Believe it or not, the Greek concept of tragedy applies to animation and cartooning. By "Greek" I mean the Homeric Greeks. According to historian Warner Yaeger the Greeks thought about tragedy differently than we do. We pity tragic heroes, they admired them. The tragic hero led a deliberately unbalanced life. He devoted all his energy into becomming supremely good at one important thing. He may have been a lousy father and an indifferent husband, he may have had no table manners at all, but in his field of expertise he was unbeatable. Of course this skill came at a great price.
The Greeks believed that sooner or later the tragic hero would be brought down by his inability to cope with menace from the part of life that he neglected. They admired the kind of man who took this kind of risk. Modern people admire balance. The Greeks (before Aristotle's time) admired imbalance, though they thought only special people were suited for it.
How does this relate to cartooning? If you have skill and a special passion for it the Greeks say "Go for it! Go all the way and don't look back. " You'll definitely pay the price, but it's worth it.
38 comments:
Great philosphy, I like this :)
So true, John K. is the perfect example of that.
So true....Great philosophy.
I feel like being a little cartoon boy and sketching at my desk all day has made me a socially inept, Awkward little introvert.
Hahah!
But so what?
If you love what you do then do it!
The tragic hero led a deliberately unbalanced life. He devoted all his energy into becomming supremely good at one important thing. He may have been a lousy father and an indifferent husband, he may have had no table manners at all, but in his field of expertise he was unbeatable. Of course this skill came at a great price.
This dfinitely qualifies Tex Avery as a tragic Greek hero. One of the MANY MANY MANY reasons a movie should be made about his life.
WOW
I feel like crying. I'm good at many things, but great at nothing.
>> If you have skill and a special passion for it the Greeks say "Go for it! Go all the way and don't look back. " You'll definitely pay the price, but it's worth it<<
What price? For being passionate about cartoons?
Is this the philosopy surrounding mastering one skill instead of being good at multiple skills?
Legendary WWII editorial cartoonist Bill Mauldin once remarked that "paper and brush can kill a man", as opposed to the literally suspect slings and arrows. Indeed.
Tom Minton
Speaking of doing one thing extremely well to the detriment of all else, that would make the late COLONEL HARLAN SANDERS a prime candidate for Mel Gibson's post-incarceration directoral comeback. Colonel Sanders was the king of fried carbohydrate-coated white and dark meat, and died only to be (here's where Mel can again creatively embellish history via graphic torture, his favorite use of screen time) deep fried in his own 17 patented herbs and spices. Mel could four-wall it if the major studio distributors won't talk to him anymore and sell KFC in a personally-negotiated tie-in at the concession stands. Is capitalism great or what?
What if it turns out you're not as good at your 'thing' as you thought you were?
David Germain, you are absolutely correct - Tex would make a great tragic hero for a film. If Tex was Mozart, Hanna and Barbera were undoubtedly two halves of Solieri. But you must know that Hollywood would fuck it up beyond all recognition. I'm not ready to see Keanu Reeves as any of those three people. Let legends rest, safe from redefinition by hordes of witless corporate marketers.
The most killer of all your killer theories. How have you payed the price cartooning?
Oh I don't know, I think Jack Black could definitely play Tex
I posted about my struggle with this very subject on my Blog moments before I read your post. Incredible!
Your post forces me to look at things differently.
And that's a good thing!
– Corbett
>>Bruce Campbell plays Bob Clampett, he'd hit it out of the park<<
Holy shit, Bruce Campbell and Bob Clampett DO look exactly alike!
Yes! Awesome theory...
So what if I can't hold a 3-minute conversation to save my life? I can draw, dammit! :)
I dunno if it's worth it. The only 'reward' in animation is more work. lol
I liked the Frank Frazetta documentary where he states that he doesn't consider himself an artist.. he considers himself an athelete.
And he confesses that most of his masterpieces were done the night before the deadline.
He's an example of not making art your whole life.. to which I agree.. because if your art is going bad.. your whole life is.
I think having a life outside of art is healthy in order to have some place to escape to when things aren't so great in the art side of the fence.
Even though I disagree here.. I love your blog!!!
It is nice if once you return from a quest, at least Argos is able to wag his tail a little.
The real tragedy is that this poor schmuck had to walk around with his ever so modest manhood wagging about.Actually that would make more of jiggle than a wag. Oh TRAG-E-DYYYYYY!
That Frazetta documentary can be found bundled with the DVD Fire and Ice, a Bakshi rotoscoped sword and sorcery fantasy that may take Spartan fortitude to sit through.
But Ralph, the force of nature that he is, is all over the special features. Its like Fire Dogs 3 with Frank Frazetta as Ren.
Go for it?
Yes sir!
First Munich and now LA. And tomorrow or Wednesday lunch (or dinner, depending on his schedule) with Mr. Fitzgerald at a restaurant of his choice, me paying the bill. Eddie, i'd have a few questions - could you contact me via mail?
Many thanks!
But you must know that Hollywood would fuck it up beyond all recognition.
Aha! That may be, but it is alos true that Hollywood is NOT the only place that movies come from. For instance, France has a decnt film industry AND they all recognize and revere the artistry of Tex Avery. Possibly a French producer would be glad to create a Tex biographical pic.
Hmmmmmm, Bruce Campbell, eh? He's the guy from the Army of Darkness movies if I'm not mistaken. He might be right for the part if he could play 22 convincingly. That would be one of the main aspects to capture about Bob Clampett, that he started out very very young. He started at age 17 but was 22 when Tex came to the studio.
Off the topic, but that documentary on Frazetta was horrible. An hour or so of folks he knew sucking his ass. I know he's a great painter, you know he is, who the hell could say he isn't? My point is that I could easily watch the man paint for hours on end, but I can't take 10 seconds of that fuckin ass kissing. Same thing with R&S Lost Episodes(This is no offense to you Eddie, John is your friend and you can hang out and draw, talk and learn. I and these other bastards can not. Anyway, the point... you can begin to learn a skill(not to mention be heavily inspired) by watching someone perform said skill. Hence the cooking channel, Bob Ross, learning your new job, whatever.
Scott Adams on "Acting"
This is why the greatest of the greatest usually have other people to do stuff for them. The human brain can only hold so much stuff at once... I know mine is already crammed full of drawing theory and cartoons.
However... when I was in school I was always good at math and science as well as art. As I focus more on my art will the left side of my brain get weaker? Scary!
>> Holy shit, Bruce Campbell and Bob Clampett DO look exactly alike! <<
Yeah, he and perhaps John Turturro
are the best choices for Bob Clampett, though they might be both little bit too old to play the Clampett at his beginnings.
Jack Black could be great as Tex Avery, but what about Chuck? Sam Neill perhaps? He's got some similarity.
I like the comparison between a Greek tragic hero and an artist...although I find the parallels differently.
First, a tragedy is a tale about the downfall of a hero due to his personality. And the downfall of most of the Homeric heroes (Achilles, Agammemnon, Hector, Odysseus) was because of their own personal pride. Odysseus' disregard for the gods lead to his 'odyssey' around the Mediterranean. Agammemnon's disregard for Achilles (probably) caused the Trojan War to last for a decade. Achilles' withdrawal from the Trojan war early on (in protest to Agammemnon) caused the loss of his friend Patroclus. These heroes suffered from decisions that followed their character. Their eventual downfall was NOT because of inability in other parts of their persona. For example, Odysseus was a great warrior, brilliant strategist and a devoted husband.
However, there are definite parallels between these Greek heroes and artists. These Greek heroes were concerned with their legacy and their impact on the future. Achilles went to war knowing he would die in battle. However, Achilles saw this war as a way to leave a historical mark. Although Hector knew he was no match for Achilles, Hector still challenged Achilles to save his city.
Artists (scientists, writers) sacrifice many resources (time, money, health, personal relationships) to leave a similar positive impact on the world.
The cast of actors selected by Nicholas Baranowski (plus John a, Max Ward, David Germain & Hammerson) to portray infamous Warner cartoon directors is brilliant.
Fast Eddie: No offence taken. Sometime soon I'll try to do a whole post about toadies. It's a funny subject.
Danny: Thanks for the offer! Why not put up your question on a comments page or on your blog? You can save some money that way!
Eric: I see pride as a necessary characteristic of super-achievers. Achilles was brought down by his neglect to rein in his pride but of course he'd neglect it, only an overabundance of the quality would allow a man to be great in the first place.
Craig: Adams was right about the mumbling problem in movies!
Mike: Haw! Yeah, I see what you mean about the "tragic flaw!"
By the way, I got the author's name wrong! It's Werner Jaeger writing in "Paideia." The book isn't easy reading but it's sprinkled with interesting facts like the quote from Aristotle where he says "That city is best governed which allows the maximum opportunity for glory for its citizens." I thought about that for months!
I am in LA for a few more weeks and have just far to many and often quite vague questions on the animation industry here in town, on who does what and also a bit in the sense of which direction might be best for me to go. I wish i could be more specific but i believe a lot of what i want to know would be in response to answers so talking might be mor efficient. And as said, any restaurant of your choice, see the food as the adventure and my talk a burdon easily dealt with!
Also there's many professionals around here and i'd feel a bit exposed talking about career matters in front of people i might run over one other day.
The following are links to a blog with some of my work and a resume, feel free to have a look.
work samples
resume
other blog with random writings
sincerely,
Danny.
Mike: Haw! Yeah, I see what you mean about the "tragic flaw!"
Hey, it was cold out and he had just finished swimming in the Aegean when he posed for that statue. Don't make fun. >:P
I think the Greeks were highly intuitive and prized intuition over staid rationalizm which eventually susperseded the pre-socratics.
Now, after all that, let me say the Greek language had much to do with the power of Greek drama, and the way to understand that drama is to speak Greek. So, I suggest you learn to speak Greek.
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