thesis in the comments section.
3 Comments | Monster House, Shrek, The Iron Giant, death, violence | Tagged: 1980s, Altered Beast, Chowder, monster, Monster Squad, The Goonies | Permalink
Posted by The Editor
