Most of the television programs and movies I watched as a child are still around. The much beloved "Bugs Bunny" cartoons have been shown to death on television, though many of them have been bowdlerized and few children realize that what they are watching is not the "real" thing. It is what some pompous, self-serving, idiot executive has determined is "appropriate" for modern audiences.
Do you think we'll ever see Bugs Bunny in lingerie again? Perhaps-- through the magic of the Internet, we may someday find a site in Russia or somewhere that panders to our baser instincts by providing us with access to the original uncensored versions of the Warner Brothers' classics in DivX;). More on Bugs...
Two short movies had an enormous impact on me as a child. I have neither seen nor heard of either of them in about 30 years. Which is really odd, you know, since I have seen most of the Warner Brother's cartoons that I loved as a child. The Three Stooges are still shown nightly. Star Trek, The Graduate, Charlie Chaplin-- all readily available. But these two movies cannot be found anywhere-- not even in the Internet (I have just recently found "Skinny and Fatty". When I finally get a copy, I'll review it.)
[Update 2018-11: This appears to be drived from an Indian Folk Tale. I forgot that the girl (or boy) found the tiger in a cage and freed it. The tiger then decided to eat the girl (I'm pretty sure the version I saw animated had a girl in that role). The girl accuses the tiger of being unjust, and it is then that they set out to get 2nd opinions on the matter.]
The first was a cartoon about a young girl who is accosted by a tiger in the jungle. This is what I remember. It's probably not very accurate, but here it goes: The tiger clearly intends to tear her to pieces and eat her up. The girl is outraged. That's not fair. You can't kill me. It would be unjust. The tiger scowls and laughs and says, "there is no justice in the jungle." The girl insists that there is. She persuades the tiger to give her one chance. If they can find some other creatures of the jungle to agree that there is justice in the jungle, then the tiger will set her free. If not-- she is the main course for the evening.
They travel to three different creatures. I think one is an elderly horse or elephant, who has worked his entire life for humans. He says there is no justice in the jungle. He works hard to earn money for his masters. When he is too old and feeble, he'll be killed and made into glue. (I'm really not sure here, so I'm embellishing from my own imagination.) The next one is a turtle or something. I can't remember. Whoever it was also made a convincing case for injustice. He or she was treated unfairly by life. Tough luck.
The last to be asked is a mouse. The mouse is not sure if there is justice or not. Somehow, he tricks the tiger into getting into a cage to prove some point, and then slams the door shut and locks it. The mouse and the girl remonstrate with the angry tiger and say, "see, there is justice in the jungle".
I remember the animation as being smooth, beautifully detailed-- like the better Disney cartoons and early Popeye. The tiger was huge, and ferocious looking. Maybe that's why you don't see it today: too scary for younger children.
So the girl proves that there is "justice in the jungle". Right?
That's not what I took from the show. The tales of woe by the two creatures who complained that there is no justice in the jungle were far more convincing and compelling than the trick ending. After all, the girl only escaped because of the cleverness of the mouse, and the luck in having a trap or cage nearby. So while the girl declares that there is justice after all, I saw, plainly, that life is fundamentally unfair and capricious. Her escape was the result of pure good luck.
Yes, it was only a cartoon, but I thought about it a lot. In fact, whenever I encounter some modern epic injustice, I think back to that show and quietly nod my head. There is no justice in the jungle. [I am still trying to locate this cartoon. I can't even find a description of any cartoon that sounds like it. It's as if it was shown once when I was a child and never, ever again, anywhere. Strange.]
The second program I vividly remember was a short film from Japan called "Skinny and Fatty". It was about a chubby little boy who was mocked and ridiculed by the other children because of his size. One class-mate, a slim, athletic boy with domestic problems of his own, came forward and befriended him.
There was a scene in gym class. All of the boys had to climb to the top of this rope or pole. When Fatty was made to try, he couldn't get more than a foot off the ground. The other boys all pointed and jeered and laughed at him. Skinny, humiliated for his friend, rushed forward and encouraged him and finally began to physically push Fatty up the pole. The other children gradually fell silent as Fatty began to actually ascend. Fatty's face is shown in close-up, straining, grunting-- then Skinny, shoving below, straining and grunting. As Fatty actually begins to go up the other boys watch with new respect. When he reaches the top, they cheer wildly, and Fatty is suddenly popular.
Shortly afterwards, Fatty and Skinny had a fight and stopped speaking to each other. I forget what they fought about, but I remember it broke my heart. Did the movie actually end with them at odds with each other? In a children's story!? That would be shocking, but that's what I think I remember. [No, it didn't. Skinny had to move away because of a change in his family circumstance, but the two agreed to write letters to each other.]
And that would explain why the powers that be-- the smug, bureaucrats and functionaries who determine what we see on television with their tofu hearts-- would never show the film again. We don't want our children to see too much reality, do we? But I'm not sure.
I remember feeling profoundly moved by the film, by compassion for both boys, and by a heightened consciousness of the cruelty we are all capable of. The film was utterly unsentimental. It didn't try to baby it's target audience-- if children, indeed, even were it's target audience. It simply and honestly presented a good story, about friendship and loss, and determination and loyalty.
Funny how you can forget details but the specific emotional response remains vivid. And I think the emotional response was valid, but I am now in the interesting position of being able to validate those feelings with a viewing of the actual film that has recently become available through the internet. [Skinny and Fatty may be available soon on DVD at http://www.nextgen-video.com]
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