Sunday, 4 September 2011

The Easiest Way To Draw A Close To Your Next Retreat

By Jeff De Cleff


I love comics and cartoons. I mean, who in their right mind doesn't.

They represent an epoch of innocence that only lasts about 10 years where each and every story kicks off with 'Once upon a time ' and concludes with 'happily ever after. '

The End.

Or is it?

I have fond memories of awaking early before middle school simply to stare in front of the TV and watch Tom & Jerry run around chasing one another.

Or hilarious characters in the vein of Dick Dastardly and his fighter pilot hound Muttley, with that cheeky bark-cum-laugh hi hi hi hi hi hi hi!

Thanks to those inventive Warner Bros, mums and dads around the world taught their children about the birds and the bees with cats and dogs.

And roosters, bears, mice, rabbits, panthers, ducks. In reality it seemed, anything apart from an actual person.

And who can forget Bugs Bunny's gusto for carrots, Wiley Coyote's obsession with ACME bombs, and Pepe Le Pew's incessant sexual charges at anything with a heart beat.

Come to think of it, those crafty artists were preparing us little ankle biters for life in (and beyond) the school grounds.

If you remove the lovable characters, enchanting music and obviously, the brekkie timeslot, you had an adult narrative of Food, Hate and Love that was offered daily into impressionable hearts along with Cheerios, non-skim milk and that bewitching tune of 'snap, crackle and pop. '

I am not sure which was more syrupy - the Fruit Loops or the Loony Tunes?

Sunday morning television sure was a regular Animal Farm. (And no, not the one you are thinking).

You learned the facts of life from comics - a long time before The Facts Of Life was first aired in on the cusp of the 80's!

Then there was that bizarre collection of blue creatures called The Smurfs who lived in a wondrous forest and ate wondrous mushrooms (or was that the writers of the show?). Let's not forget this was way before The Blue Man Group - and a lot more fascinating, if you ask me.

I mean, where in any society does there exist a people consisting of a single female and an outwardly endless supply of males, speaheaded by the one they call "Papa"?

I believe here's where the phrase 'Who's your daddy ' had its roots, but that is another subject altogether.

The point is, whether you may be a big kid or a little kid, cartoons, comics and illustrations are always heaps of fun.

It doesn't matter if you're watching them on the television or watching a pro cartoonist draw a caricature: a creative illustration, a black and white sketch, or an artistic doodle can take us all back to that golden age of innocence.

Ha ha, I said doodle.




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