My, I’ll bet you monsters lead innnnteresting lives.
In this week’s episode of Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit, Tracie revisits some of her favorite classic hand-drawn animation from Looney Tunes, including the cartoon shorts “Duck Amuck,” “What’s Opera, Doc,” “Hair-Raising Hare,” “Transylvania 6-500,” and “One Froggy Evening.”
While the technical skill behind everything from the animation to the musical score to the comedy still holds up 80 years after Chuck Jones started creating these beloved toons, some of the cultural commentary has aged pretty poorly–including the fact that there are very few women in most of the classic episodes and the assumption that men cannot control their lust.
But both sisters appreciate how these cartoon shorts, which were considered disposable entertainment to run before a feature film, have become their own pop culture phenomenon, in part because Chuck Jones took the animation, the writing, and the music seriously–but not himself.
You shoulda taken a left turn at Albuquerque. Which means you have time to listen to this episode while you’re getting back on track.
We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.
We both have super-serious personas in our "day jobs." No, really. Emily is a Finance writer who used to be a classroom teacher. Tracie writes and consults on social justice and mindfulness and works as a copywriter and project manager for non-profits. If you really need to see the bona fides, please visit our individual websites:tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com
For our work together, what you need to know is that Tracie is older (3 years), Emily is funnier (by at least 3 percent), and we're both hella smart, often over-literal, and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction and murder mysteries, good storytelling with liberal amounts of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find there.
Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video version, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.
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