A Very Old Idea And A New One
Almost the very first thing I wrote for this page was a comparison of a one Mister Jeffrey “JRo” Rowland and Tex Avery. Somewhat later, I found similarities in the work of John Allison and Frank Tashlin, and Jon Rosenberg and Chuck Jones.¹
This (old) (incomplete) idea came back to me today, wherein I tagged Meredith Gran as Friz Freleng-like, although she sees herself as a Bob Clampett. I based my call on her willingness to go as far as necessary for a perfect scene, no matter how many pages or panels it might take, much as Freleng was willing to put in extended sight gags that had little to do with the main action, taking up precious time² in an animated short to do so. These were frequently silent, which is another kind of storytelling that Gran excels at. So, open question to creators — do you find yourself identifying with an animator’s aesthetic, and if so, who and why?
New idea: tuxedos make you look great, but if you don’t wear one regularly, man can you look like David Byrne in his large suit, not that I would know. I think it’s because most tuxedos, being worn infrequently, never loosen and soften with wear and thus always look a bit stiff and large on the wearer.
But sometimes you are just a dapper enough muthascratcher to pull off that look, and every once in a while, they give you a fancy-shiny award too. In the hierarchy of awards for creative types, I doubt the Philadelphia Geek Awards will ever challenge any of the EGOT (well, maybe the Grammy), but to have a perfect evening with your best friend in the world and get a light-up plaque conveying the respect of other creators? Well done, Brad Guigar; no matter what awards you may or may not win, you’ll always be the best geek in our hearts.
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¹ Briefly: Rowland’s Wigu is suffused with an anything-goes attitude, but living by a single cardinal truth: if it works in the mind of an eight year old boy, it’s plausible. Allison is about social situations, the proper way to act, and subversions of that order spiraling out of control. Rosenberg’s work relies on structural rules and quickly establishing how far each premise can stretch those rules without … quite … breaking them.
² In the sense of taking a break from the main action and then returning to it, Paul Taylor’s has definite tendencies in that direction.
Bond, Brad Guigar Bond…
By Michael Corley on 08.22.12 9:00 pm
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