The theme of unreasonable rulers continues with The Shoemaker’s Son (“Animated Tales of the World,” 2004), from Armenia. Don’t miss the twin peaks of Mt. Ararat in the opening shot.
Tag Archives | Middelboe
Middelboe Chronicles, Part 35: Elijah
The theme of unreasonable rulers continues with Elijah (“Testament: The Bible in Animation,” 1996). The music is from Mendelssohn’s Elijah Oratorio.
The irony of the Jehovah/Ba’al rivalry is that they appear, from most of the historical evidence, to have originally been the same god under different names, like Jupiter and Zeus, or Odin and Woden.
In popular culture, the name “Jezebel” is most associated with Frankie Laine’s song:
Back in the 1970s in San Diego, my grandmother once shared a cab with Frankie Laine. She only vaguely knew who he was, and he of course had no idea that this sweet little old lady was herself “a devil … born / without a pair of horns.” He gave her free tickets to his show, but she didn’t go. (It didn’t occur to her to give the tickets to, say, her daughter and grandson.)
Middelboe Chronicles, Part 34: The Tyrant and the Child
A cruel and unreasonable king, a magic snake trick, and an exile into the desert. No, it’s not yesterday’s story of Moses, it’s The Tyrant and the Child (“Animated Tales of the World,” 2002), from Burkina Faso:
Middelboe Chronicles, Part 33: Moses
As with yesterday’s The Magic Paintbrush, so with today’s Moses (“Testament: The Bible in Animation,” 1996), a cruel and unreasonable ruler receives a magical comeuppance:
I mentioned last week that Ben Kingsley had played Potiphar. He has also played Moses. In this clip, Moses has dragged the Israelites to a concert by Hotblack Desiato’s Disaster Area but they are not as into it as he is:
Middelboe Chronicles, Part 32: The Magic Paintbrush
As with yesterday’s The Story of Flax, so with today’s The Magic Paintbrush (“Animated Tales of the World,” 2002, from China), a cruel and unreasonable ruler hungers for gold. This is a particularly beautiful film, drawn in the style of traditional Chinese art:
The film is so pretty that I can forgive the fact that the painters are all holding their paintbrushes in the Western way rather than in the Chinese way:
Middelboe Chronicles, Part 31: The Story of Flax
And another story of a cruel and unreasonable ruler: The Story of Flax (“Animated Tales of the World,” 2002), from Poland: