March 1, 2004
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The Oscars - So Triplets of Belleville which we were both rooting for, didn’t win. Nemo is a technically brilliant movie but we found Triplets definitely more surprising and unique as an animated movie. And looks like an Australian film! – Harvie Krumpet won Best Animated Short this year. (We haven’t seen it, so can’t comment)
Third Culture Kids?
“…a term first coined by the writer Ruth Hill Useem to describe children raised abroad by expat parents. According to Dr Ruth, TCKs are four times more likely to earn bachelor’s degrees, they experience prolonged adolescence, typically have problems relating to their own ethnic groups and maintain global dimensions throughout their lives.”
The above is quoted from Momus’ very interesting blog on the correct use of treason. There’s also a definition of TCKs on the US State Dept website.
“…many TCKs experience cultural marginality in which they do not fit perfectly into any specific culture where they have lived, but on the other hand, fit comfortably on the edge or margin of any one of them. In essence, they feel at home anywhere and nowhere at the same time.”
Yeah. I think my brother and I definitely feel like TCKs. I think Eddie’s a TCK too.
ASIFA Screening on Saturday
So we finally saw two of the new ‘Ren and Stimpy’ episodes for Spike TV -”Ren Seeks Help” and “Naked Beach Frenzy”. Controversial, demented with lots of gratuitous violence and sexual references? Yes.
Funny? The audience of Spumco fans and artists were laughing their heads off so I guess the answer to that question should be YES but…
To be honest, as hard as I tried to appreciate this new ‘in your face’ level of Spumco humour, I couldn’t. I felt that something was missing from these new episodes. Something that the early episodes had, that these new ones didn’t.
I think the missing ingredient is QUIRKINESS. The old Ren and Stimpy shows were demented and quirky. You used to watch a Ren & Stimpy cartoon and love the fact that the humour could cross demographic boundaries, and change the face of Animation it did. There was an element of irony in the early episodes, that (in spite of being “kids cartoons”) made even adults sit up and take notice. The early cartoons (From rubber nipples to Boo Boo Runs Wild) were just aesthetically brilliant – a genius blend of character melodrama and hilarious animation.
These new shorts seem to be all too try-hard in their desire to shock. Like, let’s see how disgusting and disturbing we can get. As Eddie says – it’s ”frat boy” humour. Lots of bouncy tits and ass and torture and destruction gags. And Ren and Stimpy themselves have never been drawn uglier or more grotesque. There is nothing wacky, ironic or quirky about the new Ren and Stimpy. Ren, especially, has transformed into a “sleazy, demented and violent heterosexual-GUY” character. Yawn.
But hey – I guess this is Spike TV - ”America’s Network for Men”. So what does it matter what I think as I don’t fall in the target demographic.
The concept of Spike TV itself is something else I find baffling. I mean we have had to deal with AGE demographics and now GENDER. What’s the point?
That said, I enjoyed the screening and am glad I went. The early Spumco stuff I had seen many times before and still find funny and inspiring. ASIFA is doing a UPA Tribute next month same place. Pity we’ll be missing this as we’ll be in Sydney…
Eddie: Whilst I agree with Lili that the new ‘Adult Party’ Ren And Stimpy’s left me feeling indifferent, there can be no doubting the Spumco legacy and it’s importance to animation. Let’s face it, without John K., the animation landscape as we know it would be a very different. And with such a maverick, ‘don’t-give-a-shit’ approach, not all the Spumco output is gonna resonate favourably with all of the people.
Today’s screening by Spumco’s Steven Worth at the ASFIA, was another of those occasions that make me feel glad to be in LA and witness to the enthusiasm and dedication to animation in this city. The cartoons ranged from older works (Bjork video, Old Navy commercials, Weekend Pussy Hunt) to John’s dalliance with Cartoon Network (A Day In The Life Of Ranger Smith, and the brilliant, beautifully demented, BooBoo Runs Wild) to the new Ren & Stimpy episodes (Ren Seeks Help, Naked Beach Frenzy). But the real scene stealer was an animatic for a proposed series – HeHog The Atomic Pig. Hilarious and totally off-the-wall, the animatic also contained some pencil tests of the fight scenes, which were just flat-out fantastic. I don’t know who did these scenes, but it was some of the greatest, wildest, rubbery, Jim Tyer’s watchin’ over me, animation I’ve seen in ages! Damn, this would make a funny series.
So what did we learn? Nothing really. What we had confirmed, was that Spumco remains to be the most polarizing, yet totally inspired animation forces around. As I’ve said, the new Ren & Stimpy’s might not grab me, but I’m still eagerly awaiting what comes out of Spumco next…
Links
www.xochico.com - is an online store selling Mexican/lucha graphics on t-shirts, posters, bags, mugs etc. They also sell the Loteria game, which is like a Mexican version of bingo.
A mega massive list of Sixties Dance Crazes. Scroll down to the middle of this page! There are also Watusi etc. instructions from Dick Blake’s Discotheque Dances. (We have this book – it’s awesome).
Dick Blake does “The Chicken”
Comments (6)
Have to agree with your comments here re: Spumco, and add a couple of my own: 1) Kricfalusi needs to learn that implying something rather than showing it graphically is often much funnier than letting it all hang out. This, in my opinion, is the biggest reason why the old cartoons were far superior to the new crop.2) As a parent, I had no problem letting my kids watch the old R&S cartoons. The new ones, however, are a different story. They’re vile and creepy, with a horrible fratboy mentality that I find repugnant.
The reason why the original R&S was so endearing, was that it was able to push the boundaries of content AND creativity within a kiddie demographic. Let’s face it – part of R&S’s appeal, was that we couldn’t believe what we were seeing at 8.30 AM!
Spumco diehards will argue that this is a different show, for a different audience, and we shouldn’t try and connect it to what has gone before. Problem is, the old R&S was such a milestone in animation, it’s impossible to watch the new version, and forget the old show ever existed.
Ren used to be a loveable bastard. Now he’s just a bastard; a homicidal, psycotic, lecherous bastard!
Eddie
I think we’re on the same page here, Eddie. The restrictions Nickelodeon placed on Spumco for R&S’s orginal run really forced them to push the envelope in very creative and subversive ways. To me, innuendo is much funnier than seeing something portrayed in a straightforward manner, it also gives a show different layers of meaning that allow children to appreciate it without getting the more adult subtext that older viewers understand implicitly. I think that all truly great cartoons have used innuendo to good effect: Rocky and Bullwinkle, Beanie and Cecil, SpongeBob, to name but a few.And Lili, that whole “Network For Men” thing is a total crock. How can any red-blooded male tolerate watching those bureaucratic wimps on Star Trek: The Next Generation warping around the galaxy while holding team-building exercises in Picard’s ready-room? We want to see Kirk teaching alien women in aluminum-foil miniskirts how to make out!…;^)I also wanted Triplets of Bellville to win, or at least the song…I’m still humming it weeks after having seen it.
RE TCK – me too! Or “ich auch, gnadige Frau and und mein lieber Herr”.
Re Spike: Just a thought, I’ve heard it’s a bit retro as in retrograde. As a former hairy legged feminist, I was pretty aweful to be around for a few years, but not all that stuff was wrong. A reaction against the 50s I was born into.
Maybe Spike is like going back to familiar ground for guys, and making their own out again, building on what’s happened since the changes, where women have done a lot of redefining of things according to their real needs as opposed to those we were told were our needs.
Are guys now redefining it to fit their own definitions again? Hopefully it’s all leading somewhere that works in the end!
Sparx
You’re reading WAY too much into Spike TV. It isn’t worthy…
Eddie
Hey Ed
Haven’t seen it – only heard about it – via Steve Cakebread, whose Felch is now no longer appearing in Australian Surfing Life mag after a five year cult following. He’s getting good leads into the film industry now.
These posts reminded me of the grrrls cable station. Just dropped by http://www.oxygen.com which was a fabulous site a few years ago. Then I think it was bought out and changed from a great site with a broad range of material and a vibrant online community to women who looked like the record industry had the blow driers and air brushes on them. They were treating the online audience like a dim “market” as opposed to the intelligent, wicked and witty bunch of broads they were. V sad. Probably too activist and outspoken politically for some.