Adult Animation. That is exactly how I would describe Ralph Bakshi's Fritz the Cat (1972) as. Bakshi’s film is an animated exploration of the hippie/ free love movement, the race relations, and the ideological debate of the mid-1960s New York City. By using these topics as the groundwork for this film, the animators were able to dive deep into the serious issues and ideas that arose during the latter half of the decade. The most prevalent of the influences on this film was the ideology that came out of the 1960s. Bakshi and his group of animators based most of the characters’ actions around their search for absolute pleasure and happiness in their lives. This is what drives Fritz and his friends to use drugs, meets girls, and have open sex
…show more content…
The hippie subculture was the youth movement that began in the mid-1960s, which revolved around drugs and the sexual revolution. The animators of the film grew up within the hippie movement, allowing them to express what they personally saw and experienced during that time. The satirical nature of this comedy played well with the content associated with the movement, the drugs and sex. Since this is animation, the filmmakers were given more freedom to be outrageous with the presentation of the different sexual encounters and the effects of the different drugs the characters’ used. For instance, when the bathroom orgy is taken place, Fritz is floating out of the tub due to the high of the marijuana and takes refuge in the toilet when the police crash in. Also, when Fritz and Duke head to Big Bertha’s apartment, she shoves multiple joints into Fritz’s mouth, causing him to have a libido high and have sex with her. The animation of the “high” characters can be explored and expressed in a comedic way that live-action has a difficult time to …show more content…
The portrayal of the different kinds of people in a 1960s New York were based on animals. White people were dogs, cats, and horses, while black people are presented as black crows in this world of animation. The symbolism of race is best displayed in the film when Fritz and Duke are at the Black Crow’s Bar. Fritz tries to explain how he understands what the Crows have gone through and that he has a “guilt complex” due to the suffering his kind has put on the Crows. Bakshi basically demonstrates the argument that some white people use to relate to the problems that African-Americans have felt due to the past relationships between the two races. And Bakshi makes it realistic and funny by the way Duke responds to Fritz’s sympathy, saying that you have to be a crow (or black) to understand the race problem, which is what you mostly hear from some in the African-American community. But now, the representation in this film is very racist in the modern outlook. By portraying white people as multiple animals and ones that are higher up in the animal kingdom, and black people as a misley crow, Bakshi suggests that all African-Americans look-alike and that they are lower on the societal totem pole. This racism also can pertain to the modern issues of 2018, such as the tension between African-Americans and the police. This is demonstrated during the riot that Fritz starts in Harlem that results
The hippie subculture was the youth movement that began in the mid-1960s, which revolved around drugs and the sexual revolution. The animators of the film grew up within the hippie movement, allowing them to express what they personally saw and experienced during that time. The satirical nature of this comedy played well with the content associated with the movement, the drugs and sex. Since this is animation, the filmmakers were given more freedom to be outrageous with the presentation of the different sexual encounters and the effects of the different drugs the characters’ used. For instance, when the bathroom orgy is taken place, Fritz is floating out of the tub due to the high of the marijuana and takes refuge in the toilet when the police crash in. Also, when Fritz and Duke head to Big Bertha’s apartment, she shoves multiple joints into Fritz’s mouth, causing him to have a libido high and have sex with her. The animation of the “high” characters can be explored and expressed in a comedic way that live-action has a difficult time to …show more content…
The portrayal of the different kinds of people in a 1960s New York were based on animals. White people were dogs, cats, and horses, while black people are presented as black crows in this world of animation. The symbolism of race is best displayed in the film when Fritz and Duke are at the Black Crow’s Bar. Fritz tries to explain how he understands what the Crows have gone through and that he has a “guilt complex” due to the suffering his kind has put on the Crows. Bakshi basically demonstrates the argument that some white people use to relate to the problems that African-Americans have felt due to the past relationships between the two races. And Bakshi makes it realistic and funny by the way Duke responds to Fritz’s sympathy, saying that you have to be a crow (or black) to understand the race problem, which is what you mostly hear from some in the African-American community. But now, the representation in this film is very racist in the modern outlook. By portraying white people as multiple animals and ones that are higher up in the animal kingdom, and black people as a misley crow, Bakshi suggests that all African-Americans look-alike and that they are lower on the societal totem pole. This racism also can pertain to the modern issues of 2018, such as the tension between African-Americans and the police. This is demonstrated during the riot that Fritz starts in Harlem that results