I’m going to show an old
Chuck Jones cartoon to my classes on Monday.
For those too young to
remember, Chuck Jones was the guy (animator/creator/director) responsible for
the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons.
He created such iconic characters as Wile E. Coyote, Roadrunner, and
Pepe le Pew. His movie work (including Mrs.
Doubtfire) is equally impressive. In
the world of cartoons, the man was a singular genius.
The cartoon I’m showing on
Monday, though … not one of his masterpieces.
Somehow I managed to get
my hands on the old “Rikki-tikki-tavi” cartoon (now available on youtube, as
most shit is), and I video-copied it for use at school for when we read the
short story. Although the video cartoon
is reasonably accurate to the story, it’s just tough animation to watch. As a matter of fact, it’s so cheesy, I thought
it must have been made in the 1960’s.
I would be thinking
incorrectly.
1975.
Chuck died in 2002 at the
ripe old age of 89, so I cannot ask him what in the hell happened in 1975 to
send him off the literary-cartoon bandwagon making a such a horrible video as
this one. There is singing (painful) and
there is general mayhem. The video
itself is dark and humorless (for the most part) -- ALL qualities of a perfect “torture-my-students”
video.
So Monday, if you hear
groaning, mayhem, and general outbursts after 8:00 a.m., do not panic. We’re actually doing curriculum work. The legacy of Chuck Jones will live on, even
if our ear drums have to bleed to get through.
