Peter Rabbit, TLJ, and Cartoon Violence
Dec. 5th, 2018 04:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lavender_sage I get the comparisons between these two movies; I really do. As some gifsets show, there are even similar shots of Domhnall Gleeson’s characters choking or being thrown in both movies. I remember seeing and reading these kinds of comparisons even before I saw Peter Rabbit, and it made me dread it just a little bit. I’m not a fan of cruelty as humor in any context, but that’s really not what Peter Rabbit is about. Both include violence that’s intended to make the audience laugh, but context is important, and the context could not be more different and the films expect very different things from their audiences. Peter Rabbit presents a fight between equally matched opponents and the humor requires only suspension of disbelief. The humor in The Last Jedi depends on the audience’s hatred of the character the violence is happening to.
I’ve read the violence in The Last Jedi described as “cartoon violence” a few times, but I’m not convinced that that really fits, at least where Hux is concerned. Cartoon violence is unrealistic in that characters are treated in ways that would seriously injure or kill them can get up and walk away immediately after. This requires suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience. What makes cartoon violence funny is that it is free from the consequences real violence entails. The violence Hux is subjected to in TLJ leaves him bleeding and unconscious on different occasions; it could have been worse, but the results are not unrealistic. He screams, but that’s a normal human reaction to pain and fear. These scenes are only cartoonish in the sense that we are meant to see Hux as less than a person, so the results of violence against him are unimportant.
The context of the violence is not cartoonish at all. Essentially, Hux is in an abusive work environment, which is also the environment he lives in. When he first receives the message from Snoke after the Resistance blows up the dreadnought, Hux attempts to take it in his private quarters. Considering how fearful he looks when Snoke appears instead–not to mention how unhealthy he looks in TLJ vs. The Force Awakens–it is easy to imagine that this has happened before. What did Snoke do to Hux after Starkiller Base was destroyed? TLJ doesn’t tell us, but it’s not hard to guess. When Kylo becomes Supreme Leader, the cycle begins again; he throws Hux into a wall for offering him advice. Both Snoke and Kylo have all of the power in this situation; Hux is physically helpless against the Force. All of this would be horrifying if we were supposed to care about the victim.
In Peter Rabbit on the other hand, part of the humor–and the suspension of disbelief–comes from the fact that the opponents are so equally matched. We have to be ready to believe that a group of rabbits are a match for a 34 year old man. When they first meet, the rabbits are fairly confident that they will triumph. After all, the older, out of shape McGregor from whom Thomas has inherited the house died from an heart attack after an encounter with them. However, they have under estimated him as much as he has them.
During one of their encounters, Peter describes Thomas as a “skinny bag of wet,” but Thomas’s lanky body proves resilient against all of their attacks. He survives a fall from his roof and having blackberries, to which he is allergic, being shot into his mouth. Outside of the requisite suspension of disbelief, he is younger and stronger than his relative. He’s also health conscious enough to have an eipen on his person when he needs it: a role model!
Thomas suffers all kinds of laughably mild, temporary injuries from the rabbits, but he also blows up their warren. He’s hardly helpless. He also gets to be as complex as the titular character; he and Peter have flaws, aspirations, and character arcs that are of equal importance to the narrative. In short, the violence against Thomas isn’t funny because he’s a bad person and we’re supposed to want to see him suffer. It’s funny because we know he’s going to be okay.
One comment Gleeson made about Hux that has stood out to me is the he wanted to make a character a child would hate and want to see hurt. I suppose if I could unsee all the baggage that comes with the violence against Hux, I would find it less upsetting. As it is, I’m bewildered by the implication that Star Wars–a story with fraticide, genocide, and torture–is primarily for children. There are clearly aspects of the story we’re meant to see as serious adult problems, but Hux’s abuse isn’t one of them. In all honestly, watching Peter Rabbit, which is clearly meant for children as its primary audience, was a relief after The Last Jedi.
I’ve read the violence in The Last Jedi described as “cartoon violence” a few times, but I’m not convinced that that really fits, at least where Hux is concerned. Cartoon violence is unrealistic in that characters are treated in ways that would seriously injure or kill them can get up and walk away immediately after. This requires suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience. What makes cartoon violence funny is that it is free from the consequences real violence entails. The violence Hux is subjected to in TLJ leaves him bleeding and unconscious on different occasions; it could have been worse, but the results are not unrealistic. He screams, but that’s a normal human reaction to pain and fear. These scenes are only cartoonish in the sense that we are meant to see Hux as less than a person, so the results of violence against him are unimportant.
The context of the violence is not cartoonish at all. Essentially, Hux is in an abusive work environment, which is also the environment he lives in. When he first receives the message from Snoke after the Resistance blows up the dreadnought, Hux attempts to take it in his private quarters. Considering how fearful he looks when Snoke appears instead–not to mention how unhealthy he looks in TLJ vs. The Force Awakens–it is easy to imagine that this has happened before. What did Snoke do to Hux after Starkiller Base was destroyed? TLJ doesn’t tell us, but it’s not hard to guess. When Kylo becomes Supreme Leader, the cycle begins again; he throws Hux into a wall for offering him advice. Both Snoke and Kylo have all of the power in this situation; Hux is physically helpless against the Force. All of this would be horrifying if we were supposed to care about the victim.
In Peter Rabbit on the other hand, part of the humor–and the suspension of disbelief–comes from the fact that the opponents are so equally matched. We have to be ready to believe that a group of rabbits are a match for a 34 year old man. When they first meet, the rabbits are fairly confident that they will triumph. After all, the older, out of shape McGregor from whom Thomas has inherited the house died from an heart attack after an encounter with them. However, they have under estimated him as much as he has them.
During one of their encounters, Peter describes Thomas as a “skinny bag of wet,” but Thomas’s lanky body proves resilient against all of their attacks. He survives a fall from his roof and having blackberries, to which he is allergic, being shot into his mouth. Outside of the requisite suspension of disbelief, he is younger and stronger than his relative. He’s also health conscious enough to have an eipen on his person when he needs it: a role model!
Thomas suffers all kinds of laughably mild, temporary injuries from the rabbits, but he also blows up their warren. He’s hardly helpless. He also gets to be as complex as the titular character; he and Peter have flaws, aspirations, and character arcs that are of equal importance to the narrative. In short, the violence against Thomas isn’t funny because he’s a bad person and we’re supposed to want to see him suffer. It’s funny because we know he’s going to be okay.
One comment Gleeson made about Hux that has stood out to me is the he wanted to make a character a child would hate and want to see hurt. I suppose if I could unsee all the baggage that comes with the violence against Hux, I would find it less upsetting. As it is, I’m bewildered by the implication that Star Wars–a story with fraticide, genocide, and torture–is primarily for children. There are clearly aspects of the story we’re meant to see as serious adult problems, but Hux’s abuse isn’t one of them. In all honestly, watching Peter Rabbit, which is clearly meant for children as its primary audience, was a relief after The Last Jedi.
