Primarily, ‘Rocky and Bulwinkle’ reiterate a unique theme: good
verses evil. In silent films ‘Vintage Women tied to Railroad Tracks’ and ‘The
Admiral’s Message’, antagonists commit evil deeds such as tying up an innocent
woman to railroad tracks or attempting to steal an important message. However,
protagonists overcome such obstacles with good deeds such as saving the woman’s
life or fighting spies to successfully relay a message. Similarly, in ‘Rocky
and Bulwinkle’, antagonists of the cartoon commit an evil act by trying to
steal treasure of Monte Zoom while protagonists Rocky and Bulwinkle chase after
them. Antagonists fall over a cliff and Rocky and Bulwinkle are able to
retrieve the real gold of Monte Zoom. Although Bulwinkle cynically comments that
happy endings are for children’s cartoons, the cartoon nevertheless highlights
the idea that good deeds overtrump evil deeds.
However,
‘Dudley-Do-Right’ takes a different approach towards the theme of good verses
evil by utilizing another theme: love. In the silent film ‘The Sheik’s Wife’, Cadwallader falls in love with Fatima, and love motivates
Cadwallader to fight for Fatima’s freedom from the antagonist, Sheik. Similarly,
in order to capture the antagonist Whiplash and to impress his lover Nell, the
protagonist Do-Right commits various evil deeds that will tarnish his
reputation as ‘a man who can do no wrong’. While both the film and cartoon
underline human goodness – Cadwallader fights Sheik’s men in order to save
Fatima from Sheik’s tyrannical rules and Do-Right commits immoral acts against
his will to gain Whiplash’s trust-such acts of goodness are motivated by love.
Lastly,
both cartoons and silent films are similar to stage plays because they use
various characters such as protagonists and antagonists to relay a specific
theme to the audience. While stage plays directly communicate with the
audience, cartoons and silent films use different forms of medium to reach the
audience. For instance, the audience can read subtitles or listen to narrations
in silent films in order to understand certain traits of characters or
situations. Similarly, the audience can listen to the dialogue between
characters and watch their actions in order to comprehend traits and
situations.
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