Tom and Jerry

About

Tom and Jerry is an American animated series created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It centers on a rivalry between its two title characters, Tom and Jerry, a cat and mouse, respectively. The basic premise for the cartoon consists of Tom attempting to capture and eat Jerry, who frequently outsmarts, humiliates and physically harms Tom.

History

William Hanna and Joseph Barbara created Tom and Jerry while working for the MGM cartoon studio in the late 1930s. After being paired together, Hannah and Barbara decided on a cat and mouse cartoon for titled "Puss Gets the Boot," the first Tom and Jerry cartoon (shown below), which premiered on February 10th, 1940.^[1]

"Puss Gets the Boot" went on to receive an Oscar Nomination, which led to more Tom and Jerry cartoons at the behest of MGM animation studio head Fred Quimby. The duo continued to release Tom and Jerry episodes in theaters for the next 18 years. However, when MGM cartoons shuttered in 1958, so to did their run on the cartoon. The last of their Tom and Jerry shorts, Tot Watchers, premiered on August 1st, 1958.

Tom and Jerry has been revived numerous times since 1960. It was produced by Gene Deitch from 1961 to 1962 and Looney Tunes-creator Chuck Jones^[2] from 1963 and 1967, and became a staple of Saturday morning cartoons during this time, running on CBS from 1965 to 1972.

In 1975, Tom and Jerry returned to Hanna-Barbera for the Saturday morning cartoon The Tom and Jerry Show. However, the characters changed hands again in 1980, moving to Filmmation Studios, which was known for their "limited animation," production speed and cheaper quality.

Tom and Jerry continued to change hands throughout the 80s, being bought by Ted Turner in an MGM acquisition, before, once again, being returned to Hanna-Barbera for Tom and Jerry Kids, a cartoon featuring baby versions of the cat and mouse.

Tom and Jerry saw brief revivals throughout the 90s and 2000s. Since 2006, the two have been owned by Warner Bros.

Reception

Tom and Jerry are two of the world's most famous cartoon characters and were named the 66th best Animated TV Shows by IGN in 2009.^[3]

While the first Tom and Jerry cartoon, "Puss Gets the Boot" received little attention from audiences, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject. Tom and Jerry went on to win Best Short Subject seven times, tying for the most Oscars in the category, and was nominated for another six awards.

Racism

In recent years, networks and viewers have honed in on the racial implications of some of Tom and Jerry's characters, particularly that of Mammy Two Shoes, the housemaid of the home wherein Tom resides. While Barbara said that Mammy Two Shoes does not reflect his own opinion, many considered some of her depiction and other jokes racist, particularly when explosions would leave characters with charred faces that resembled stereotypical depictions of African Americas. Actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg explains this in the introduction to the Uncensored Tom and Jerry Collection DVD (shown below).

Impact

Tom and Jerry is widely considered to be one of the most influential cartoons of all time. The cartoons have influenced Itchy and Scratchy on The Simpsons, the slapstick comedy of MAD magazine, and even some of the stunts on Jackass. In 2010, Johnny Knoxville^[4] listed the cat and mouse as influence on his show and movie. He said:

I’m a huge fan of slapstick comedy and a big fan of cartoons and all the stuff they get away with and, you know, we try to get away with that stuff. I never think about Jackass in a historical context, but now that you ask me that, yeah, I guess that hopefully it’s in line with the slapstick stars like Buster Keaton and with Tom and Jerry. Tom and Jerry are, like, two of my heroes…I know that, in Jackass 2 when I was blindfolded and got hit by a yak, that was straight from a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Tom gets a blindfold on him and a bull hits him.

Fandom

Tom and Jerry have fans throughout the world, as well as online. In January 1998, the fan site Tom and Jerry Online launched.^[5] The site is home to Tom and Jerry information, videos, pictures, soundbites, merchandise and more. Additionally, the Tom and Jerry Facebook account has over 42.7 million likes and 42 million followers.^[7]

On February 4th, 2017, Redditor imthewiseguy launched the /r/TomAndJerryMemes subreddit. The subreddit had 149 readers in the first three months.^[6]

Related Memes

I Know He Ate a Cheese

I Know He Ate a Cheese (often stylized without capitalization) is an expression referencing a scene in the cartoon television series Tom and Jerry, in which Jerry the mouse eats a large wedge of cheese that changes the shape of his entire body.

That Fucking Cat

That Fucking Cat, also know Cover-Tom, is an exploitable image and response image originating from 4chan, showing a picture of popular cartoon character Tom from Tom and Jerry leaning out from behind a construction site girder and smirking. It stands out as one of the few successful forced memes.

Zoot Suit Tom

“Zoot Suit Tom,” also known as “One More Time” is a picture of the character Tom from Tom and Jerry dressed in a Zoot Suit. The character is often depicted as a rival to Literally Me. The image originates from the 1944 Tom and Jerry episode, The Zoot Cat.

Polish Jerry

"Polish Jerry" refers to a series of image macros featuring a picture of Jerry with his eyes half open. A popular dank meme, the image is usually coupled by a caption below the picture, which is generally an offensive joke.

Tom Shoots Himself

"Tom Shoots Himself" refers to an image of Tom putting a rifle into Jerry's mouse hole but does not realize that the rife is poking out of another hole, pointing directly at his head. It is frequently photoshopped to comment on a particular subject that is unknowingly doing harm to themselves. "

Search Interest

External References