Retrospective 2015

Slap Happy Lion

Tex Avery
USA 1947
7 min
V'15

The things animals can do if it is up to the human mind that brings them to the screen as animated drawings. Whether it’s mice (BY WORD OF MOUSE) or lions (SLAP HAPPY LION): brought to life in their most unnatural form, they behave in ways that are all too human. And it is this that makes them perfect animals: malice, sorrow, jealousy, friendship and love reign supreme. We can control the way they move (HOW A MOSQUITO OPERATES), make them do the craziest things (WHOA, BE-GONE!) or see them from a rather disturbing angle, giving Mickey Mouse an almost diabolical grin (SHADOW CUTS). But perhaps most importantly: all of a suddenly we can – finally – understand the animals as living creatures because we don’t get to see them the way they really are.

Credits
35 mm
col
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