Archive for the ‘politics’ Category
October 13, 2008
Lucas E. sent in this Ex Situ for us to share to the world. I couldn’t significantly improve on his missive, so I’ve just reproduced it below:
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned this on your site yet. But, it seems quite obvious to me. Chicken Run is basically Communist propaganda.
A decent analysis of it is contained here: [>Catena Ex Situ]
The problem isn’t that Mrs. Tweedy is looking to kill the chickens. The problem is she’s trying to increase profits.
The hope of the chickens is not to bargain for better wages, better working conditions, and more time off. Rather, the hope is a worker’s paradise on the hills outside the chicken farm, where chickens can roam free in a world of abundance.
Interesting, no?
Tags:Communism, Communist propaganda, Aardman, worker's paradise
Posted in Chicken Run, politics, villains | No Comments »
October 6, 2008
Here’s the first in the previously-alluded-to series of videogame over-analyzations. For those purists out there: fret not. We don’t plan on doing these all that often. Our primary focus is and will always be Cartoon Over-Analyzations.
Unfortunately, the closest any of the staff has gotten to playing BioShock is: about five years ago, one of us got half-way through System Shock 2. Accursed monkeys! Along with rave reviews, BioShock attracted a flurry of discussion pertaining to Objectivist elements subtly and not-so-subtly within. Busy game site Kotaku presented an excellent article in early 2008 which discussed the pertinent themes primarily through interviews with the president of the Ayn Rand Institute, Yaron Brook, and the game’s designer, Ken Levine.
“It seems to me that [Levine has] misrepresented what Ayn Rand believes and her ideals beyond objectivism,” [Brook] said. “He’s setting it up to fail. He believes, based on what I’ve read, that any system that is absolutist is ultimately going to lead to disastrous effect. Any system of black and white, any system of ultimate morality. In many cases that true. But I think what lessens the game is that misinterpretation of objectivism.”
Et cetera. Would you kindly check it out.
No Gods or Kings: Objectivism in BioShock >Catena Ex Situ
Tags:would you kindly, objectivism, Andrew Ryan, Ayn Rand
Posted in BioShock, System Shock 2, ex situ, politics | No Comments »
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
Tags:Celesteville, imperialist propaganda, Matisse
Posted in Babar, anthropomorphica, ex situ, politics, racism, villains, violence | No Comments »
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:
- It promotes liberal fascism!
- It’s prejudiced against fat people!
- It’s hypocritical!
- 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
Tags:onion, liberal, fascism
Posted in WALL-E, ex situ, politics, stereotypes | 1 Comment »
May 13, 2008
- Here’s a theory you might have missed behind “Casper the Friendly Ghost”. It goes that Casper is symbolism of homosexuality and the struggle for gays in society. Casper is a boy ghost or male who constantly seeks the company of other boys or other males. The boys seem to think Casper is a nice fellow and find nothing wrong with his company. After a short while of cute playing, the friendship is ruined when grown ups, who represent the more “traditional” views of society, intervene. More than frowning on such relationships, they fear it terribly and steal the innocent boy and run away from poor Casper, who is left to seek out the next relationship.
-Contributed by Dave R.
- In Tex Avery’s “King Size Canary,” a cat and canary compete by “growing” larger with the use a vitamin serum; the bigger one has the edge on the other. It goes back and forth with no resolution other than running out of serum as they stand on a basketball sized earth. This is all a metaphor for the US vs. USSR nuclear arms race!
-Contributed by Dave R.
- There has been a great deal of speculation regarding the fact that Smurfette is the only female Smurf in the entire village. People automatically assume that Smurfette is responsible for the propagation of the entire Smurf population. This is an erroneous assumption, because this theory postulates that Smurfs reproduce sexually. I offer forth the idea that Smurfs reproduce asexually, much like amoebas. I believe that when a Smurf takes off his little white hat, the hat grows a new Smurf, and the old Smurf grows a new hat. In the case of Smurfette, well, there is at least one obviously homosexual Smurf in the village (that being Vanity), so why not two? I submit the idea that Smurfette is simply a cross-dressing male Smurf, and there are no real females in the village. No real female acts that over-the-top feminine. I have converted many unbelievers to this theory, based on the simple logic that it puts forth.
-Contributed by Natalie.
- For me, the show that brought the whole anthropomorphic vs. realistic animals debate home for me was none other than The Get Along Gang. It struck me as weird to begin with; you stick a moose on his hind legs and he looses something fundamental about being a moose. And Montgomery has antlers, which brings up the issue of whether they could be considered a weapon in his society. But the episode that sealed it was the one in which the Gang ends up in a snowy town where they must search for an escaped elephant. A non-anthropomorphic elephant. From the zoo! I always thought that if you’re going to create a world of humanoid animals, you might as well go all out and populate your zoo with humans.
-Contributed by Farnie6.
Tags:cold war, asexual reproduction
Posted in Casper, Mini-Analyzations, Smurfs, Tex Avery, The Get Along Gang, anthropomorphica, cross-dressing, gender, homosexuality, politics, stereotypes, the female gender, the male gender | 5 Comments »
February 22, 2008
There’s no shortage of “Communist Smurf” articles on the grid nowadays. Later, I’ll do an Ex Situ roundup of some of the best ones.
Contributed by Erika K.
As I was browsing through your page on the over-analyzation of cartoons I was surprised not to see something that seems so obvious to me: those lovable blue minis the Smurfs are a bunch of Communists. It’s kind of funny that in the final years of the cold war a cartoon that so blatantly stressed the Communist Manifesto would be so popular in the old U.S. of A. To prove my point, I cite:
- They live in a communal village and are discouraged to leave the village without the company of their fellow Smurfs.
- Every Smurf has his own specific job and does not deviate from that job. The job even becomes part of their personality and their name (Brainy Smurf, Handy Smurf, etc.)
- If ever a Smurf decides to strike out on his own he is cast into danger in some way of another and it is up to the collective to save him.
- And finally, Papa Smurf looks an awful lot like Karl Marx. Plus, he wears all that red.
The Smurfs are Communists, and their nemesis Gargamel is the personification of Capitalism: out for himself and profit trying to destroy the peaceful commune of Smurfs.
Posted in Smurfs, from the archives, politics | No Comments »
February 20, 2008
Contributed by “TOPAZ1A”
American animation, the Red Scare has played a role in the portrayal of certain characters. The most well known of these are ‘Boris and Natasha’ from Rocky and Bullwinkle. This show aired in the 1960’s, during the height of the Cold War with Russia. Not surprisingly, the two evil characters were formed out of anti-Russian stereotypes. Another example of American skepticism toward Russia is in an episode of Beast Wars. There is a guest appearance in this episode by a transformer from the original 1980’s series named ‘Ravage’. At the beginning of the episode, he helps the Maximals to capture the leader of the evil Predicons named ‘Megatron’. When Megatron offers him more power in exchange for turning against the Maximals, though, Ravage does so. This may seem harmless, except for the fact that though all of the characters in Beast Wars speak with American accents, Ravage speaks with a Russian one. Though Russia fought along side of America against Germany in World War II, after the battles were over, Russia and America emerged as the two superpowers least devastated by the fighting. When that happened Russia seized its opportunity for more power and began to take over what was left of Europe. In an identical manner, Ravage, representing Russia, helped Optimus Primal, representing America, defeat Megatron, who represents Germany. Once Germany/Megatron was defeated, though, Russia/Ravage seized its/his opportunity for power and turned against America/Optimus. This was aired in 1994, well after the fall of Communism in Russia, proving that America still preaches anti-Russian attitudes to its youth in subtle ways.
Posted in Beast Wars, Rocky & Bullwinkle, from the archives, politics | 1 Comment »
