Beethoven, Brahms, and Bugs Bunny
Lady Godiva | Monday, January 4, 2010 at 8:46PM | tagged Music, beethoven, brahms, bugs bunny, cartoons, classical music, gershwin, mozart, tv, tweety bird | 6 Comments | in Arts & Entertainment All I really needed to know about classical music and world culture I learned by watching Saturday morning cartoons!
I am a product of the 80s. With that comes a number of wonderfully nostalgic memories, including watching Saturday morning cartoons. Among them are Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and Sylvester and Tweety, just to name a few. It wasn’t until college that I realized I actually knew Mozart, Gershwin and Beethoven because I had never chosen to listen to classical music. My choices lied in the Go Gos, Madonna and New Edition, hardly considered “classical” (although now, over 20 years later, may be considered classic!).
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, and Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven are among some of my favorite and most memorable classical hits thanks to my cartoon exposure. Growing up in lower middle class Philadelphia in the 80s didn’t easily lend itself to the arts and culture (at least not from my neighborhood) and so as an adult I can really appreciate all the music that I learned from Bugs and Tom and Tweety!
Aside from the music exposure, I began to realize what made these cartoons not only entertaining but also educational was the fact that every single character has a distinct speech pattern. Sylvester has a studder. Elmer Fudd has a delightful difficulty with “r’s” as indicated by his famous, “Wascally wabbit!” Yosemite Sam, complete with cowboy hat and spurs, offers great insight to the “old west” with his witty “Ya old Varmit!” And of course, culturally, a whole window on the styles and language of the French and Spanish was opened thanks to Pepe le Pew and Speedy Gonzales.
I say that I feel these characters provided educational and cultural learning experiences because everyone I went to school with had the usual “Philly” accent, and said things like “wooder,” “addytood” and “awn” (for on). So being exposed to people who spoke differently was something I would only find courtesy of my cartoon watching (until I left the cultural bubble I lived in and headed to an area where they had “subs” not hoagies, and Amish and said things like “WAH-TER” which was in Millersville, PA). Dialect and language have just always been interesting to me, and I attribute it all to Saturday morning cartoons.
Now I realize I’m an adult and watching cartoons is usually reserved for children; however, I think a lot can be learned from watching these “juvenile” television shows and I for one intend to go right ahead and enjoy every last rerun (with or without kids in tow!). And I have to admit, I miss those carefree days when all I needed was a few episodes of Bugs Bunny, milk and cookies and a few, good, classical music pieces to thoroughly enjoy my day. Speaking of which, I think I’ll go now and pull out my Brahms and trade my milk and cookies for some wine and enjoy the start of the new year.
Reader Comments (6)
I loved your post and could definately relate to it as well as laugh at the reference to our Philly accents. As for the cartoons, I remember one Bugs BUnny episode in particular where Bugs isconducting an orchestra. The title of the work, which I've always loved, remains a mystery to this day. I think it might be Rachmaninoff but regardless, it was, as you said, a critical first exposure to the arts for children. I don't know if you're aware of the movie, Fantasia, featuring Mickey Mouse and friends. If you haven't seen it, rent it sometime. You would probably love it, as the entire production is quintessential Disney footage set to classical music. Anyway, welcome to the blog Lady G. and thanks for such an interesting first entry. Keep them coming!
Well done. Great connection between cartoons, which are often maligned as tomfoolery, and classical music, which is often set so far off into the stratosphere that normal people can't even see it.
Your post got me thinking and so I went to the Philadelphia Orchestra to see if I could get some tickets to help my family gain an appreciation for the art. Tickets at the Kimmel center are pretty reasonable. For a Thursday night tickets ranged from 110 to 10 dollars. I have been to the Kimmel center and the sound was an incredible experience. I hope to get some very soon but I wonder if my kids would enjoy it. I am going to try next time I have some free time.
The more modern cartoons like Spongebob and handy mandy do not offer the same classical music background. Little Einsteins does and they do a great job at incorporating art and music. They introduce the show explaining the names or movement of the artist and the classical musician.
Modern cartoons are interested in the introduction of language, especially Spanish or Chinese, with Dora, Diego, Li Yao Kian. Pinky Dinky Do introduces kids to large vocabulary in English and everytime the word can be used instead of a small word, they ring a bell. Remember Pee Wee Herman.
I am not a big fan of television for kids. I do think it plays an important role in cultural foundation and literacy, but not in language acquisition. Language acquisition must come from person to person interaction because of inflexion and context, and the time it takes to process and store words is only impeded by the constant visual switching. This is just not translated on the screen as well as the musical and visual arts.
I listen to classical music everyday. I believe in its mind opening power and soothing sounds. I get excited at the marches and trumpet sonatas. I have never thought that my interest may have come from my early television watching. But it just may have.
Thanks for the lunch and the ideas.
loved the post. In fact, I was planning on buying a few classical CD's for stocking stuffers for my son this passed holiday season. I found there is no classical section in the CD isles of places like Target. I couldn't believe it! I didn't really think about why I had resigned to this idea, but maybe your suggestion is something that has been instilled in many of us subconsciously. It is definitely worth thinking about, and I will probably stop at Borders on the way home today to visit their music section.
Conversely, I disagree with Dugan’s opinion of current day child programming. My eight-year old’s vocabulary is incredible. Many times I am flabbergasted by the way he uses advanced vocabulary correctly in context. When I ask him where he learned a word, he most often replies with the name of a television program. He can even cite the subject matter of the episode and rephrases the dialog of the characters. Although the classic cartoons offer culture (which I appreciate), I believe the current programming offers more language acquisition, if you will! We (my son and I) also discuss the interpersonal relationships of the characters and how it translates into the “real” world. I by no means believe a child should have unlimited and unsupervised use of a TV, but I do believe that our colleagues in the script writing business are doing a respectable job of keeping up with our children’s entertainment and cerebral needs.
Bugs Bunny was a cultural education about a world my parents' knew but I could not (without much research): a world of black and white film noir, of Carmen Miranda, of Edward G. Robinson, of Duke Ellington. Children who are curious about life 30-40 years ago can see old commercials on YouTube, but when I was a kid in the late 70's, during an era when the children of Baby Boomers had all but dismissed the past in the postmodern era, the only way to learn about the war era as a kid was through cartoons. Bugs seems to be the Brooklyn wiseguy, a personality that kind of disappeared with the postwar flight to the suburbs. I'm glad you brought all this back to the surface.
(Misplaced apostrophe on line 1 of my comment above)
Thank you for all your thoughtful responses! I feel very welcomed at the lunch table and plan to keep writing! I appreciated Mr. Dugan's comments regarding modern cartoons, since I am only vaguely familiar with them. I know my friend relies on shows like Ni Hao Ki Lan (sp?) and Dora the Explorer to expose her son and daugter to other cultures. Her son is older and has learned some Spanish (before he's even mastered English!). It's delightful to hear him interchange the two! And I'm glad Miss Apple's driving head on into that world of classical music - I am sure her son will love it! Great comments everyone! And thanks Steelefields for the recommendation - never saw it, but I will get right on it!