Jerky Turkey
In these final moments of Thanksgiving 2010, I thought I'd post something funny, before posting on the archbishop of Avignon who has stated that he is ready to live in a country that is majority Muslim!
A reader sent this link to Jerky Turkey, one of those loony cartoons they used to make by the dozens, back in the day... This one is from 1945. I love the scene where the turkey saws off the tree branch. The ending, however, does get a bit "grizzly".
You'll note that the cartoon is not without some social commentary. The town "cryer" is crying because he has been drafted, there are war references throughout, and even a reference to a "half-breed" Indian.
I've always found that cartoons are a bit edgy, sometimes cruel, certainly aggressive. The writers had much more latitude back then, despite censorship, and they knew how to make kids laugh and adults chuckle while unnerving them slightly.
Whatever one may think, you can't deny its zaniness. And remember - it's 65 years old!
I don't know how long it will be available. At YouTube one comment suggests that Warner Bros. might clamp down, although this is (or was) and MGM cartoon.
Labels: Cartoon, Thanksgiving
posted by tiberge @ 11:19 PM
12 comments
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12 Comments:
I've always found that cartoons are a bit edgy, sometimes cruel, certainly aggressive.
In our day, yes. Watch "Strawberry Shortcake" with a small niece or nephew now and you will find that cartoons are P.C., environmentally "aware" and gentle to the point of being sleep-inducing.
I found myself longing for the smart-alecky attitude of the Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner cartoons the last time I watched today's dull "we must be nice to everyone: cartoons with my niece.
Ironically, talk about miexed messages! We boomers watched cartoons which are cynical, nasty, and racist by today's standards and yet we roamed around and explored the world without a lot of adult supervision. Today's kids get the "Everyone is beautiful" message from TV ,and yet they are NOT free to roam around and explore because nasty pervs are hiding behind every bush.
We had the better deal - and better cartoons as well.
Diane
Please, Tiberge, before you post, read the text again ; J.P. Catrenoz is obliged to be very careful ; so, he uses his great knowledge of the language ; example : a moslem family living in France is not understood as a French moslem family.....
@ zazie
I've tried to translate what he says. It is obvious that both Father Gabriel and the archbishop (and the mayor) have to be careful about what they say. But if a man of stature such as the archbishop cannot speak frankly, who can? He sounds almost pleased about the Muslim presence - he never once calls for an end to immigration. Like so many Catholic leaders he seems happy to have new believers, even if they are Muslims.
All three of them speak like dhimmis (Father Gabriel a bit less). This is not a situation where Christian charity or minced words will do any good.
The climate in Avignon appears to be tense and explosive.
When I post the article, if there is something you find amiss, let me know, and I'll change it.
(And I don't mean to say it is any different here. The Muslim population is small but growing, and no one is stopping it.)
@ tiberge
I'm afraid I agree with your take. Zazie is of course right about His Eminence having to be careful, but it just shows one cannot expect too much from the Church and those who represent her today.
But I am certainly not willing to have a majority other than French in France. His Eminence could have taken the occasion to say that if French people don't want to end up a minority in their own country, they must have more children! This would have been both patriotic and in line with Church teachings, and without criticizing immigrants.
I suspect however, as with many others who have lived in Muslim countries, they have come back home with a bit too much affinity for that culture, at the expense of their own.
Sorry, I guess I should watch the cartoon!
When I received zazie's comment I eliminated an editorial comment in which I pointed out that his knowledge of Muslims gave him a sense of superiority over his fellow Frenchmen who live in ignorance. This is something like the Stockholm Syndrome, with the difference of course that the archbishop had not been a prisoner.
This often happens to people who travel. It happened to me years ago when I went to France and felt the USA was woefully inferior culturally to France and the rest of Europe.
But we outgrow these things. It seems to me the archbishop's first duty is to his own God and his own country.
In my comment I speculated that the archbishop had a "dream" of uniting Christianity and Islam in a new religious order that he and others like him could flourish in. However, this is too speculative on my part and unfair to the archbishop.
Geert Wilders always points out that the fear we all have of the Muslims is proof that their ideology is not compatible with our way of life.
This is one of the few MGM cartoons that, due to careless clerical work, slipped through the cracks when it came time for copyright renewal. The current corporate owners of this studio’s animated films may own *a* copy of the film, but they cannot own the rights to the film itself anymore. (this particular edition on youtube is a remastered version issued by its current owners, Warner Brothers, as the frame around the opening title credits is a modern imposition, the equivalent of a branding iron, to identify ownership.)
In the line-up at the 1:22 mark, you can see a delightful rarity: self-caricatures of many of the artists who made the cartoon! In-between the post and the cigarette sign there is director Tex Avery (heavy guy with glasses), writer Heck Allen (shorty with black mustache) (he later become a best-selling western author writing under two pen-names, Will Henry and Clay Fisher, in the 1950s and 60s), animator Michael Lah (tall blond guy, he eventually creates the cereal character Tony -- “They’re GRReat!” -- the Tiger for tv) and the angry guy looks like animator Irv Spence, one of MGM’s funniest cartoonists.
It’s fascinating to see the “Democrats/Republicans” joke at the film’s beginning, isn’t it? That divided pilgrim’s village reveals that political conflict is as traditional as Thanksgiving turkey.
Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving, Tiberge!
Charles,
I am so happy to hear from you! I noticed the three of you had not been posting as much as usual. I wasn't sure why, but it really is necessary to take a break now and then.
How can I thank you for the fascinating information you provide. Of course, you are knowledgeable about these things. Those old cartoons are much more wonderful than I knew when I was a kid. I think I have a much better appreciation of them - such cleverness, and (as I indicated in the post) there is aggressiveness, but it's coupled with farce, and with social criticism of one sort or another. The cruelty I referred is not meant to be taken too seriously. People hit each other on the head, they pull dogs' tails, they push each other off cliffs, they fall into manholes, etc... but it's hilarious, and cathartic.
Anyway, the holidays are here, and I will be spending a lot of time at YouTube and the online art museums.
BTW, recently I saw The Hole Man - another great cartoon.
Tiberge, you and your readers would probably appreciate this French-themed later cartoon by (mostly) the same team as the one in your post:
http://tinyurl.com/29u2b67
For all their fantasy, these older cartoons are so much more honest and sincere than the drivel that is made today.
You mention that there is a certain cruelty sometimes in these classics, but as Diane points out, so many of today's cartoons are arguably crueler, for teaching their young viewers such ridiculous falsehoods about what it means to live in the real world.
There is a love of creation on display in so many of these fine old films, a viewer can really feel that their creators were loving what they were doing. They are filled with a breath of "joie-de-vivre" that makes them truly "animated"... bestowed with the breath of life.
Charles,
Thanks for the link to Fifi. I'll post it soon for the holidays. I don't remember ever seeing it, but the comments indicate it's been around for a while. Do you know the year? Or is it indicated in the video and I missed it...
Europe needs to rediscover
its Christian roots
says Rabbi
"Leading rabbi says Europe risks being ‘overrun’ by Islam
ANDREW RETTMAN
EUOBSERVER / JERUSALEM – One of the luminaries of the international Jewish community, Rabbi David Rosen, has warned that Europe risks being “overrun” by Islam unless it rediscovers its Christian roots."
http://euobserver.com/9/31386
Charlie M
Proof that not all Jews are leftists and that a Jew loyal to his own faith will also defend Christian Europe.
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