Tom and Jerry Turn 80

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The battle between the bully and the upstart victim is a story that finds a following wherever a person has had their lunch money taken or been beaten up after school or mocked by mean girls.

……

Well, let me get this out of the way. I have never liked Tom & Jerry or their cartoons. The characters, two mice (Jerry and Tuffy) and one cat (Tom) are not very nice: People? Animals? Animal people?

T1

T2

And the cartoons themselves are repetitive. There is just so much you can do with a story about a mouse and a cat;  the former wanting to eat the latter and the latter wishing to maim the former.

Never-the-less, there are millions of people, all over the world, that have embraced this cartoon. I think it is because, as much as I find the act to be formulaic, it is also timeless. The battle between the bully and the upstart victim is one that finds a following wherever a person has had their lunch money taken or been beaten up after school or mocked by mean girls.

So, happy birthday Tom and Jerry. May you have 80 more years…at least.

 

3 thoughts

  1. Totally agree Richard. I never liked them even as a kid. You nailed it: the characters are not nice, they are mean-spirited. There’s no one to root for.

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