Strongheart is back! That block-headed hero of Terrytoon melodramas from days of old (1934) is back rescuing the heroine from the clutches of the villain in a situation that recalls David Belasco's THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST or perhaps the Puccini opera based on it, LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST.
That's what culture was like many years ago, before things split apart some time in the 1960s. One grew up used to a particular set of cultural cues, but exposed to different registers, so that a Terrytoon might be named for a Puccini opera, with musical cues based on a Rossini opera, because this was a western melodrama and THE LONE RANGER used the William Tell Overture.... the parts of it that weren't used for Mickey Mouse cartoons.
That's what Western Civilization used to be like: a huge buffet table, where you knew what everything was, even if you never chose it. Then we decided we didn't care what everything was. We are poorer for it.
That's what culture was like many years ago, before things split apart some time in the 1960s. One grew up used to a particular set of cultural cues, but exposed to different registers, so that a Terrytoon might be named for a Puccini opera, with musical cues based on a Rossini opera, because this was a western melodrama and THE LONE RANGER used the William Tell Overture.... the parts of it that weren't used for Mickey Mouse cartoons.
That's what Western Civilization used to be like: a huge buffet table, where you knew what everything was, even if you never chose it. Then we decided we didn't care what everything was. We are poorer for it.