Lead Blog Post - Tom and Jerry

If you have not heard of Tom and Jerry, you have unfortunately missed out on a wonderful childhood experience. You should be thanking me because I am about to fill you in on this magnificent show. Tom and Jerry is a series comprised of many animated short episodes ranging from five to fifteen minutes. The show takes the well-known concept of the cat being the natural predator of the mouse and manages to entirely subvert it. Even though Tom, the cat, tends to initiate conflicts with Jerry, the mouse, Jerry invariably emerges victorious at the end of each episode. The entire plot of the show is centered around this incongruity. It is a vital component that gives the show its comedic value. What's more is that these characters have been given the intelligence and resources of humans, especially Jerry. Jerry tends to respond to Tom's aggression with pure brutality. This includes guns, cannons, dynamite, and far worse than even that. Jerry is certainly not afraid to leverage everything that he has for the sake of his defense or his revenge on Tom. The show has some other characteristics that may appear unusual at first, but are actually very typical of cartoons during this era. First, Tom and Jerry has no dialogue between the major characters, with the audio consisting of mostly music and sound effects. Another interesting trait is that most of the comedy is produced by the most over-the-top, insane occurrences. This show is living proof that violence is comedy.

One of the episodes that best encapsulates what Tom and Jerry is all about is the famous "Cat Concerto." To quickly summarize, Tom is a pianist, and the episode begins with Tom attempting to perform a piece on a piano in front of a live audience. But, unfortunately for Tom, Jerry is sleeping inside the piano and awakens to Tom's music performance. In order to spite Tom, Jerry tries to ruin his performance and a wicked battle between the two ensues. As the duo dukes it out, chaos unfolds while Tom is simultaneously attempting to maintain his quality of performance. In the end, Tom collapses, exhausted and overwhelmed by Jerry. After he collapses, Jerry comes out from the piano and bows, taking all the credit for the performance. This episode comes to show how the combination of music, comedy, and wild exaggeration create an outstanding and thoroughly entertaining pantomime. In this show, there is a clever incongruity hiding around every corner, waiting to catch every by surprise, launching them into fits of laughter. No matter what the final outcome is in each individual episode, anyone watching cannot help but wonder how one of the two will plan to retaliate after having their plans foiled. The amount of events taking place at the same time is highly stimulating to an audience of any age. Even though Tom and Jerry was mostly produced in the 1940s, at the turn of the century the show still frequently appeared on television. It is rare to see such a gem on TV that was produced the better part of a century ago and still maintains some degree of relevance today. Even some of today's modern cartoons take inspiration from Tom and Jerry, despite how today's customs and morals vastly differ from the show's time period. It is common that one sees shows nowadays with exaggerations of facial expressions and crazy stunts, and this is the kind of show it all came from. Do not hesitate to check this show out, as it is never too late to view a timeless masterpiece like this.