"I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way."
Mar. 11th, 2023 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shamanicshayminGod, I fucking love Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I was too young to appreciate it as a kid, but now that I'm an adult who loves animation, it's easily one of my favorite movies.
After watching again to cope with chinchilla death, I got thoughts. Meta even.
Eddie Valiant's relationship with toons (and in extension, Roger Rabbit) can be seen as a general metaphor for how people see animation as a medium. In the past, Eddie and his brother were considered heroes in the toon world. During the Golden Age of Animation, it was a new frontier - people experimented. People were in awe. People did mind-blowing techniques with animation all the time, pushing the envelope to see how far they could go.
Then World War 2 happened and profits plummeted. Nobody could afford to experiment as much anymore. Walt Disney himself often had flops (many of which like Fantasia and Alice in Wonderland are now beloved classics. Fuck, Sleeping Beauty was so expensive at 6 million dollars that there was no way it could've made back what it cost to make it) with only films like Dumbo and Cinderella to save his studio from bankruptcy. After his passing during the creation of The Jungle Book, his company was at a loss what to do without him. To keep costs of making animation low, we eventually entered the Dark Age of Animation, where the Animation Age Ghetto originated and still persists to this day.
In WFRRverse, Eddie falls into hard times after his brother's death. His PTSD leads him to drink, he struggles to make money, and he's considered washed up by the humans. They don't take him seriously because the idea of a toon killing anyone sounds ludicrous, which only increases his resentment toward toons. Dropping a piano on someone's head sounds funny, but when it injures you and kills the person you're closest to? Then the murderer laughs in the full knowledge he'll get away with it? Yeah, not so much. That's the most frustrating thing about the Animation Age Ghetto; no matter what the medium does, no matter how many hoops it jumps through, it's never taken seriously. "It's just for kids." "Cartoons are a lesser medium and live-action is for adults." "All animation is just like Minions - it's shallow, exists only to sell toys, and appeals only to the lowest common denominator."
Meanwhile, Judge Doom and his secret toon counterpart represent the toxic side of the animation community. Just like any group struggling to get their passion recognized as a legitimate medium (ex. video games, which only recently have started being taken seriously), it has a HUGE swath of assholes that do nothing to help its reputation. Judge Doom is the stone-cold elitist that only accepts specific forms of animation as art: "CGI sucks, only hand-drawn animation matters." "2D animation is dead, only CGI sells." "Stop drawing anime and learn to draw real art, you weeb." He's the capitalistic motherfucker who only sees animation as a way to sell merch and make millions. He's the guy who says "adults don't watch animation" yet becomes Disney's CEO. If paving a freeway over Toon Town - effectively erasing history and livelihoods (Disney animators are constantly getting laid off IRL) - will make him money, you bet he's gonna do it. (Ironically enough, he also represents modern Disney's own disdain towards their animated films of the past, but that's a whole separate rant for another day)
Now for his toon side. Ugggggh, his toon side. Toon Doom stands for the sexist bigoted creeps that plague the animation community, making life hell for any women, racial minorities, and the LGBTQ community with a dream of working in animation. Creeps like John K who sexually harass women and emphatically defend the "artistic beauty" of the most racist cartoons with no regard for the people they hurt. They're willing to shoot themselves in the foot if it means animation will always be a White Straight Men's Only Club - Toon Doom doesn't care if he's committing genocide by wiping out Toon Town; it simply means he will be the only toon, which gives him endless power to do whatever he wants with nobody stopping him.
Therefore, the rest of WFRR and Eddie's arc represents hope. Roger Rabbit represents animation in general - he seems silly, frivolous, and annoying on the surface, but the more you get to know him, the more you realize he can actually be quite insightful, emotional, and empathetic. The movie even goes out of its way to specifically embrace "kiddy" and "silly" animation, that it too has its value. Sometimes, you need to see the world through a kid's eyes to see the wonder and magic of life again, or use humor to survive the hardships around you. To quote Roger Rabbit himself: "A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."
Jessica Rabbit could stand in for people's views regarding adult animation; whoever created her (the Watsonian/in-universe people who created her, not her IRL ones) to be shocking and edgy and sexy, a spectacle to be gawked and awed at and used for cheap laughs. ("lololololol a cartoon character swore, get it, cartoons are for kids yet they're swearing, lololololololol" --Every lame Adult Swim show or Family Guy/South Park/etc. knock-off ever) We assume she's like Holli Would from Cool World, a shallow selfish... product who only exists for the whims of Horny Edgelords who never left their mom's basement. But Jessica is the deepest and most developed (no pun intended) character in the movie: she struggles to fit in both toon and human worlds, not being "funny" enough for the toons, being too "cartoony" for the humans, while constantly being hounded and crept on by both that she has to carry weapons at all times. ("You don't know how hard it is being a woman looking the way I do.") In the Watsonian world, she's regarded as just a tool to be used, forced to play patty-cake with Marvin Acme as part of R.K. Maroon's blackmail scheme so Roger doesn't lose his job. In the Doylest world, she's subject to moral outrage much like irresponsible parents throw a fit over taking their children to see "Akira" or "Perfect Blue", or even designated kid's movies that dare to be dark and scary like "Watership Down" or "All Dogs Go to Heaven" - hell, Disney itself considers her a Creator's Pest because she's "too sexy." But for every Sausage Party, there's a Paprika. For every Drawn Together: The Movie, there's a Belladonna of Sadness. Jessica Rabbit is Paprika and Belladonna of Sadness, being the most caring character in the movie and doing everything she does because she loves her husband (she and Roger are pretty much Couple Goals TM) She's strong and capable, but still vulnerable and (DUNDUNDUN) human. Like how Jessica is meant to be a sex symbol but is so much more, adult animation can have sex/drugs/violence/etc. but have a message to say that can't be achieved another way, or just be plain fun much like lower-rated movies can be just plain fun.
No matter how many Judge Dooms and Toon Dooms exist in the world, no amount of Dip can wash away the impact animation as a medium has made upon the world. Like Eddie Valiant, we're going to grow and evolve, meet setbacks, then rise up again. The Disney Renaissance happened because of this movie, then Disney went through a slump, then Frozen happened and awakened another era. Animation history always had its ups and downs and close calls, and it's not going away. There are people with love and passion for animation, and they're there to keep pushing the medium forward, as we've seen with "Into the Spiderverse." There's so many modern gems out there waiting to be discovered, like "Coraline" and "The Secret of Kells." At the time I'm writing this, Youtube is going ballistic over "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" and singing its praises, because it went above and beyond what you would expect from well... a Puss in Boots movie. We're doing what ol' Walt said back in the day: "Keep moving forward." Smile, darn ya, smile.
After watching again to cope with chinchilla death, I got thoughts. Meta even.
Eddie Valiant's relationship with toons (and in extension, Roger Rabbit) can be seen as a general metaphor for how people see animation as a medium. In the past, Eddie and his brother were considered heroes in the toon world. During the Golden Age of Animation, it was a new frontier - people experimented. People were in awe. People did mind-blowing techniques with animation all the time, pushing the envelope to see how far they could go.
Then World War 2 happened and profits plummeted. Nobody could afford to experiment as much anymore. Walt Disney himself often had flops (many of which like Fantasia and Alice in Wonderland are now beloved classics. Fuck, Sleeping Beauty was so expensive at 6 million dollars that there was no way it could've made back what it cost to make it) with only films like Dumbo and Cinderella to save his studio from bankruptcy. After his passing during the creation of The Jungle Book, his company was at a loss what to do without him. To keep costs of making animation low, we eventually entered the Dark Age of Animation, where the Animation Age Ghetto originated and still persists to this day.
In WFRRverse, Eddie falls into hard times after his brother's death. His PTSD leads him to drink, he struggles to make money, and he's considered washed up by the humans. They don't take him seriously because the idea of a toon killing anyone sounds ludicrous, which only increases his resentment toward toons. Dropping a piano on someone's head sounds funny, but when it injures you and kills the person you're closest to? Then the murderer laughs in the full knowledge he'll get away with it? Yeah, not so much. That's the most frustrating thing about the Animation Age Ghetto; no matter what the medium does, no matter how many hoops it jumps through, it's never taken seriously. "It's just for kids." "Cartoons are a lesser medium and live-action is for adults." "All animation is just like Minions - it's shallow, exists only to sell toys, and appeals only to the lowest common denominator."
Meanwhile, Judge Doom and his secret toon counterpart represent the toxic side of the animation community. Just like any group struggling to get their passion recognized as a legitimate medium (ex. video games, which only recently have started being taken seriously), it has a HUGE swath of assholes that do nothing to help its reputation. Judge Doom is the stone-cold elitist that only accepts specific forms of animation as art: "CGI sucks, only hand-drawn animation matters." "2D animation is dead, only CGI sells." "Stop drawing anime and learn to draw real art, you weeb." He's the capitalistic motherfucker who only sees animation as a way to sell merch and make millions. He's the guy who says "adults don't watch animation" yet becomes Disney's CEO. If paving a freeway over Toon Town - effectively erasing history and livelihoods (Disney animators are constantly getting laid off IRL) - will make him money, you bet he's gonna do it. (Ironically enough, he also represents modern Disney's own disdain towards their animated films of the past, but that's a whole separate rant for another day)
Now for his toon side. Ugggggh, his toon side. Toon Doom stands for the sexist bigoted creeps that plague the animation community, making life hell for any women, racial minorities, and the LGBTQ community with a dream of working in animation. Creeps like John K who sexually harass women and emphatically defend the "artistic beauty" of the most racist cartoons with no regard for the people they hurt. They're willing to shoot themselves in the foot if it means animation will always be a White Straight Men's Only Club - Toon Doom doesn't care if he's committing genocide by wiping out Toon Town; it simply means he will be the only toon, which gives him endless power to do whatever he wants with nobody stopping him.
Therefore, the rest of WFRR and Eddie's arc represents hope. Roger Rabbit represents animation in general - he seems silly, frivolous, and annoying on the surface, but the more you get to know him, the more you realize he can actually be quite insightful, emotional, and empathetic. The movie even goes out of its way to specifically embrace "kiddy" and "silly" animation, that it too has its value. Sometimes, you need to see the world through a kid's eyes to see the wonder and magic of life again, or use humor to survive the hardships around you. To quote Roger Rabbit himself: "A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."
Jessica Rabbit could stand in for people's views regarding adult animation; whoever created her (the Watsonian/in-universe people who created her, not her IRL ones) to be shocking and edgy and sexy, a spectacle to be gawked and awed at and used for cheap laughs. ("lololololol a cartoon character swore, get it, cartoons are for kids yet they're swearing, lololololololol" --Every lame Adult Swim show or Family Guy/South Park/etc. knock-off ever) We assume she's like Holli Would from Cool World, a shallow selfish... product who only exists for the whims of Horny Edgelords who never left their mom's basement. But Jessica is the deepest and most developed (no pun intended) character in the movie: she struggles to fit in both toon and human worlds, not being "funny" enough for the toons, being too "cartoony" for the humans, while constantly being hounded and crept on by both that she has to carry weapons at all times. ("You don't know how hard it is being a woman looking the way I do.") In the Watsonian world, she's regarded as just a tool to be used, forced to play patty-cake with Marvin Acme as part of R.K. Maroon's blackmail scheme so Roger doesn't lose his job. In the Doylest world, she's subject to moral outrage much like irresponsible parents throw a fit over taking their children to see "Akira" or "Perfect Blue", or even designated kid's movies that dare to be dark and scary like "Watership Down" or "All Dogs Go to Heaven" - hell, Disney itself considers her a Creator's Pest because she's "too sexy." But for every Sausage Party, there's a Paprika. For every Drawn Together: The Movie, there's a Belladonna of Sadness. Jessica Rabbit is Paprika and Belladonna of Sadness, being the most caring character in the movie and doing everything she does because she loves her husband (she and Roger are pretty much Couple Goals TM) She's strong and capable, but still vulnerable and (DUNDUNDUN) human. Like how Jessica is meant to be a sex symbol but is so much more, adult animation can have sex/drugs/violence/etc. but have a message to say that can't be achieved another way, or just be plain fun much like lower-rated movies can be just plain fun.
No matter how many Judge Dooms and Toon Dooms exist in the world, no amount of Dip can wash away the impact animation as a medium has made upon the world. Like Eddie Valiant, we're going to grow and evolve, meet setbacks, then rise up again. The Disney Renaissance happened because of this movie, then Disney went through a slump, then Frozen happened and awakened another era. Animation history always had its ups and downs and close calls, and it's not going away. There are people with love and passion for animation, and they're there to keep pushing the medium forward, as we've seen with "Into the Spiderverse." There's so many modern gems out there waiting to be discovered, like "Coraline" and "The Secret of Kells." At the time I'm writing this, Youtube is going ballistic over "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" and singing its praises, because it went above and beyond what you would expect from well... a Puss in Boots movie. We're doing what ol' Walt said back in the day: "Keep moving forward." Smile, darn ya, smile.
