Relationships are made everyday in the real-world and hold a special meaning for every individual. All relationships are different, as some turn out good and some run into troubles. But all relationships have their ups and downs. Relationships are so important in our lives, they are even reflected in the entertainment world, especially in animation. I have found two early 3D animations that reflect real-world relationships and the problems that may come with them. Though the animations were made at different times with different creators, their characters go through similar relationship problems. Both animations have female characters who pays no attention to the male, have the male characters use an object to help get closer to the female, and have unexpected endings for the male characters.
The animations are Fair Play (1986) (1):
And Snoot and Muttly (1984) (2):
To start, both animations have a couple where the female “plays hard to get”. In Fair Play, the man is always out of reach of the woman. Everytime the man tries to reach her, she ends up in a different location from him. They are only together when they go on the roller coaster ride. The woman also seemed to intentionally hide from the man, especially in the hall of mirrors. A similar instance happens in Snoot and Muttly. Snoot (assumingly the pink flamingo) doesn’t necessarily stay out of reach of Muttly (assumingly the blue flamingo), but she does ignore him. For example, when Muttly walks up to Snoot as if to say hello, Snoot turns her nose up at him.
Another similarity is the presence of balloons or balloon-like objects that help the male characters get closer to the female characters. In Fair Play, when the man gets lost in the hall of mirrors, the woman’s red balloon guides him to her, where they then ride together on the roller coaster. In Snoot and Muttly, Muttly uses balloon-like objects to skip around and entice Snoot to come play with him.
One more similarity between the animations is the unexpected endings for the male characters. The man in Fair Play, after all the trouble he went through, finally has the woman in reach and gives her a kiss. One would think that they would finally stay together, but after the woman’s red balloon covers the screen, the woman disappears, leaving the man bewildered and surely heartbroken. The opposite happens in Snoot and Muttly. At first it looks like Snoot will continually ignore Muttly’s attempts for her to play with him. Snoot walks into her house as if she will not come out. But at the last moment, Snoot comes out with a hat on and decides to join Muttly in playing with the balloon-like objects.
So, the ups and downs of relationships are reflected in these animations. Just as a person can learn from a real-world relationship, one can also learn from these animations and gain another perspective on relationships.
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(1) cc213t. Fair Play. Online Video. 2 mins 2 secs. 28 Jan 2007.
(2) VintageCG. Snoot and Muttly (1984). Online Video. 3 mins 15 secs. 11 Aug 2009.