Dicky Moe

Tom and Jerry in "Dicky Moe" or THE STATE vs Dicky Moe

In celebration of some wicked PMS, I'm posting one of the most grotesque Tom and Jerry cartoons I could find - "Dicky Moe." Better yet, I've posted a weird visual deconstruction of it that's quite good in its own right. Kind of 'bad trip' funny.

Backstory:

Moby Dick is the classic hard-to-read novel about a hubris-infected sea captain who ultimately destroys himself by becoming one with the object of his hate/desire - Moby Dick. He's obsessed with Moby, a mysterious big white whale (sshhh! it's a projection of his own ego). He tries and tries but cannot capture or kill the whale. Instead he gets himself all wrapped-up around it with the rope of his own harpoon. The big whale dives him to-death. Glub, glub.

"Dicky Moe" is the Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by Gene Dietch. Deitch is responsible for the "Were-the-artists-on-LSD?" batch of episodes from the early 60's. If you've ever watched Tom and Jerry cartoons, these are the most frenetic, unsympathetic, gratuitously violent and hostile of all. Certainly some specific inspiration for itchy and scratchy.

Deitch animation is interesting too. Note sleep-deprived Tom's heavy black eyebrows which are arched in permanent agitation like all other characters, and the flat Picassoesque caricatures of human beings with their huge proboscuses and cat-hating sneers, primitive growls and 2 word sentences. Lots of humans hating-on the cat stuff. It's not right.

Interestingly, Jerry the mouse remains his usual cute self. Superego mouse.

What is THE STATE? Can't find much info. Agit-prop conception or industrial band. Someone can educate me. Anyway, it works. The person who did this did some other darkly funny weird crap if you feel like sniffing around YouTube awhile.