Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Political Animation

This animated attack ad had me doubled up laughing. (It doesn't take much at 8:30 in the morning ...)

Animation in politics is hardly new. One of the more famous is "Hell Bent For Election," produced in 1944 on behalf of President Franklin Roosevelt by various horrid Hollywood lefties.

It was directed by Chuck Jones and was the start of what became UPA (and then called Industrial Films). Steve Bosustow was the executive producer.

Animated Pelosis and Obamas, animated locomotives with FDR's face. We've kind of come full circle, haven't we?

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Um... O.K....

Anonymous said...

Humor only works when it is derived from the truth. Epic fail. Nice designs, though.

Anonymous said...

I totally don't agree with the message, but I find it interesting that all of a sudden the "unwritten rule" of political campaigning of abstaining from using animation has recently been tossed out the window, especially here in California.

Anonymous said...

Yes, that's right; Pelosi, Reid and Obama are in a conspiracy to defy the "will" of the "American People."

The far right is so confident that they have sold their paranoid fantasy narrative to the American public that they are smug enough to joke about it. More and more we see Republican candidates falling all over themselves staking their claim to being the most conservative candidate in every election. The more they do it, the more they paint themselves into a political corner. They are in for a big surprise in November.

On the other hand, the ad was funny, well done, and some animators got work.

It's interesting that even a candidate as secure and popular as Roosevelt was not above absurd ad hominem manipulative characterizations. Was any political candidate really "defeatist?"

Steve Hulett said...

"Hell Bent" was a pro-Roosevelt cartoon.

I just thought the fifty-foot Pelosi thing was a hoot in presentation, design, and overall absurdity.

Made me laugh, anyway.

Floyd Norman said...

Now all we need is a fifty foot Glen Beck.

Anonymous said...

Finally, a political cartoon that "gets it".

It's almost as funny as what's happening in socialist Greece.

Or what's going to happen to the Democrats in November.

Heh.

Anonymous said...

That is a really well done commercial for an election. who animated it?

John Locke said...

"They are in for a big surprise in November."

Man, I would pay money to see your face come the morning after in November.

What'll be your excuse when you're wrong?

Terribly, terribly wrong.

Anonymous said...

Or what's going to happen to the Democrats in November.

Sore loser.

Anonymous said...

There's a whole slew of these things at the website listed at the end.

Anonymous said...

Wow---those wingnuts are PARANOID!

At least she didn't get drunk, drive, runs through a stop sign, and crash killing her boyfriend. Or lie to get us into a few trillion dollar war with no end. Or cause the largest financial debacle in U.S. History. republikkkans want everything, but just don't want to pay for it. For shame.

No, we don't miss the bush family.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Steve,

I didn't lose my sense of humor, but I don't find it a "hoot." If the ad had been made by the left or SNL or Colbert MOCKING the overblown paranoid right wing narrative, it would be funny, but coming from the Right, it feels like gloating, (heath care=an evil plot???). It's a little like hearing a Nazi tell a Jewish joke.

Anonymous said...

**Or cause the largest financial debacle in U.S. History**

That reminds me, Right Change needs to make a cartoon about Barney Frank.

*Sore loser*.

Not for long.

Anonymous said...

Barney Frank, Barney Frank, Barney Frank, ...yadda, yadda, yadda, like a broken record.

I suppose it was Barney Frank who put together all those junk derivatives that sucked all the capital out of our economy then made a profit betting on their failure.

Steve Hulett said...

Sorry Steve,

I didn't lose my sense of humor, but I don't find it a "hoot."


Then we differ.

Because I found it deaf to reality and funny. I also thought Obama (and Reid) creating Pelosi is a bizarre idea, considering Ms. Pelosi was Speaker of the House before Obama was President.

But facts don't have much place in today's politics.

Anonymous said...

Yes, let's all go to the polls and stuff Congress full of Republicans who will save America from being destroyed by the evil Obama and the monster Pelosi.

If you think the American public is sophisticated enough to see the absurdity in this ad, you haven't been paying very close attention.

The swift boat kings with, apparently, endless resources have been slinging this kind of shit at the public with both hands ever since Obama took office and they have been buying it hook, line and sinker, in the face of all facts, evidence, history and reality.

Production values aside, the very fact that the Republicans chose to run a message like this without embarrassment validates their certainty that the general public bought the narrative.

Be afraid. Be very afraid-of the real monsters; the ones who paid for this clever, witty bit of not-so-innocuous amusement.

Anonymous said...

Whether you're an obama worshiper or counting the days to vote, the commercial is quality where typically these ads are unoriginal and never get anyone talking about them. I would have to say its a successful ad.

Anonymous said...

Successful? Absolutely! that's the point; the right has been astonishingly successful at selling it's message. This ad, in a way, is proof.

My point was only that the self-congratulatory tone of it kept me from appreciating the humor. Go ahead, laugh. Now think: What are you laughing at? These aren't fictitious characters, they're representations of real people. The purpose of the ad isn't entertainment, per se. There is a disturbing subliminal message: "Gothcha!"

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this Steve! 50 foot Pelosi was hilarious.

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