Along Came Fido
YOUR RATING
Photos
Storyline
Did you know
- ConnectionsFollowed by The Puppy Express (1927)
Featured review
A Metafictional Structure for a Surrealistic Effort
A real dog directs three cartoon dogs in THE SHEIK-inspired effort, while a bored and sleepy Walter Lantz -- wearing the traditional costume of a director, boots, jodhpurs and beret -- turns the camera crank in this mixed live-action/cartoon silent.
About forty years ago, when I was an English major and such things were important, I would laugh at the absurdities in this cartoon, things like a dog directing and a cartoon donkey wearing shoes. Then I would analyze it in the high-falutin' phrases of academia, pulling out terms like metafiction, surrealism and self-reference. Forty years on, confronted with this cartoon, I see its absurdities and laugh at it. Then I laugh at myself. Really, we all know what is funny: someone we dislike being kicked in the pants; absurdities; incongruities; the Rule of Three.
Then we grow up -- or think we do. We lose the ability to laugh at a joke and either worriedly point out the anti-social aspects of it -- animal cruelty in this one, perhaps. Or we decide these are symptomatic of some deeper, creative aspect of humanity and instead of absurdities we laugh at, we have surrealism. Instead of cartoons arguing with their creators, we have self-reference.
My advice: forget that stuff. This is a funny cartoon. Laugh, feel better and then go back to reality, refreshed.
About forty years ago, when I was an English major and such things were important, I would laugh at the absurdities in this cartoon, things like a dog directing and a cartoon donkey wearing shoes. Then I would analyze it in the high-falutin' phrases of academia, pulling out terms like metafiction, surrealism and self-reference. Forty years on, confronted with this cartoon, I see its absurdities and laugh at it. Then I laugh at myself. Really, we all know what is funny: someone we dislike being kicked in the pants; absurdities; incongruities; the Rule of Three.
Then we grow up -- or think we do. We lose the ability to laugh at a joke and either worriedly point out the anti-social aspects of it -- animal cruelty in this one, perhaps. Or we decide these are symptomatic of some deeper, creative aspect of humanity and instead of absurdities we laugh at, we have surrealism. Instead of cartoons arguing with their creators, we have self-reference.
My advice: forget that stuff. This is a funny cartoon. Laugh, feel better and then go back to reality, refreshed.
helpful•00
- boblipton
- Dec 7, 2012
Details
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content