Dieselpunk + Steampunk Culture
Peace On Earth, MGM Cartoon 1939
"The only cartoon ever nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, this 1939 Hugh Harman cartoon shows a post-apocalyptic world populated by animals picking up the pieces after a war kills every human on earth."
Yes, it starts off with caroon squirrels but once they start talking about "men" the design aesthetic becomes pure dieselpunk.
An odd, grimly uplifting-ish piece about humankinds's final war of self-extinction. It's a rather naive view of final, total war in the post atomic age but in its time must have seemed more plausible. Widely suppressed by entertainment and government establishments after its release for being too pacifist....
Comment
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Comment by Pilsner Panther on July 26, 2011 at 10:15pm -
Some interesting historical background on Hugh Harman: according to Michael Barrier's authoritative book "Hollywood Cartoons, Animation In Its Golden Age," Harman was a very difficult and bitter man who was disliked by practically everyone in the industry. An early Disney animator who quit the Disney studio after an argument with Walt, he was perpetually annoyed over the fact that his cartoons were never as popular as Disney's. He fought with everyone from producers to writers to animators, and according to Mr. Barrier's sources, MGM only signed him to a contract because they wanted the talents of his partner, Rudy Ising. So the "peace" theme here is a bit ironic!
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Comment by Scarymike23 on July 21, 2011 at 10:47am -
@ Jeffery: And to include a more stongly Christian slant! The Cold War was in full swing then, so they had to "One Nation Under God" it up some ;^)
Thanks for re-embedding the video, Tome! Not sure what happened with the original. Dailymotion might have nixed embedding....
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Comment by Jeffrey Alan Robbins on July 21, 2011 at 8:49am -
They updated it in 1955 to reflect the coming of the atomic bomb. Here is the remake.
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Comment by Larry on July 16, 2011 at 4:40pm -
Thanks for posting this ScaryMike. I saw this as a child too and I've loved it ever since.
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Comment by Tome Wilson on July 16, 2011 at 4:24pm -
Looks like it didn't embed properly. Here's the movie...
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Comment by Scarymike23 on July 16, 2011 at 12:35pm
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I first saw this film when I was about 7 years old, and actually missed the first minute and a half, so the ending which (spoiler alert here) reveals the animals living in the reclaimed war wreckage of an extinct human race was especially poignant. This thing was hugely influential on my views of warfare and the apocalypse!
© 2013 Created by Tome Wilson.
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