The post I wanted to call “the postmodern Stone Age family” except someone already used that phrase for The Croods.

§ February 27th, 2017 § Filed under cartoons § 2 Comments

So the story is nominally about Bamm-Bamm — excuse me, Teen-age Bamm-Bamm — finding his pet dinosaur Snoots holding a treasure map in his mouth, and then going off in pursuit of said treasure, while rivals Bruno and his gang, pictured here:


…try to get their mitts on the map.

There’s a lot of hoohar and goings-on as the battle for the map rages on, until the startling truth comes to light:


Now, I could go into the whole “which animals are sentient and self-aware, and which are just dog/cat-level pets in the Flintstones milieu” discussion, and that Snoots clearly has crossed the previously unbroken line between the two, if he’s, you know, making hand-drawn maps. Though I recall Dino’s comic book appearances give him thought balloons and a more comprehensive inner intellectual life than evidenced in the original animated source material. And then, of course, I’m trying to recall if the speaking animals actually interact conversationally with the humans (beyond repeating messages left by other humans), or if their comments are strictly for gag asides.

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Mostly, I just wanted to point out this breaking of the fourth wall by one Mr. B. Bamm, in which he expresses his surprise at Snoots’ heretofore unrevealed cartological skills:


Perhaps one could surmise he is speaking to Bruno, whom he was speaking to just the panel previous, and we are taking Bruno’s point of view. However, the convention in comics storytelling for this particular panel composition is the direct addressing of the reader. Bamm-Bamm is expressing directly to you his surprise at his pet dinosaur’s skills. He has broken the fourth wall. He knows there are readers outside his world, looking in. Much like Buddy Baker in Animal Man #19 from 1990:


…he is aware he is in a comic book. In other words, what Bamm-Bamm is trying to say is


 
 
 

images from Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm #6 (September 1972), and Animal Man #19 (January 1990) by Grant Morrison, Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood — special thanks to Bully the Little Image-Manipulating Bull for his production assistance!

2 Responses to “The post I wanted to call “the postmodern Stone Age family” except someone already used that phrase for The Croods.”

  • Brad says:

    “Though I recall Dino’s comic book appearances give him thought balloons and a more comprehensive inner intellectual life than evidenced in the original animated source material.”

    Actually, in his first appearance on the show, Dino not only talked, he had a French accent a la Pepe le Pew! They dropped that in a hurry.

    Dino also talked to other animals, and had a lot of thought balloons, in the Flintstones comic strip.

    “And then, of course, I’m trying to recall if the speaking animals actually interact conversationally with the humans (beyond repeating messages left by other humans), or if their comments are strictly for gag asides.”

    Are spoilers necessary for a fifty-year-old movie? In The Man Called F.L.I.N.T.S.T.O.N.E., Fred and Barney are able to escape prison by convincing the little bird in one of Fred’s gadgets to get the keys for them.

  • MrJM says:

    Well, now it seems like there was an implied “I can see you!” in every time a dino-tool shrugged and muttered, “It’s a living…”

    e.g. http://imgur.com/a/GsrYI

    — MrJM