Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.


Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.


Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.


These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

Sextoons

Sextoons. Various directors, 1975 compilation.
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Edition screened: Included on Vinegar Syndrome DVD #130 Sex in the Comics, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

Summary: Some depictions of cartoon animals in sexually compromised situations, but nothing that suggests physical harm.

Sextoons is a portmanteau of diverse animation techniques mostly from the mid 60s through the mid 70s, many in sophisticated psychedelic styles. Most of the artwork is at least good, some are excellent and famous for their artistic quality. For anyone interested in popular visual arts of 60s and 70s, I recommend Sextoons to compliment La Planete Sauvage and Yellow Submarine. I barely even noticed the erotic content in most of these cartoons, as there were more interesting things to think about.

Sextoons includes the following animations:

Boobs a Lot (Leonard Ellis, 1968, with music by The Holy Modal Rounders), approximately 1:15.
Kicking off an animation festival with music by The Holy Modal Rounders says a lot about the cultural literacy and social disposition of the compiling editor. “Boobs a Lot” is a late HMR song. By that time the band had moved beyond teaching hippies about pre-commercial music and now was indulging in Fugs-style enlightened happiness. This animation is simply the three words of the title flashed in various colors and in time with the music, appropriately similar to some works by Harry Smith, a spiritual leader of the academic folk movement. 3/5

Armchair Invention (Gary Moore, 1975), approximately 3:50.
Truly excellent San Francisco-style artwork similar in technique to some Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb works. The style is Nostalgic Psychedelia, using images and symbols from bygone decades to narrate a story that is visually dense and imaginative. One scene appears to be inspiration for the Shooting Gallery sequence in The Residents’ Stars & Hank Forever, while other scenes are informed by the films of Jeff Keen.  5/5

Little Genitalia (Barry Brilliant and Patrick Kennedy), approximately 3:30.
A claymation story that portrays body parts as children and shows their changing relationships as they grow up. I thought I was going to hate this at first, but warmed up to it quickly. Again, I think we see “secret source material” for the Residents, this time characters that appear to have inspired the artwork for Freak Show. 4/5

A Child’s Alphabet with Casual References to DNA Replication in the Garden of Eden (Thomas Spence), approximately 7:30.
A fluid line-art composition that integrates ABCs with evolutionary images. 4/5

The Further Adventures of Super Screw!, approximately 3:30.
Not very artful or funny. This is what I assume “adult” animation is going to be: cheap animation and coarse humor. Yawn. Might as well watch Comedy Central. 1/5

Jack in the Fox (Karl Krogstad, 1972), approximately 7:20.
Fabulous!  Wow! This stop-action film combines claymation and found objects to tell a psychologically complex story of alienation and self-determination. It is a sexy, creepy fantasy evocative of Walerian Borowczyk’s animations from the mid 60s. A real knock-out.  5/5

Hearts and Arrows (Roy Fridge), approximately 1:00.
Mixed media animation. 2/5

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, approximately 5:30.
A German-language title card introduces a vintage black-and-white erotic depiction of the classic fable. Sporadic mid-70s voice-over narration about the debate over pornography neither helps nor hurts this entertaining vintage erotica. 4/5

Buried Treasure, approximately 8:30.
A famous cartoon from the silent era (c. 1924) stars Eveready Harton in typical “adult” encounters (about 7:30 runtime), followed by a 1-minute montage of very short animated sketches. 3/5

Crocus (Susan Pitt Kraning, 1971), approximately 6:30.
Paper doll-style animation that is ambitious but clunky and uninteresting. 2/5

Little Miss Muffet! (Mark Seidenberg and Mendel Markel, 1974), approximately 2:45.
Thrifty animation in the Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic style, made more uninteresting by ‘Heeeey Maaan’ pseudo-stoned voice acting. 2/5

Seed Reel #1 (Mary Beams, 1975), approximately 3:30.
This appears to be several short sketches for longer works, all in a flowing monochrome line art style. 2/5

L’ombre de la pomme (Robert Lapoujade, 1967), approximately 8:30.
An ambitious and painterly Story of Man, animated in a sophisticated neo-primitive style with a free jazz score by Jean-Louis Chautemps and Bernard Vitet. 3/5

Show Biz (Algis Makas), approximately 5:30.
A rotoscope animation similar to the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence in Yellow Submarine, this time to the tune of “I Just Want To Be with You”. Sexy and visually attractive. 4/5

Kama Sutra Rides Again (Bob Godfrey), approximately 9 minutes.
Like Buried Treasure and Armchair Invention, Kama Sutra Rides Again is a comparatively well-known cartoon. I personally was not interested in this catalog of sexual encounters told in dead-pan style by a middle aged man. 3/5

Boobs a Lot (reprise), approximately 2 minutes.

This time we get two repetitions of the song rather than one, and the video portion is a fast-paced montage of black-white nude photos. Appropriate to the Holy Modal Rounders, the effect is fun and frivolous rather than erotic, and a nice way to close the package.

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