Evolution means evolving. Duh.
Progress is made by riding the back of that which has gone before and then leap frogging into the future. Doh.
Animation in the eighties, particularly on television, had become artistically suspect and barren of boldness. You bet you’re sweet bippy.
The Simpson’s started the way out of the mundane, merchandise based television cartoon and then at the beginning of the Nineties, the naughty The Ren & Stimpy Show shoved its finger up animation’s ass and assailed the stagnant slate rock wall of cartoon stasis, palpated its prostate, and gave the form a revitalised if sacrilegious new lease of life.
The Ren and Stimpy Show tracked the misadventures of psychotic, asthmatic Chihuahua, Ren, and dim, loyal, hapless cat, Stimpy, in a gross and violent sado masochistic Tom and Jerry at the gates of Hell scenario.
Documentary film makers, Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood delve into the formation and the phenomenon of The Ren & Stimpy Show in their dark, disturbing and damnably watchable movie, HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY.
The film not only examines how The Ren & Stimpy Show became one of the most influential and daring cartoons of the 1990s, but delves into the toxic work place incubated by the show’s creator, John Kricfalusi, depicted here as a bullying boss and emotional predator.
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY provides a fascinating account of how the show got off the ground, and the radical creatives that made it happen, its various inspirations from Disney, Loony Tunes, The Three Stooges and Kirk Douglas. That’s the gratifying and gifted part.
It then veers into the dark side to the Ren & Stimpy story in the shape of the show’s controversial creator, John Kricfalusi. Accusations of abuse and sexual misconduct surfaced in 2018, and both accused and accuser feature in direct to camera interviews.
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY will commence a theatrical season on Boxing Day, Saturday 26 December, exclusive to Golden Age Cinema in Sydney.
Website: www.ourgoldenage.com.au
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