Digital Funtown

I was drawn to Digital FunTown originally for the music. That was, at least, the first thing that got me to click on the site in an attempt to get some news on and hear what was going down in the world of neo soul and smooth jazz. But, if you are a Digital FunTown regular you are already well aware of the many pokers that DFT has in the fire. It is truly an original, interactive, creative community. One of my favorite pieces of the Digital FunTown pie are the videos and Short Short skits. They can be kind of tricky to watch at work though. I know I could just wait until I get home and watch as many as I please with the volume cranked, but I am not the most patient person in the world. In fact, quite the opposite, especially if I know or have an idea of what is waiting for me. That is exactly the case with the animation series, The Nuttcups.

Now, I love cartoons. I always have and fully expect that I always will. I have always especially enjoyed the cartoons, like Bugs Bunny, that worked on more than level. The kind of cartoon that has a first layer with an almost slap stick style of humor. And then, after thinking about the piece, you are able to pick up on a more thoughtful and subtle type of humor. The creator of the Nuttcups must be aware of the similarity, slight as it may be, to the cartoons of Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes. At the beginning and ending of the cartoons, the Nuttcups feature the same background as Bugs and his Looney Tune brethren. But while Bugs Bunny is a children's cartoon that can also be enjoyed by adults, The Nuttcups is for mature audiences only! The Nuttcups cartoons feature content and language that is strictly for mature audiences.

If you have not yet seen any of the cartoons, what the heck are you waiting for? The cartoon series features a group of squirrels who live in a tree in Central Park in New York City. They always seem to manage to get themselves into some kind trouble and there is always some greater, underlying commentary related to some sort of current event or social issue that manges to get touched upon in addition to the craziness. Like most cartoons, The Nuttcups have a formula of sorts, but they do it well, very well. The language can be difficult to follow, but it plays an important role. The Nuttcups obviously are to represent inner city African Americans and the language isn't at all "cleaned up" for audiences. I find it interesting how, so often, in the entertainment industry, if any program is trying to give an audience an authentic look into another culture’s inner sanctum, this feat is often attempted in animation.

In the cartoon, Nuttcups Justice, the boys’ tree house is broken into and robbed. By following them in their attempts to recover their stuff, particularly an iPod, the cartoonist points out a number of social injustices and culturally relevant issues that are tied into the central topic. When the Nuttcups call the police, the police do not take their situation seriously at all. In fact, the police are in the process of smoking pot, possibly the very same pot that was earlier taken from The Nuttcups apartment. This shows The Nuttcups attempting to work within the system and it is that very system that is giving them problems in the first place. But The Nuttcups don't go the easy route. A real effort is made to give a little bit of the blame to everyone involved. At this point in the cartoon a fat African American man, supposedly meant to represent the Rev. Al Sharpton, is shown stuffing himself with a gluttonous amount of food when he smells an opportunity to get himself some publicity and he will go to any lengths to make sure he is sufficiently praised. Nobody gets out of here without taking a few lumps, but the character representing Sharpton seems to take the worst beating of all. Perhaps this implies that being a traitor to his own people for his personal gain is the worst crime in this parade of people looking out merely for themselves.

Sometimes what is going on in the world can be so messed up, mixed up and ludicrous that depicting it in cartoon form is perhaps the best way it can be achieved. The Nuttcups pull this off time and time again masterfully, while all the time also making sure it is freakin' hilarious.