response blog

As a child I was absolutely obsessed  with watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. Every episode was practically the same as the one before and yet I still laughed every time Tom would step on a garden rake and hit himself in the face. This again is a product of benign violation, as the hard caused to Tom is funny, but because he is just a cartoon and is not actually receiving any really pain, it is appropriate to laugh at. I’m sure had this been a really show of a living cat and mouse my elementary school self would’ve been more terrified than amused.
Tom and Jerry was the literal interpretation of the classic cat and mouse relationship. Jerry was often quite smart and was able to escape his predator, while Tom never gave up the hunt. The show was quite incongruous in it’s occurrences, as to just how Tom and Jerry were able to get away with such antics, but also how they were able to commit them.  Many times the characters had sorts of weapons they would use on one another such as dynomite, which is something I really hope my cat is never able to ge their paws on. This whole idea of them being able to do such crazy things for commons animals was funny in itself, as I doubt anyone has seen a live mouse light a stick of dynamite. None of these occurrences could actually occur, and that’s the incongruity of them. The absurdity of the events being made normal in the cartoon is what makes it entertaining and comical. This classic idea of animals doing seemingly human thing is one used many other animated comedies, such as Looney Toons and Madagascar. Tom and Jerry was one of the first tv shows to really harness on this concept and does it like no other.

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