Blog 6, John Lyver, Flip the Frog

With most cartoons there is always a hero or character that the audience can relate with, along with a villain like character. In the case of the Flip the Frog episode The Music Lesson, the teacher and the police officer were made to be the villains. It is not hard to figure why the animators chose a teacher and an authority figure(police officer) to be the bad guys in this cartoon. Even in Woody woodpecker I talked about last week, the police officer in the that cartoon was also made to be the bad guy. These cartoons try to relate the common idea that regular people have the same types of bad guys and villains in their lives and that they aren’t always evil geniuses or bank robbers but characters we see in everyday life.

The teacher was made to look like the villain of this toon. I however, am not pleased with the idea of the piano teacher being the bad guy/gal especially since I also teach piano, I know that many times the kids would rather goof off then work, but then I know even as an adult I too would rather have fun with my friends then practice, Flip seems to agree with me on that point.

You can easily see that piano teacher is the villain since she has the cartoon look of a villain, with the very tight bun in her hair and the tall thin scarey look of her character. You can see it in the way she moves too, especially in how she points her finger and her somewhat aggressive movements. Even the old police officer who comes to stop Flip and his friends from swimming has a very similar villain like shape to his body and head. I even thought that he was the teacher in a disguise for a about a second when I first noticed him.

On a side note, I am continually surprised at the types of silly things that animators can come up with with the invention of cartoon phsyics. Even an upright piano you would think would be a boring piece of furniture yet the animators made it bounce and move in order to add humor.

I commented on Emily Witt’s Blog at http://wittel.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/blog-post-6-disney-re-micks/#comment-31

Blog 5, Woody Woodpecker, by John Lyver

Woody Woodpecker, the first thing that comes to mind is that silly iconic laugh he has thats played at the beginning of each Woody Woodpecker cartoon. This dopey looking bird with the goofy grin and sometimes awkward teeth (depending on which version of Woody you were watching) gave this bird the look of someone who was mischievous. These cartoons were even still on regular TV in the 80s when I was a kid and watched them, yet I do not see him anymore at least not on the regular channels. These cartoons made use of the same silly humor and ‘cartoon physics’ that Disney cartoons had, yet it did not retain its popularity most likely due to the characters not being as likable as Disney’s characters.

Walter Lantz Productions seemed to have issues with characterization. Their characters although cute were not as memorable and relate-able as other cartoon characters like that of Disney’s, especially Mickey Mouse. I would much rather (and I’m sure I am not alone in this) watch a Mickey cartoon then Woody Woodpecker or Oswald the Rabbit. Mickey is so much of a nicer character and he tends to be the hero like character of his cartoons, Woody in the cartoon I posted seems funny yet his character is more out for himself and is not heroic. Sure people love funny cartoons but they also want a character they can relate too and see themselves as. Think about Goofy or Mickey Mouse, I think many people can see themselves in these two characters since they are friendly heroic, one being very level headed and one being very clumsy (which many people can relate too). Children I have noticed love to look up to characters who are the ‘good guys’ and are bold and heroic. Woody on the other hand is just out for laughs, and to poke fun at authority which I suppose some people might like (usually older individuals). Also Woody’s colors are very bright and stand in contrast to the background and some of the other characters that are not covered with bright primary colors. This major color difference might draw more attention to himself, however it doesn’t seem to blend well with his surroundings.

I commented on Myca Taylor’s Blog #5 http://mtaylo7.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/blog-post-5-because-people-with-mustaches-kill-people-bad-guys-sport-the-stache/#comment-23

Blog 4, Felix the Cat Old and New by John Lyver

I wanted to compare the Older Felix from the 1920s and the newer Felix that appeared more recently. Even though there is the obvious difference between these cartoons like the adding of color animation instead of black and white a more modern cartoon style and the newer cartoons containing talking and sound, there are still big differences in these characters. The Felix of the 20s and the Felix of today were marketed to different crowds.

In the 1920s we can see that Felix seems to be marketed to an older crowd, dealing with issues to pregnancy, suicide, prohibition of alcohol etc. While the newer Felix cartoons features a much more heroic and caring character. We can see from this cartoon that Felix seems to be interested with helping the poor with giving out gold coins made from the gold eggs of the goose who laid golden eggs. When the mean pirate character who seems to oddly resemble ‘Pete’ (a famous villain in the Mickey Mouse Disney cartoons) steals the bird Felix goes to get it back. In contrary to the helpful, joyful and peaceful Felix of the 50s and the later version of Felix many of us grew up with in the 80s and 90s, the Older Felix seemed more interested in himself, even though he sometimes helped people but in the end only to leave them somewhat jinxed. The Older Felix was also rather mischievous. Even though both of these cats seemed very fortunate in their circumstances as that they always seem to have whatever material they need to get the job done no matter the situation they found themselves in.  

The idea of having a character that is the hero seemed more common in the 1950s and for today, dealing less with adult matters and focusing more on teaching ideal morals to viewers while still retaining some humor that only adults may understand. This trend of the cartoon or Saturday morning kids show depicting a very moral and self sacrificing hero appears even in kids shows today. A trend most parents would probably rather their children be influenced by then some of the more racy cartoons of the 1920s.

I commented on Allisa Potter’s post http://apotter2.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/blog-post-4-colors-of-a-grammy/#comment-20 .

Blog 3 Popeye, John Lyver

This week after reading the chapter I wanted to watch some popeye cartoons.  Popeye the sailor man was drawn with a more humanistic approach, unlike that of Mickey Mouse and some of the other cartoons earlier and of the time which still depicted much less then human characters. This period being a time of the use of rotoscope, more and more cartoons start to take on more of a human look.  The interesting use of his strength along with the little jokes, like when he punches a fish hanging on a wall and it turns into a bunch of cans of sardines, can be seen of the type of humor this cartoon is going to be about, short quick jokes of silly cartoon violence. This cartoon still makes clever use of cartoon physics in order to include more humor. Much like that of the Mickey Mouse cartoons, which I wrote about last week. Popeye also has a tattoo of an Anchor on each arm, I know that it is fairly common for Sailors to get tattoos usually on their arms, two of my relatives that were in the Navy both of military like tattoos. Popeye which is depicting a somewhat rough Sailor is still playful and viewable for children and shows the hero like characters of those who serve in the military, also that spinach is good for you.

Even though he may be a rough weird looking fellow Popeye has an appeal to people especially children. They can idoliz his type of heroic character and strength but he is still funny and light hearted. Popeye shows his playful side has he decides to dance with Betty Boop in front of the crowd. He also defends Olive Oyl and fights his nemesis to defend her from being crushed by a train. Funny how Popeyes enemy wanted to marry Olive Oyl yet decides to tie her to the train tracks instead. After Popeye eats some spinach he then takes out the guy and destroys the train in one punch because he cannot seem to untie Olive Oyl in time, hes so strong and can destroy a train but not untie an knot of steel, go figure. Most of the Popeye cartoons also contain him eating spinach which is his food of choice which gives him a lot of strength when he does eat of it. This came from a misconception about the amount of Iron in Spinach, when they originally measured the nutritional value of spinach they misplaced the amount of Iron by one decimal point, seeming to give spinach 10 times the amount of Iron it actually had. This is why Popeye eats a whole can before the major finally of each battle.

His strength of character and his faithfulness to Olive Oyl is what shows Popeye to be a true hero, despite the fact he is also teaching kids to eat more spinach.

I posted a comment on Sarah Askri’s Blog post 3 at http://animationayshun.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/shrek-blog-3/#comment-6 .

Blog 2, John Lyver, Mickey’s Steamroller

This blog is about Mickey Mouse since we are going over Disney in chapter 2 in “Of Mice and Magic”. I think it is safe to say that Mickey is one of Walt Disney’s most successful and beloved cartoon characters. Even all through out Disney World itself they have placed hidden Mickey’s, an icon of Disney’s success. Adults and children are drawn to Mickey’s cuteness, simplicity, sometimes heroic and even playful and almost childlike behavior. People also love these cartoons because of the playful use of expression and the funny and often ingenious use of ‘cartoon physics’.

In this cartoon I noticed that( for most of the time) that the characters were smiling, which would many people would be drawn to and show that this cartoon is warm and silly and is not to be taken seriously. We can see these happy expressions in the face of the steamroller itself, when Mickey is driving it and it is pulling around Mickey’s nephews as the steamroller continues to smile, however when Mickey’s mischievous nephews or nieces take over the steamroller the steamrollers expression changes to that of anger. The steam roller had some interesting physical properties as well. Unlike real automobiles and trains that are ridged this steamroller bounced and bended along as it rode through the streets. There was also a scene when the steamroller was pulling out all the light posts that Mickey tried to tie the steamroller down to, when the the light posts were ripped out of the ground they followed the steamroller not by dragging along the ground but by bouncing up and down on their ends, this enhances the silliness of the cartoon and plays off of so called ‘cartoon physics’ . Also when the steamroller crashed into the trolley car it didn’t destroy the trolley it just destroyed the outside, revealing its inside, the steamroller also did this to a building which revealed people taking baths, obviously we wouldn’t want a steamroller destroying our house exposing ourselves in the bathroom, this adds to the humor of the cartoon. The part when the steamroller is destroying the bridge and Mickey is running on the broken pieces of the bridge as they fly through the air and when Mickey gets knocked up into the air by the blasts of the horn this shows the use of very ingenious cartoon physics that add all the more to the style and likability of the cartoon. I noticed also when one of Mickey’s nephews attacks the fire that has come out of this steamroller, the fire seems alive and when smacked with a hammer smashing into many time living fires, this is very similar to Disney’s version of ‘The Sorcerers Apprentice’ in ‘Fantasia’ when Mickey hacks the broom to death and the many brooms come to life. (Although I think the live action version of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” predates it, the cartooning style of these two cartoons is similar for the flames of ‘Mickey’s Steamroller’ vs the brooms of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”.)

On a side note I was curious, where did these little Mickey’s come from? I have not seen them in later cartoons. Are they Mickey’s children? That wouldn’t seem so since Minnie called him ‘uncle Mickey’. Also Mickey’s behavior towards Minnie also did not reflect that of behavior of husband and wife or that of a friend since he kept trying to kiss her. I suppose the invention of characters in Disney cartoons do not have to stem from a parental source.

Looking back at chapter 1 I can see a lot of the effects Disney has used that the book was speaking of, for example the use of one solid background that is on a different panel and doesn’t have to be redrawn. Also I noticed that the motions of the steamroller itself were also for the most part limited and at times were only a cycle of a few repeated frames as it was driving around occasionally breaking the cycle with a blast from its horn making it less noticeably of the repeated cycle.

I have commented on James Davis’s Blog 2 post.

Blog 1, For HIST 389 “Bugs Gets The Boid” John Lyver

For the first blog post I decided to do a Bugs Bunny cartoon.   . This cartoon depicts a rather stupid young Buzzard who is listening to his Russian(at least I think it’s Russian) accented Buzzard mother about bring home dinner. Most of these cartoons were created during the ‘Cold War’ so it is no surprise that Merry Melodies chose the Russians as the enemy in this cartoon. This cartoon seems to support some propaganda that Russians are very harsh and war hungry, but ultimately agreements between our two nations can be reached.

We may want to support the idea that the Russians are a harsh people, this is shown in the way the buzzard mother talks to her children and the large demands she makes on what they are to bring him for dinner. You can also see that these buzzards represent something greater then an animal of nature by the sounds of jets roaring as the young buzzards fly off in jet like fashion is they were taking off from an aircraft carrier.

The comedy of this cartoon however comes from the dumb buzzard that really doesn’t seem to care much for hunting but rather to simply stay with his mother, acting as if he is the runt of the litter. You can further see the character quality they choose to give this buzzard by the use of his ‘lite motif’ (a term used to describe the musical theme given to a character, originally used in Operas). The theme or ‘lite motif’ for this young dumb buzzard is a slow dopey trombone like sounding version of the song “Arkansas Traveler”. Interestingly enough the Lyrics added to this song which are taught to children usually in Boy Scouts, typically depict a person catching and bringing home to their mother a baby bumble bee, it is interesting that it used here because young buzzard out to bring home dinner to his mother.

This cartoon also depicts a scene of Bugs and the Buzzard dancing together to a swing style of music, which was popular to young people and something most people of this time would have known in the past. The use of sound and music to show and add emotion and feeling to the scene is also very well done and adds to the humor of this cartoon as well. Ultimately this cartoon almost seems to give the impressions that Russians are not to be feared although they are ready for war, but at the time could be seen either as propaganda against the Russians or as a way to support communist/capitalist relations as Bugs is able to make peace with the Buzzards in the end.

I posted comments on another students blog at http://amanda22192.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/ice-age-dawn-of-the-dinosaurs/#comment-4