Duck Amuck is a comedic deconstructive animation of Daffy Duck and a mischievous animator which turned out to be his rival, Bugs Bunny. Chuck Jones uses paradigm to tell humour in Duck Amuck by creating an episode where Bugs Bunny the animator is messing around with Daffy Duck who is easily annoyed. Behind the signature light-hearted humour, this animation has a political agenda to expose the exploitation of film actors behind the scenes of the Hollywood film industry which is evident through the deliberate change of setting and the dialogues between Daffy and the animator. For instance, Daffy is restricted from self-expression because he must get into his character, whereas the animator controls Daffy at his own will.
Meanwhile, Corn, Chickens and Government - Fresh Laid Plans is a more serious political cartoon
to deliver a propaganda message by the CIA to get support from the Americans by explaining the significance of their role. The cartoon tells a hypothetical scenario where the civilians are devastated by the problems arising from the egocentric policies made by the government. The use of metaphor is apparent in this cartoon to distinguish the different roles of the characters such that the owl represent the parliament and the chickens represents the civilians. The cartoon is concluded by a propaganda message which refers to a quote by Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool some of the people all the time and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time." In other words, CIA, acts as the 'eyes' of all of the people, to help the government unveils activities that have the potential to disrupt or those that disrupts security of the civilians.
Both cartoons use straightforward explanation to the general public so that the general public can appreciate the messages of the cartoons as people at that time are generally not well-educated because of the World War. It can be assumed that the writers are aware of the importance to get the message across to people with different educational level since they decided to use a simple dialogue, without the use of sophisticated vocabulary. Despite being simple and straightforward, Duck Amuck and Corn, Chickens and Government are not suitable for children because of the degree of complexity of their contents.
From these two examples, it can be concluded that theatrical 2D cartoon animation plays a big role in amplifying social and political issues back in 1950s because such animation has gained considerable prestige as folk entertainment in America. Such prestige grants animation power to influence the mindset of the people.
Duck Amuck (1953) Dir. Chuck Jones
Corn, Chicken and Government - Fresh Laid Plans (1950) Dir. George Gordon
to deliver a propaganda message by the CIA to get support from the Americans by explaining the significance of their role. The cartoon tells a hypothetical scenario where the civilians are devastated by the problems arising from the egocentric policies made by the government. The use of metaphor is apparent in this cartoon to distinguish the different roles of the characters such that the owl represent the parliament and the chickens represents the civilians. The cartoon is concluded by a propaganda message which refers to a quote by Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool some of the people all the time and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time." In other words, CIA, acts as the 'eyes' of all of the people, to help the government unveils activities that have the potential to disrupt or those that disrupts security of the civilians.
Both cartoons use straightforward explanation to the general public so that the general public can appreciate the messages of the cartoons as people at that time are generally not well-educated because of the World War. It can be assumed that the writers are aware of the importance to get the message across to people with different educational level since they decided to use a simple dialogue, without the use of sophisticated vocabulary. Despite being simple and straightforward, Duck Amuck and Corn, Chickens and Government are not suitable for children because of the degree of complexity of their contents.
From these two examples, it can be concluded that theatrical 2D cartoon animation plays a big role in amplifying social and political issues back in 1950s because such animation has gained considerable prestige as folk entertainment in America. Such prestige grants animation power to influence the mindset of the people.
Duck Amuck (1953) Dir. Chuck Jones
Corn, Chicken and Government - Fresh Laid Plans (1950) Dir. George Gordon
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