Alternative+and+Underground+Animation

(Time Frame: 1960s- present day)

Influences: Pyschedelic Rock and Roll, //Tales from the Crypt// and other comics deemed immoral and unlawful in the 1950s, 1960s counterculture, 1950s Beatnik culture, and J.D. Sallinger Pioneers: R. Crumb, Art Spielgman (pioneered the alternative style in the underground comic scence. R. Crumb hit main stream audiences with his cover to Joplin's //Cheap Thrills// and poster //Keep on Truckin'//), and Ralph Baski Hallmarks: //Heavy Traffic, Fritz the Cat//

News Story: Before the 1970s came, Disney was the only animated studio that could produce two commercially successful animated films in a row. Ralph Bakshi, an independent animation director, matched this precedent. The alternate or independent movement had roots before Bakshi. Robert Crumb, an alternate comic artist, established the groundwork for this movement. Raised by a strict and militant father, Crumb used the comics as an outlet for his frustrations with his family and social ineptitude in his New Jersey High School. When he arrived at New York to try to make money drawing comics, he created Fritz the Cat. Fritz was Crumb’s alter ego. Fritz represented, to Crumb, everything he was not: cool, confident, and smooth with the ladies. In the early 1970s, Bakshi found copies of Crumb’s Fritz the Cat and was impressed by its satire of New York life and American culture. After negotiating extensively with Crumb, who Bakshi described as “one of the slickest hustlers he” knew when making a deal for the distribution, Warner Brothers agreed to produce the feature. Eventually, Warner Brothers pulled out of production after Bakshi refused to tone down the content for the film. Bakshi’s animated feature found Cinemation Industries to distribute the film after Warner Brothers pulled out of the production. A notable stylistic aspect of the film is the watercolor backgrounds, something that was unprecedented at the time. When //Fritz the Cat// premiered in 1972, it caused a stir of controversy after the MPAA rated the picture “X” for its sexual content and frank depiction of narcotic use. It was also controversial for the racial stereotypes it employed, depicting African Americans as crows. Cinemation Industries used the rating to advertise the film, with slogans such as “We’re not rated X for nothin’, baby!” The got generally positive ratings from critics, including //The New York Times’// Vincent Canby who commented the film was “constantly funny… something to offend just about everyone.” The film was a huge success in the box office. It grossed approximately $190 million in revenue, and the picture is to date the most successful independent animated film. Right after //Fritz the Cat//, Bakshi produced his own personal project titled Heavy Traffic. The film followed the chronicles of an underground cartoonist named Michael Corleone. When he is outside of his studio, Corleone is free to explore the limits of New York. The city was brought to life, accordingly, through the different dialects, scenes, backgrounds, and characters that inhabit New York. Although Bakshi toned down the content for the MPAA, they still gave it the “X” rating when it was released in 1973. Most theaters allowed the picture to be played, however, because of the revenue //Fritz the Cat// produced. The film was the second movie Bakshi produced that was financially a hit, a precedent set by the Disney studio that no one up until that point was able to meet. It was also a critical hit, with the //New York Times// ranking it as “one of the best films of 1973.” While Disney proved that animated movies could be enjoyed by an adult, Bakshi was the first to suggest that animation could target and cater exclusively to an adult audience. This philosophy Bakshi put forward led directly to the creation of //The Simpsons//, where Groening stated that the movie Fritz the Cat impacted his humor as a cartoonist. The advent of the Simpsons led to a boom of adult oriented cartoon sitcoms of the 1990s, with such series like //King of the Hill//, //South Park//, and //Family Guy// produced for this demographic.


 * Survey Result**: When 69 Hopewell students and staff were asked "How many animated films not made by Pixar, Dreamworks, or Disney have you seen?" the results varied. 43% said they had seen 5 or more. But at the same time 20% said they had only seen 1 and 18% have seen only 2.

Links: rss url="http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/vivinews/feed.php" link="true" number="10"

One of the effects of this period of animation was that it eventually spawned the animated sitcom //The Simpsons//, one of the most influential animated programs that geared to a mature audience. In order to appreciate cartoons as an entertainment that can be watched by an adults, an understanding of The Simpsons is necessary. This link should provide up-to-date information on the program, for viewers who may know little about this cultural institution.

By Wyatt Sarafin