by Laura Lai As I continue reviewing old movies, I thought about starting a cartoon series review—mainly Oscar cartoons. After having completed the course Hollywood: History, Industry, Art, I could not think of a better idea to start the cartoon series review with anything else better than… SNAFU. Yes, that’s right! SNAFU. I only wrote the title and I am already smiling. SNAFU stands for ‘Situation Normal, All Fouled Up’ but it is also a character. It is the main protagonist of a series of twenty-six cartoons created by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Phil Eastman. It is the Warner Brothers film studio that produced this cartoon series during WWII (1943). Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) voiced SNAFU and Carl Stalling made the music. Chuck Jones, Fritz Freleng, and Frank Tashlin are among the directors of this series.
Warner Bros.’s decision was bold because Germany was invading Europe and such a decision implied the entire European film market. However, it stood bold on its ideological decision and focused on the production of anti-nazi movies such as The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and The Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939).
I particularly liked the creative writing behind the cartoon and the way they illustrated it. For example, when SNAFU sleeps and snores, the skirt of the lady in the picture above his bed is going up and down. What better way to suggest and to illustrate the intensity of his snoring? Another suggestive example shows a mouse getting out of a stuck panzer saying that it is dirty and stinky inside. In the episode ‘Spies’ (by Chuck Jones), there is an outstanding representation of the idea that the walls have ears. Sometimes there is a tech fairy that intervenes in the story and fulfills a dream of SNAFU from which he learns a moral lesson (Griples, by Fritz Freleng). And the examples on the magnificent way creative ideas were illustrated in this SNAFU cartoon series can go on and on entertaining the audience of all ages.
Enjoy it!
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