Sunday, August 27, 2006

Animated Violence Is Fun!

I recently came into possession of 35 of the Itchy & Scratchy shorts, and it's been amazing. Mini vignettes chock full of blood and gore. I was watching them all in a row, when I saw one I hadn't seen before. After watching it, my roommate and I couldn't stop laughing for minutes afterwards, awestruck by the sadistic depths it reaches. Ch-check it out.



He creates a killing machine! Genius. Watching something like this made me think about what if something like this actually played during after-school variety shows. Sure, you can use the argument that Looney Tunes are pretty violent, which is true. But the blood, gore, and dismembering present in every Itchy & Scratchy would be sure to warp the mind of some weak and/or worthless kids. We live in a culture where we laugh at physical pain but shun our children's eyes when the first hint of a nipple rears its ugly head, and I think the writers were trying to convey that with Itchy & Scratchy. Their ability to take such a funny but horribly true snapshot of our society is what makes The Simpsons such a great show. Well, one of the MANY reasons.

2 comments:

3kalb said...

I've never seen that one either. Man, I love Itchy & Scratchy. I remember watching them and just absolutely rolling because they were so absurd and violent. That probably explains my obsession with SNAKES ON A PLANE!

GO SEE IT!

Greg "Danger" Klein said...

OKAY!

Yeah, I can imagine the parallel absurdities between the two. In time, dear 3kalb, in time. I just hate having to pay $10 for a movie here. But I'm sure I'll get my money's worth of death and hilarity. As for Itchy & Scratchy, I just love the light-heartedness of the horrible violence. Again, death and hilarity. Comic gold.