Critter-ed Characters

While hunting and pecking for images of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (for no particular reason other just to see how he's been presented I suppose) I came across this video from MGM. I have not seen it, so I can't say if it's an atrocity or not.

But I found it amusing since as a kid I used to draw Tom and Huck as cats.

It's kind of cute, although I'm not so sure I like the look of Huck here, even if I do have an affinity for foxes. Maybe it's the white hair on top. Is that perspective drawing or is he that much smaller than Tom? And maybe it's just me, but Becky seems a bit too prissy. I always thought of her as quite pretty, but a little more tomboy (ha!) at the same time.

Anyawy, it got me to thinking, naturally, what animal (if any) Peter Pan would be, besides a cat. The obvious choice is of course a bird, given his history. But then, what kind of bird? Certainly not a crow, as we cannot take that honorable position away from Solomon Caw. Or maybe he's not a bird in critter related anthropomorphic terms at all? Any ideas?

Cavorting with Characters

Today I’m going for a simple “fun” post.
What literary characters would you most like to spend time with and why?

You’d be right that I’d hang out with Peter Pan, assuming he could stand a child-like adult. I don’t think I really need to answer as to why, do I?

I’d also like to relax on the banks of an island in the Mississippi River with Huckleberry Finn. The guy knows how to do nothing and do it well. Plus I imagine I’d be quite entertained by his wit. A good way to spend a lazy afternoon.

I also want to be friends with Jim Hawkins. He's got plenty of money to spend on a good time, he loves adventures and he's just damn cool. I'm sure he'd have much to talk about.

Who would you bring off the page?

Pirandexcellent

I tend to like Pirandellian pieces. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, it is named after an Italian author/playwright, Luigi Pirandello, whose most famous work is the play Six Characters in Search of An Author. Pirandellian refers to works wherein the characters are self-aware of their author, the author is inserted into the work or the line between story and reality is crossed in some way. The most recent example I can think of is Stranger Than Fiction. (See it if you haven’t! I have a post about it here.) Actually Nim's Island does it more recently but I've not seen it. I’d like to bring up another wonderful movie to see on the subject of writing and writers, Pirandello Style!

Recently the famous At the Movies with its trademark Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down has retired. Well, thank goodness for it when it did air, otherwise I might never have known about this movie. Siskel and Ebert reviewed the 10 most underrated films of the year 1986. One of them caught my attention. The Adventures of Mark Twain. Besides being noteworthy for its clever content, the movie is Claymation. The whole movie. Way before Wallace & Gromit’s feature film. It’s a feast for the eyes and imagination.

Another quick history lesson: Mark Twain came into the world with the arrival of Halley’s Comet. Seventy six years later, when it returned, Twain died. He said, I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: "Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together."

The above is what the movie is based around. That, and a loose adaptation of his novel Tom Sawyer Abroad. In the film, Twain (Samuel Clemens) like his character, reveals a big airship with which he will travel the world. But his real goal, we learn, is to catch up to his destiny with the comet. In Abroad, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn stow away. They do in Adventures, too. Ah-ha! Pirandellian! Yes, delightfully inexplicably Tom, Huck and Becky Thatcher fly away and interact with their creator. Twain seems very aware of who they are. To make it even more odd, the ship has an Indexivator (Index-Elevator) which will not only take you to the various floors of the aircraft but also to the works of Twain! At one point Tom is snatched back into his story by Aunt Polly’s arm coming out of the “black void” of the Indexivator. Injun Joe nearly escapes to get them. And, in one of my favorite scenes, the kids have a bout with The Mysterious Stranger. Twain also reads from The Diary of Adam and Eve to them and the book comes to life, so to speak.

It’s a movie packed with action, dark patches, laughs, surprises, inside jokes and witty quotes from Twain.
It’s a gem.
I’ve been showing people a scratchy overworn copy on video tape. How excited I’d been to find it on DVD a few years back.

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes of Twain, presented in the movie: The human race in all its poverty has only one truly effective weapon - Laughter. Against the assault of Laughter, nothing can stand.

Fathom This...

Let’s say you’re a writer gaining notoriety. You write under a very clever pen name. But your real name is Pat. You have a best friend whose name is Kris. You write about your marvelous childhood adventures. Embellished for greater effect, of course. It’s a grand tale. However, in this story you refer to yourself as Kris and call Kris by the name of Raspy instead. Er…sure…
A little odd, no? Stealing your best friend’s name and bestowing such a weird replacement moniker? Believe it or not, this actually happened. No, not with you and ol’ Raspy.

The writer of notoriety is none other than Mark Twain (the clever pen name…if you don’t know why it’s clever, there’s a research project for you) also known as Samuel Clemens. The childhood escapades are, naturally, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Now for the odd part. The best friend of Tom is called, as you know, Huck. Here’s the truth of the matter. “Huckleberry” in real life had the name of Tom Blankenship. But in the story, Sam named himself Tom and called Tom…well, you know. If you’re like me, tidbits like this are a puzzle and delight. It’s more than a little odd. Perhaps there are circumstances of which I am not aware…maybe Blankenship wanted to be named after a wild bush fruit.

Otherwise, I just shake my head. Don’t get me wrong. Could the names Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn be any better? Maybe that in and of itself, is the reason. Either way, it’s both compelling and bizarre.

I could look it up further, but I think I like being perplexed by it. If you happen to be able to shed light on the matter, please feel free to do so.