Ralph Bakshi: A True Pioneer In a time when animation was dominated by kid friendly cartoons and the antics of tricky rabbits and big-shoed mice was the norm, it was Ralph Bakshi's (October 20, 1938) uncensored, full-bearing adult animations that pushed against the mainstream and forced people to think. Bakshi was a pioneer in his field who stirred up much controversy with his films. Like George Carlin, Bakshi sought the line and crossed it.
Bakshi originally worked for Terrytoon animation studios in the late '50s and '60s. He took part in such shows as Deputy Dog, Heckle and Jeckle and Spiderman. But Bakshi was unhappy with the direction that the cartoons were going, and in 1972 created his most celebrated piece. Based on Robert Crumb's infamous adult comic book series, Fritz the Cat became the first X-rated cartoon. It touched on issues of war, politics, drugs and the counter-culture movement that swept the nation at that time period. In the following years, Bakshi would go on to make some of his most poignant films, which explored race relations in the city, and tackled many risqué topics. These films included Heavy Traffic, Coonskin and Hey Good Lookin. Bakshi was no stranger to controversy, and his adult-oriented cartoons garnered as much heat as they did praise. Many of his cartoons were banned from certain countries, and were constantly censored. Bakshi turned to fantasy in 1977 with his film Wizards. The movie told of a dystopian, future fairytale world where an evil wizard plans to enslave people using an old film projector with footage of Adolf Hitler. While the subject matter may seem a bit out there, it was nevertheless beautifully animated and attempted to cover issues that no one else had. Bakshi also helped pioneer a style of animation called "rotoscoping." This technique involved shooting live action footage of the actors, and then tediously coloring over them to give the animations a realistic feel and movement. Bakshi implemented this technique in his film The Lord of the Rings and his collaboration with artist Frank Frazetta in Fire and Ice. Bakshi is unfortunately not recognized for his contributions to film and animation as much as he should be. He helped revolutionize the industry and injected his cartoons with an unrelenting realism. He was unafraid to show things for what they were, and for this he is a pioneer of his craft. -- http://www.inside-beat.com/film/ralph-bakshi-a-true-pioneer-1.2463290 Via InstaFetch -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
