But the strong feminist themes of the series are built on a foundation of political contradictions. The most fantastic element of the show is not that ponies can talk or that dragons exist; it is the illusion that an egalitarian society can be maintained among groups with massive biologically inherent gaps in ability and economic utility. By even the most cursory of sociological and economic analyses, the society in MLP: FiM should be highly stratified along class and racial lines. And there are clear signs of that stratification, except they are obscured by a propagandistic focus on the power of “friendship”.

Solidarity is Illusion: The Political Economy of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
> Catena Ex Situ

What if I told you they were preparing us for the future? What if I told you Pixar’s films will affect how we define the rights of millions, perhaps billions, in the coming century? Only by analyzing the collection as a whole can we see the subliminal concept being drilled into our collective mind. I have uncovered the skeleton key deciphering the hidden message contained within the Pixar canon. Let’s unlock it.

The Hidden Message in Pixar’s Films
> Catena Ex Situ

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

Who would have thought that Twitter would be useful for more than paradigm-shifting omnidirectional awareness of social zeitgeist? Well, since joining Twitter (by the way, I joined Twitter: @overanalyzation), in addition to fomenting unrest I have found it to be a useful tool for discovering new and exciting over-analyzations. Like this one: our first Twitter-found article, from a re-tweet  by @SaturdayMorning of a tweet originally from @SpaceMonkeyX.

Space Monkey X (the son of Space Monkey IX, inventor of the tungsten grapefruit) has written an impressively detailed over-analyzation of Yo Gabba Gabba!, placing it firmly and confidently within the Abrahamic canon. Here are some choice quotes to hopefully get you to read the whole thing:

Unlike the Golem – and more like the Muslim story of Adam, the first man, created from sand, clay, water, and dirt – once they’ve been animated by their Master, the Gabba Gang enjoys a certain level of free will to play in Gabba Land. Lance is still a presence as He watches from above, but for the most part He lets them do their own thing. However, that’s not to say that Lance never intervenes, as He did with the bird seed in the episode referenced above. In fact, He will often influence the events below by dictating when the Gabba Gang should eat, sleep, what to play with (bouncy balls, balloons, Super Martian Robot Girl comic books, etc.), how to treat one another, and even reprimands them if they misbehave. Similarly, the Bible chapter Leviticus deals with the laws that were passed down to the Jews regarding what they should eat, how they should raise their children, proper sexual practices, and other guidelines so they could remain in God’s favor. Of course the punishment for going against Lance’s wishes takes the form of a wagging finger and a disappointed demeanor, rather than fire, brimstone, or a plague of frogs…

…This leads us to the question of what roles the Gabba Gang plays in this scenario. If DJ Lance is God and Plex is Jesus/Muhammad/Moses, who are Brobee, Toodee, Foofa, and Muno? One could argue they are the four major sects of religion that worship God – Judaism, Islam, and Christianity broken into Protestant and Catholic. Muno, for example, would definitely be considered Catholic thanks to the guilt he carries in being the one who knocked down the blocks, bit his friends, and took things from others. His numerous reiterations of the song, “I’m So Sorry”, including the line, “I can fix it / I can make it better” show his obvious desire to atone for his sins against DJ Lance’s moral teachings. However, trying to equate the other Gabbas with the “personalities” (AKA stereotypes) of the other religions becomes more difficult. Perhaps the best answer, then, is that they are, as the characters’ personalities imply, children.

“Jesus wept.” – John 11:35

Yo Gabba Gospel! >Catena Ex Situ

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[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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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.)
  
• 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 .

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, is the total number of completed castles for that path, and is the total number of Princesses being in a castle for that path:

Path	World 1	World 2	World 3	NC	NP	Notes
	X	X	X	3	0
		X	X	2	0	Warp from 1-2 to 2-1
			X	1	0	Warp from 1-2 to 3-1
				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
	X	X	X	X	X	5	1
		X	X	X	X	4	1	Warp from 4-2 to 5-1
			X	X	X	3	1	Warp from 4-2 to 6-1
				X	X	2	1	Warp from 4-2 to 7-1
					X	1	1	Warp from 4-2 to 8-1

So the total number of paths possible is:

(which really is just )

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

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:

(Note that , since each possible total path results in 1 Princess being in a castle.)

So instead of  , the correct calculation is:

Furthermore, since each path has a 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:

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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• A long-running – seemingly endlessly iterated, in fact – conflict between enemies known as Tom and Jerry. Where else have we seen this?  That’s right, the First World War, in which the Brits were known collectively as “Tommy Atkins” and they called the Germans “Jerries” (well, when they weren’t calling them “Huns”).  Interesting, then, that it’s with Jerry – the historical loser – that our sympathies lie. Revisionist propaganda? Perhaps. Perhaps.
  Come to think of it, weren’t the majority of these cartoons produced during and shortly after the second World War, in which Jerry (if you will) was once again the enemy?  Posited: a subversive attempt to counteract the “all Germans are Nazis are Evil” propaganda then current – a sort of Don’t Let’s be Beastly to the Germans, without Noel Coward’s sarcasm.
  -Contributed by Jeffie
• You know, if you think about it, The Muppets were quite a sublime commentary on the human condition. None of the Muppets were good at what they wanted to be. Piggy wasn’t beautiful. Fozzie wasn’t funny. Kermit couldn’t make his show a success. The Swedish Chef could not cook, etc. They all constantly failed, yet kept trying.
  -From Scott Kurtz’s PvP, 12/10/2008
• There’s one reservation I have about [The Rescuers Down Under]. Why does the villain have to be so noticeably dark-complexioned compared to all of the other characters? Is Disney aware of the racially coded message it is sending? When I made that point to another critic, he argued that McLeach wasn’t dark-skinned – he was simply always seen in shadow. Those are shadows are cast by insensitivity to negative racial stereotyping.
  -From Roger Ebert’s Review of The Rescuers Down Under
• The Count from Sesame Street shows classic symptoms of OCD.
  -Contributed by Jim W.
• In WALL•E, the span of years listed for each of the Axiom’s previous captains is ambiguous about whether it denotes each captain’s lifespan or the number of years in which he or she was captain of the ship. It should be noted that there is no overlap in the years for each captain. This leans towards the possibility that each person’s time as captain lasted an average of 133.2 years. Regardless, whatever each captain’s span of years denotes, they just happen to total out to 666.
  From the first captain to the last one before Jeff Garlin’s character:
  143+131+140+124+128 = 666
  -Contributed by Joon K.

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I’m a big fan of the classic Disney Winnie the Pooh shorts.

Well, except for the later one where the characters started to look all Don Bluthy.

And that one they did in the 1980s with Jim Cummings instead of Sterling Holloway; the animation in that is almost unwatchably poor, and Rabbit sounds a little off.

But and the Honey Tree and and the Blustery Day are brilliantly conceived, witty, well-animated, and charming.

The latest lucrative incarnation,  My Friends Tigger & Pooh, if that is it’s real name, leaves quite a bad taste in the mouth.

• First of all: Tigger (a one-note sidekick character if there ever was one) is given top billing.
• Secondly: There’s some sort of Blue’s Clues/Scooby-Doo knock-offery nonsense about super sleuthing by super sleuthers. Despite being wholly inappropriate and out of character, I’m not even sure “sleuth” is a real word.
• Thirdly: Christopher Robin has all but been ousted in some sort of phantasmagorical coup d’état and replaced by a girl named Darby.

It’s this last point which is the rub. I imagine Disney created Darby in order to have an original, and therefore unambiguously copyrightable, work. However, this leads to philosophical quandaries, as Xen has noted:

The Hundred Acre Wood does not exist. This is self-evident to most of you, but let me clarify. Those of you familiar only with what Disney has done with the intellectual property may be unclear on the fact that Christopher goes from the real world into the imagined world of the Hundred Acre Wood in a way quite reminiscent of darling Alice into Wonderland. To reiterate, the Hundred Acre Wood is a projection of Christopher Robin’s imagination and is therefore contingent on him to exist. If he does not perceive it, it simply is not.

…

This tomboy should have her own imagined world in which to walk and work through a repressed sexual encounter or first awareness of her own mortality. The Hundred Acre Wood is personal and off-limits to persons not stuffed with cotton and psychoemotional detritus.

It’s a good point about fictional characters intruding on other fictional characters’ meta-fictional fictions. Seems kind of creepy and unfair. Xen also goes into detail about how each Hundred Acre Wood denizen symbolizes a different aspect of Christopher Robin’s personality, but I’m certainly not going to spoil any of that.

Fear and Trembing in the Hundred Acre Wood
> Catena Ex Situ

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• Has anyone else noticed how the main villains in both Aladdin and The Lion King look like Jonathan Harris, the actor who portrayed Doctor Smith on the TV show Lost in Space?
  -Contributed by Ora S.
• Popeye seems to be a curious meld of Zen and absurdist philosophies. The Zen nature of Popeye is obvious: “I am what I am and that’s all that I am.” Popeye sees himself as existing neither in contrast nor comparison to any other entity, he simply is. His relationship with Olive Oyl can be read as absurdist. In many episodes, Olive willingly leaves Popeye for Bluto (or Brutus). Popeye goes to great lengths to “rescue” her when the relationship goes bad. The memory of these rescues never impresses Olive because we know she will leave Popeye again and again need to be rescued. (“Who are we waiting for? We are waiting for Godot.” Repeat ad infinitum.)
  -Contributed by Chris B.
• In Muppet Babies, I feel there are two main reasons why Nanny was only shown from the knees down. These are:
  1. to make a running gag
  2. to make the show seem to be even more from a child’s point of view.
  -Contributed by The Editor
• Of course this is pointless, but I used to notice frequently on Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids that if they were chasing a member of their group, the ensuing crowd of pursuers would also include the one who was being chased. For instance, if Rudy had committed some offense and Fat Albert and the gang chased him across that junk yard, Rudy would also be in the crowd that was chasing him! C’mon guys, spend a half-hour and ink a new cel.
  -Contributed by Ken G.
• What is the concept of Pokemon? People capture these wild animals, and use them to battle other people who engage in this activity with a hope to have the strongest creatures and the title of “Pokemon Master.” Now let’s pretend this is real. You would go out and capture wild creatures and force them to fight each other. Now aren’t cockfights and dogfights illegal? And if animals were smart enough to do what they were told, I think most people wouldn’t want to do such a horrible things to them! When you think about it, the whole concept of Pokemon is wrong and evil. So I think.
  -Contributed by Xwonka