A Thoughtful Analysis on Media Narrative: Roger Rabbit

Yo-Ho, internet!

As recompense for my non-existent blog for the last, uh, forever, I wanted to post TWO things in one day. Yes I know, it more than makes up for everything.

I recently took a mass media class at my local college. Kind of a snoozer. You'd think they'd be able to make an interesting curriculum out of ideas in t.v., movies, comic books, etc, right?

So could I do better? 

Luckily, my teacher set out to make me look good by giving us this assignment. The instructions were to create an assignment that could be used in the class. Ingenious use of indentured labor, I must say.

So I took a stab at not only creating the assignment, but completing an example paper that might result from it. I posted it up for you to consider. I figured this sort of relates to what we do here. Ya know, figuring out why we do stuff n junk and how it's like, sweet. 

(Real answer: sitting as an empty blog ><)

Enjoy!

- MKG Out.

PS- Bonus points to anyone who replies with the assignment! Or you know, reads it....

Create & complete your own mass media assignment.

My assignment is entitled, “Message Effects Embedded in Narrative Media.” Students are to select one piece of mass media which is narrative driven or tells a story. After watching, reading, or maybe even playing it, the student then has to conduct an analysis of the piece of media.

I received the inspiration for this assignment from the content in chapter 2 of the textbook, “Mass Communications Effects: How Society and Media Interact.” Specifically the section of message effects. I find the psychological influence of media on the masses very interesting. Especially cognitive and attitudinal effects that alter the behavior of the audience. My assignment challenges students to put several ideas from the chapter to the test. Students will be required to analyze the plot, identifying the themes and ideas of the story and how they might affect a receptive audience. Afterwards, student should have a stronger sense of media literacy and be able to identify messages inside of popular narrative.

This would be an example of the instructions to the class:

Message Effects Embedded in Narrative Media

Select a piece of your favorite narrative media. Your selection should tell a complete story. Remember a story can be told in many ways, feel free to select an episode of your favorite tv show, a segment of an interesting video game or movie, even a comic book. View your selected media to completion and afterwards answer the following questions. Try to dedicate about 2-3 paragraphs to each idea, your plot synopsis will probably need to be longer.

Questions to answer:

• Summarize the plot of your selected media.
• What happened? Who are the main characters? Who are we, as the audience, supposed to identify with?

• Themes and Ideas
• We learned in Chapter 2 that a message can often carry an agenda, like in the case of propaganda. Is there an underlying theme to the narrative of this media? If there was a message attached to this story, what do you think it was? What are we as the audience supposed to walk away with, if not?

• Social Context
• Do you think the message of your story carries any ideas of sexism, racism, nationalism, etc.? Does the narrative attempt to address a social issue in a new or symbolic way?

• Public Effect
• Imagine someone was to take the message of your selected media literally. Perhaps they equate Russian soldiers being the villains in a movie as Russia the country being bad in the real world? Think of how your selected work might affect the worldview of a person like this. Describe why your selected story would be positive or negative to this effect.

Use this opportunity to expand your awareness of media’s affect on you. Has your selected media contained ideas that you never stopped to consider? Refer to the text whenever you have made a relative link to ideas discussed in chapter 2. Your answers should be about 2 - 4 pages in length.

Your answers should be arranged as one comprehensive idea. This could be an essay, if you wish, or arranged in a question/answer format. Either way, have your answers talk back into each other, maybe some social context enriched the theme for you that much more?

(Examples would follow for the student’s clarity and submission instructions.)

Here is an example of the completed version of the assignment:

Message Effects Embedded in Narrative Media

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Movie (1988)

For my assignment I selected the film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The movie is a murder mystery comedy which pays homage to classic film noir like Chinatown (1974). 

Summary:

The film stars Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant, a down on his luck private eye that becomes embroiled in a larger plot after he is hired by the owner of a cartoon studio, R.K. Maroon. Maroon. is upset that his picture is behind schedule because his literal cartoon-star, Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer), has been worried if his wife, cartoon bombshell Jessica Rabbit (voiced by Kathleen Turner), is being faithful to him.

Eddie delivers some revealing pictures of Jessica playing “patty cakes” with the owner of ToonTown and owner of the Acme gag company, Marvin Acme. When Acme is later found dead, Roger becomes the prime suspect. 

Don't Google "Jessica Patty Cakes"

Eddie investigates the crime scene, where Acme has been murdered by having a safe dropped on his head. Here he meets Judge Doom (played by Christopher Lloyd), an overzealous lawman with jurisdiction over ToonTown and his gang of cartoon weasels. 

Doom shows he has no respect for cartoon life or due process by demonstrating the use of a substance he has discovered, the Dip. In reality, it is just powerful paint thinner. Doom summarily executes a cartoon shoe that he finds nearby, exclaiming the Dip is,  “the only thing that can kill a toon!”

Look at its, "I'm getting murdered" eyes.

Returning to his office, Eddie is met by another cartoon, Baby Herman. Herman tells Eddie he believes Roger is being set up. Acme owned ToonTown and promised to leave it in his will to the cartoons if something happened to him, although no one has ever seen it.  Entering his office, Eddie finds Roger has been hiding there. He begs Eddie for his help. Eddie helps Roger hide by keeping him in a secret room at the restaurant of a friend.

Eddie puts himself at risk many times for Roger, constantly narrowly avoiding Doom and his obviously murderous henchmen. This contrasts with Eddie’s general attitude toward Roger, and cartoons in general, who he treats with disregard. We come to learn Eddie’s brother had also been murdered by a cartoon during a job in ToonTown years ago. Eddie has been an alcoholic ever since.

Eddie keeps his brother's desk just as he left it. This shot sums up Eddie's pain and is what makes movies special.

We see that Eddie talking to Roger helps him process this grief. Eventually, Eddie believes he has found a connection between the murder and the cartoon studio. A large public transportation (Cloverleaf) company bought the property for the failing studio, but needed the property to ToonTown, as well. Eddie forces a meeting with Maroon, lying that he has Acme’s will. Maroon admits to Eddie that Acme was murdered. Before Eddie can discover by who, Maroon is shot by an unknown gunman.

Looking out a nearby window and seeing Jessica running, Eddie chases her to her car, where she escapes into ToonTown. Eddie follows her through the crazy town, eventually cornering her in an alley where she draws a gun on him. Firing, Jessica hits the unknown gunman who had shot Maroon before he can kill Eddie. We find out that it was Judge Doom. As Eddie and Jessica try to give chase, Doom and his weasels ambush and capture them.

Doom ties up Eddie and Jessica, and reveals the truth. He had killed Marvin Acme after he refused to sell his property in ToonTown to the Cloverleaf Company with R.K. Maroon. Cloverleaf was planning on building a new superhighway through the area and add many expensive tolls to it. Doom prepares to kill them while using a custom vehicle that would fire thousands of gallons of pressurized Dip to destroy ToonTown.

Some quick thinking by Eddie and a last minute arrival by Roger manage to thwart Judge Doom. We find out in the end that he was in reality a cartoon himself all along, and he had been the one who kill Eddie’s brother. The will to ToonTown is discovered and everyone lives happily ever after.

I imagine the universe of Super Smash Brothers probably started this way too...

Conclusion:

Eddie Valiant is the protagonist of the story and the one the audience discovers the plot through. As he discovers things about ToonTown, the audience does with him. In the beginning of the story, we find out that humans are very oppressive towards the cartoon population,or “toons”, as they’re called. Eddie seems to share this attitude as well, but we also see him interact with many toons like old friends. For example, there is an early scene where Eddie exchanges friendly words with Betty Boop. He seems to know her from the past and speaks highly of her. At first, this makes us have mixed feelings for our hero.

This second class treatment of the toons is a common theme of the movies. Cartoons are always treated like second class members of society in every location we are shown in the world of the movie. They are consistently employed as entertainers, servants, or menial laborers. Their own cultural center (Toon Town) isn’t even owned by a toon, but rather a rich human businessman.

Even though being a part of human society, ToonTown (the toon cultural center) is walled away in a low income section of the city.

Later, we are given a poignant look into Eddie’s past as we learn he and his brother were once good friends to the toon community. Eddie’s brother unfortunately was murdered one day by a toon in ToonTown, who dropped a piano on him. Eddie obviously still holds onto a lot of hate from the event. For the toons who seemed to have betrayed he and his brother who were just trying to help them, and for himself for being unable to save his brother. As a result, all of the characters around Eddie recognize that he has fallen apart due to drinking.

This grief carried by Eddie Valiant is what forms the heart of the movie. A common shot in the movie is Eddie reaching for a bottle or flask, then unscrewing the lid for a drink. As Eddie interacts more and more with Roger, we often see this same shot, but Eddie will be distracted and not finish unscrewing the lid. These are subtle visual hints of the cathartic effect of Roger’s presence for Eddie. As a traumatized person, he has begun to heal.

Eddie is tempted for the last time. Character arcs are fun.

There is also the theme of corruption in business which forms the motivation of our villains. This refers once again to Gans media value of responsible capitalism. The Cloverleaf company is never formally introduced or represented in this movie, yet their bid for the land of ToonTown causes the murders or deaths of at least two humans and close to 10 cartoons. The true villains are actually the greedy industrialists who have hired Doom to do their dirty work.

The wonderful thing about this film is how all of these social topics are well explored, but also kept light to keep the movie as a comedy. The most important issue of the movie is the treatment of the cartoons. As I explained before, the toons are the lowest societal class. It is socially acceptable to treat toons with general disregard and hostility, no one even bats an eyelash as Judge Doom kills one of the smaller ones. Even Eddie only looks on in disgust. While this serves to cast the toons in a sympathetic light for our audience, it was also intended for we the audience to draw a parallel to actual racism.

Examples of Class Disparity:

Toons are always seen in a subservient light when compared to humans.

The toons in this context are most certainly referring to African American populations. The movie takes places in the year 1947 at the height of post war America. This was a time during which the black population became more and more dissatisfied with being marginalized in society in the years leading up to the civil rights movement. 

The general regard in which toons are treated mirrors this perfectly. Cartoons are not treated as real people. This is funny, as they literally are “not real,” but also reflects how a rejected caste of society might be viewed. 

The nature of the jobs they commonly work and even being confined to one culturally distinct, low income section of the city (Toon Town) reflects the behavior of a disenfranchised ethnic group in modern day America. While the plight of the toons is not the central theme to the movie, Eddie is made to be seen more “valiant” by overcoming his own inherent bigotry, even though it might be warranted. 

The movie obviously takes a stand on the injustice of this fact, but also facilitates justice by a human saving the toon population. I find this interesting as the toons for the most part take not much part in their own salvation. This is a common complaint against racist thinking that stems from a colonial mindset. The idea was that the imperialistic European countries somehow “knew better” than their colonized natives. This idea that the white majority still needs to somehow “guide” the minority is reflected here.

The power in the cartoon entertainment industry clearly lies with the humans. Cartoons are required to act as mere stereotypes of themselves.

However, I think the overall message of the movie is positive. If someone were to watch this and be affected by its messages, they would not be much worse for it. Eddie is a likeable protagonist who learns to accept loss through means of a friendship. Roger and Jessica form a stronger union as a result of their adventures. The murderer of the film (Doom) dies in a fairly horrific way. The idea of helping the disenfranchised, even if they are irritating, is a healthy one. The violence of the movie is very “indirect” and always framed negatively. I also really like Roger’s opinions on the importance of laughter and how sometimes your sense of humor can save your life.

Verdict:

Overall, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a clever mystery and funny comedy. I really enjoyed watching the friendship between Eddie and Roger grow. What I find most impressive about the themes of the movie is that they only really serve to enrich its universe. 

The social plight of the toons is never resolved, nor is the Cloverleaf company even dissolved as a result of the events of the movie. They are merely placed here and given context so we the audience can decide as to how we feel about them. I believe the only risk here is that we as an audience were not paying enough attention to consider them.

- MKG ^_^-b