feelings on some animated films regarded as classics and…
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feelings on some animated films regarded as classics and pioneers in the animation community. Ralphs work has been consistently praised from what I've seen in these communities, so I thought I'd give the three I've seen an honest viewing.
Fritz The Cat: I've actually seen this film when I was in high school getting into animation deeply. I was at that age that I could watch Adult Swim later in the night and wanted to watch more shows that had an unorthodox way of communicating jokes or humor. I was directed to this film as being the essential godfather of adult animation. I loved it at first, without knowing its original source material.
Having read some of Robert Crumbs original comics, and rewatching the film, I still think I enjoy it? It's definitely weird to watch it now especially knowing its troubled production and how much it actually seems to deviate from the original material. To me, this film is kind of “Fritz in a nutshell” movie. The original comics did tackle a lot of similar themes in the movie. Things like religion, hippie culture, US affairs, sex, all those things. However, it lacked Crumbs intrusive thoughts, or the wild variety he put the characters through. Some of the dialogue in the original seemed to be written from a place of his experiences not only within the political environment, but his own social environment and the relationships he had. The Fritz movie seems to highly water this down, and make the protagonist more of an anti hero trope stringed along vignettes about contemporary events... And sex. The main thing they kept of Fritz consistently was him being a poser. But that's kinda a bare minimum with knowing the comics.
In spite of this, I still think the movie was a trailblazer, albeit maybe not a perfect representation of the titular character. I don't see it as this totemic movie untouched by critcism, but more of a movie that in spite of its flaws, was still a huge win for adult animation being pushed into the mainstream.
Heavy Traffic: This is probably my favorite so far. The vignette style of writing I think benefits the more metaphorical presentation of the film. Not only that, but I'm too also an adult cartoonist who hasn't even had a first kiss yet. Seeing Michaels struggle to get with a woman, only to crush on a girl out of his league is the strongest aspect of the film. I find the racial dynamic between Micheal and Carole to be very engaging, and makes me honestly think how privileged I am to even be hanging out with my co worker who is a black woman without animosity. Seeing how people treated a white man with a black woman as sacrilege if anyone even remotely thought you two were dating. I constantly think if I was doing this in the 70s when the movie came out, I would've gotten some really bad looks from a variety of people. I know this is still an issue in some parts of the US, but I think the movie does a good job documenting how much higher tension was back then. I see a lot of things in this movie that I really like. It resonates in a way I'm shocked an old movie could.
Coonskin: This movie follows up on the racial tensions of Heavy Traffic. The themes here more so focus on black revolution, and revolutionist sentiment that was held back then and even now. Power dynamics play a huge role in this film, and bad actors who only want to capitalize off of the resistance. Unfortunately, this aspect that I believe is its best is slowly chipped away as it reaches the second half of the film. The most compelling aspect of the movie is set aside for the last half to focus more on the characters plot to defeat the Mafia through events that don't enhance the racial themes of the movie, and is there to just move the plot forward. I still believe as of now that it is better than Fritz just for the more cohesive narrative in spite of my complaints. It feels like a proper movie to me.
Anyways, those are my thoughts as of now.
I'll continue to watch the rest soon when I get more free time.
#movies #video
source The Miracles
#religion
Fritz The Cat: I've actually seen this film when I was in high school getting into animation deeply. I was at that age that I could watch Adult Swim later in the night and wanted to watch more shows that had an unorthodox way of communicating jokes or humor. I was directed to this film as being the essential godfather of adult animation. I loved it at first, without knowing its original source material.
Having read some of Robert Crumbs original comics, and rewatching the film, I still think I enjoy it? It's definitely weird to watch it now especially knowing its troubled production and how much it actually seems to deviate from the original material. To me, this film is kind of “Fritz in a nutshell” movie. The original comics did tackle a lot of similar themes in the movie. Things like religion, hippie culture, US affairs, sex, all those things. However, it lacked Crumbs intrusive thoughts, or the wild variety he put the characters through. Some of the dialogue in the original seemed to be written from a place of his experiences not only within the political environment, but his own social environment and the relationships he had. The Fritz movie seems to highly water this down, and make the protagonist more of an anti hero trope stringed along vignettes about contemporary events... And sex. The main thing they kept of Fritz consistently was him being a poser. But that's kinda a bare minimum with knowing the comics.
In spite of this, I still think the movie was a trailblazer, albeit maybe not a perfect representation of the titular character. I don't see it as this totemic movie untouched by critcism, but more of a movie that in spite of its flaws, was still a huge win for adult animation being pushed into the mainstream.
Heavy Traffic: This is probably my favorite so far. The vignette style of writing I think benefits the more metaphorical presentation of the film. Not only that, but I'm too also an adult cartoonist who hasn't even had a first kiss yet. Seeing Michaels struggle to get with a woman, only to crush on a girl out of his league is the strongest aspect of the film. I find the racial dynamic between Micheal and Carole to be very engaging, and makes me honestly think how privileged I am to even be hanging out with my co worker who is a black woman without animosity. Seeing how people treated a white man with a black woman as sacrilege if anyone even remotely thought you two were dating. I constantly think if I was doing this in the 70s when the movie came out, I would've gotten some really bad looks from a variety of people. I know this is still an issue in some parts of the US, but I think the movie does a good job documenting how much higher tension was back then. I see a lot of things in this movie that I really like. It resonates in a way I'm shocked an old movie could.
Coonskin: This movie follows up on the racial tensions of Heavy Traffic. The themes here more so focus on black revolution, and revolutionist sentiment that was held back then and even now. Power dynamics play a huge role in this film, and bad actors who only want to capitalize off of the resistance. Unfortunately, this aspect that I believe is its best is slowly chipped away as it reaches the second half of the film. The most compelling aspect of the movie is set aside for the last half to focus more on the characters plot to defeat the Mafia through events that don't enhance the racial themes of the movie, and is there to just move the plot forward. I still believe as of now that it is better than Fritz just for the more cohesive narrative in spite of my complaints. It feels like a proper movie to me.
Anyways, those are my thoughts as of now.
I'll continue to watch the rest soon when I get more free time.
#movies #video
source The Miracles
#religion
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