Tumblr Teens complain about Disney characters having the same faces

MissUtilis

But not how Ralph Wolf is basically Wile E. Coyote, or how Cogswell is basically Mr. Slate.

Yarrun XIX

That kind of ripping off has a long and storied tradition in commedia dell'arte. We recognize that they're supposed to be different riffs on the same theme. Comedy protects it.

Disney aims to make movies that are noticeably different, and is therefore not protected

MissUtilis

now I'm thinking about how Hanna-Barbera cartoons have a lot of one-off characters with similar voices meant to identify them as a certain type of character

some of these, like the Phil Silvers impression, were applied later to full-blown characters like Hokey Wolf

One-Winged Eagle

A, it was a different time.

B, because it was a different time, there was less demand for unique character designs.

C, I believe philosophy was to treat the characters not as characters, but as "actors", to be cast in different movies and retaining their distinguishing features. Something Tezuka also did in his Star System.

D, we expect more from entertainment now. Having the same face is a sign of laziness, even if everything else is meticulously produced.

MissUtilis

this was kind of a joke thread, but to be serious, with regards to the "different time" thing, I'm not sure how many people today are really familiar with the notion of a house style

Disney (the feature animation side) is one of the few animation entities to cling to a house style, and classic animation has been pushed out of the limelight in recent years anyway - compare this and this (I'll always stand up for H-B's immediately identifiable early look, but the character side of it at least isn't that far removed from tradition)

One-Winged Eagle

I get the "house style" business. But the thing is that this isn't it.

People used the house style because it was simpler and easier and it let you do more with less.

Disney does not do more with less. They pump huge amounts of money into individual movies. They meticulously model hair, trees, robots, snow, etc.

But they won't make a character's face distinct. Which is a very skewed priority.

Tanya

Let's defend the billion dollar corporation, on the basis that they couldn't have done better.... Obviously.

/sarcasm

MissUtilis

MachSpeed said:

I get the "house style" business. But the thing is that this isn't it.

People used the house style because it was simpler and easier and it let you do more with less.

Disney does not do more with less. They pump huge amounts of money into individual movies. They meticulously model hair, trees, robots, snow, etc.

But they won't make a character's face distinct. Which is a very skewed priority.

that's a good point, actually

also house styles are easy for top-down-managed studios (like Disney and Hanna-Barbera and in a way DreamWorks) to train artists in

MetaFour

I didn't realize at the time that Ralph Wolf and Wile E. Coyote were supposed to be different characters. I just thought, "Oh, the coyote is going after sheep in this cartoon. Okay."

Alduin

THEY WERE FRATERNAL TWINS

Odradek

MetaFour said:

I didn't realize at the time that Ralph Wolf and Wile E. Coyote were supposed to be different characters. I just thought, "Oh, the coyote is going after sheep in this cartoon. Okay."

Calica

it probably costs about as much to animate a single face as all the snow and environments combined

Section42L

I thought that Ralph Wolf, "Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius" and the Coyote that chases the Road Runner were all supposed to be the same character, too.

★ ~ S U M M E R ✿ S A U S A G E ! ~ ★

Section42L said:

I thought that Ralph Wolf, "Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius" and the Coyote that chases the Road Runner were all supposed to be the same character, too.

You mean Wile. E Coyote?

MissUtilis

There's two Wile E. Coyotes. That one doesn't talk. The Super Genius talks and also has a red nose.

Tanya

Midnight Velvet's rotting corpse said:

Section42L said:

I thought that Ralph Wolf, "Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius" and the Coyote that chases the Road Runner were all supposed to be the same character, too.

You mean Wile. E Coyote?

There's a Wile. E Coyote that's crossed over with Bugs Bunny.

I don't know the lore, but I think they can be taken as separate characters.

★ ~ S U M M E R ✿ S A U S A G E ! ~ ★

Huh, never knew that. neat.

Calica

Miss Utilis said:

There's two Wile E. Coyotes. That one doesn't talk. The Super Genius talks and also has a red nose.

that isn't red at all

MissUtilis

Well my memory failed me again

MetaFour

WHAT

WHAT

The "Super Genius" one was supposed to be a separate character, too?

MIND: BLOWN

(I'm only slightly exaggerating.)

(Although I do recall there being this home video anthology of the best Looney Tunes, more or less, with a framing device of Bugs Bunny looking back on his long, storied career. And in this video Bugs himself said that "Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius" and the one who chased the Road Runner were one and the same.)

MissUtilis

I always mentally considered him such because it was so strange to me that he didn't speak when chasing Road Runner but did when trying to eat Bugs

MetaFour

The one who chased the roadrunner DID speak at least once. It was a meta episode, and some kids were watching him on TV, wondering why he always chased that roadrunner, and he broke the fourth wall to answer them.

MissUtilis

you mean this?

(Also, no, WB didn't ACQUIRE DC Comics. DC was purchased by the Kinney National Company in 1967, and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts by Kinney in 1969. Kinney would later become Warner Communications, a forerunner to Time Warner)

MissUtilis

also, bad confession: I don't think I've seen much of Chuck Jones's work for WB past the late '50s

I hope it didn't change much when his collaborator Michael Maltese (brilliant in his own right) jumped for Hanna-Barbera