Post #2: Satire at its finest

    Adult Swim is a chunk of Cartoon Network's late night that I hold very close to my heart.  Despite my love of the shows, I didn't think they were much past their nonsensical characters and plot lines.  This class has challenged me to find a meaning, if any in some of these programs.  One show in particular leaped out at me; Frisky Dingo .  Frisky Dingo uses its ridiculous characters and overly-convoluted plots to both poke fun at and bring awareness of the standard action trope that is being done to death both on television and off.

    Anyone that has seen an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Michael Bay film knows that in order for it to function successfully, at least in the blockbusting-action genre, there must be an excess of violence, action, over-the-top villains or heroes and lavish mise-en-scene; including cars to be destroyed, elaborate devices and buildings, or anything in between.  Frisky Dingo has all of these in spades.  For example, the stereotypical bad corporate guy has board members under him, all of whom are exact copies of him that can only say the phrase, "Harumph."

    The main character is Xander Crews,

                     
 
 an idiotic millionaire playboy and superhero, who's other identity is Awesome X; a very blatant and shameless copy of Batman's Bruce Wayne.  Whereas Bruce Wayne was cunning and disciplined, Crews is just an idiot, who has no idea how to do anything in the business world, and runs the company into the ground within the opening episodes of the first season.

    His counterpart, sort of, is Killface,

 

an other-worldly evil being struggling to strike fear into the heart of humanity before he wipes it out with his Annihilatrix.  However, no one takes him seriously after he sends out misspelled postcards to the American people, letting them know; "Welcome to you're 'Doom'."

    The show plays off of action tropes in a few important ways.  One way to show how ridiculous the genre is, is the juxtaposition of ridiculous actions and characters with ordinary settings or situations.  Killface has a struggling relationship with his almost mute son, and constantly battles with him over the mundane, such as tantrums or eating right; while on the side, he could be murdering an employee for buying the wrong ink.  There are tangents on tax write-offs and politics, on casual Fridays, and then on the destruction on earth.  It's this dynamic of the incredulous and the mundane that helped this show shine as a satirical force (alas, it's not on anymore, it only had a 2 season run I believe).

    Another brilliantly used technique is that of the "to be continued" aspect of TV.  Episodes will end in the middle of someone counting down before they shoot Xander Crews, or will seemingly end on a reporter dangling, only to cut right back and show her falling to her death.  As convoluted as the plot is, there are no holes, because in the beginning of episodes, during the "previously, on Frisky Dingo" bit, the creators will make stuff up that never happened to satisfy the current episode's needs or an ongoing storyline.  That way, the show is outlandish as it can be in its 11 or 12 minutes slot. 

ETA: I commented on Amanda Martin's and Chris DeMarco's blogs.

Comments

[alissa potter]

Frisky Dingo... wow, never thought of it as something more than just too many stereotypes in one room running across the screen. Funny, yes but further than that, I thought it could never be explored. But throughout the two seasons (25 episodes), the show proves to be an interesting, and slightly depressing, parody of all the things the general audience finds to be 'great works of movie magic'. Not just, it's characters while ridiculous, had moments where they were copying the stupid lines you know people really say and think.
The one thing I will argue with you on is that there was one plot-hole. (Though, please correct me if I'm wrong as I would love to know) Where did they ever come up with the name Frisky Dingo?

[Cory]

I have no idea really, I don't know if they ever explain that.

[Hayleigh]

There is something wonderful to be said about the satirical, zany cartoons of Adult Swim. I agree totally with the "bringing awareness" to the ridiculous nature of action packed films such as Transformers that these cartoons illuminate. These cartoons are valuable cultural critiques/responses to such dominant public films that perhaps balance the absurdity of films like Bay's by using paralleled absurdity of satire. Pop culture needs balance, and these cartoons certainly are a way to get there!