Critical and Contextual Issues - Week 4 - Metaphorical Messages in Animation

Metaphorical message can also be seen as persuasive animation. Where the animation are made to tempt people into doing things or buying things through the use of cartoons and animations. They are also used to hide messages about political issues using cartoons which are seen as childlike to hide these messages. (Propaganda, Social Stereotypes, Subversion)

Example - The Trojan Horse - It's a metaphor and is an image with a message inside of it, which is what metaphorical animations have.

We began by looking at the banned eleven

#	Title	Year	Director	Production
1.	Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land	1931	Rudolf Ising	Merrie Melodies
2.	Sunday Go to Meetin' Time	1936, 1944 (reissue)	Friz Freleng	Merrie Melodies
3.	Clean Pastures	1937	Friz Freleng	Merrie Melodies
4.	Uncle Tom's Bungalow	1937	Tex Avery	Merrie Melodies
5.	Jungle Jitters	1938	Friz Freleng	Merrie Melodies
6.	The Isle of Pingo Pongo	1938, 1944 (reissue)	Tex Avery	Merrie Melodies
7.	All This and Rabbit Stew	1941	Tex Avery	Merrie Melodies
8.	Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs	1943	Robert Clampett	Merrie Melodies
9.	Tin Pan Alley Cats	1943	Robert Clampett	Merrie Melodies
10.	Angel Puss	1944	Chuck Jones	Looney Tunes
11.	Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears	1944, 1951 (reissue)	Friz Freleng	Merrie Melodies

The "Censored Eleven" is a group of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons that were withheld from syndication by United Artists (UA) in 1968. They decided to pull these eleven cartoons from broadcast because the use of ethnic stereotypes in the cartoons were deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences.

An example of a Propaganda film is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzH1iaKVsBM the use of the hidden meaning with a cartoon character that is well know is used to persuade and affect peoples decisions and even convey a message that would be too realistic and heavy if chosen to be shown in real life film.


We then went on to look at Animations made to persuade: Public Information, Political Context and Alternative Messages. They are used to communicate across masses of the population not just one person.


Public Information Films

Public information films used ‘deadpan imagery’ in order to talk about difficult ideas in a way that would be easier to follow. Characters were used as the ‘voice’ of the government to get messages across.

An example of a company who created Public Information films is Halas and Batchelor who worked for the British Ministry of Information on Public films. They understood that everything would changed and nothing would last forever.

'New Towns' by Halas and Batchelor where designed to convey the hopes of the future people had. They showed how relocating from the Cities would benefit the country and everyone else and it worked as 29 new towns were built.

Charley in New town - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ophEYd4A-Q

Animations were not just used to relocate people they were also used for health issues.

Modern Guide to Health - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQS3112aQjk

Charley Says was a series of episode created to teach kids about the dangers of certain things that would of been too serious if not shown in a cartoon way. This shows us how persuasive animation is used for good reasons. The use of the child makes the cartoon more watchable for the audience.

Don't talk to Strangers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3FnCiRpdQ4

The next animation was used to show people what to do when there was a threat of nuclear war. 

Protect and Survive - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6677Eppc-sk

The next one is a new advert that does the same thing as the above animation, it is used to persuade people and give public information. This shows us how these animations are still relevant to use today. 

The Chokeables - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtbUB1XPW_o