Grasshoppers (Cavallette) is an Italian animated short by Bruno Bozzetto which condenses the whole of human civilization into 9 minutes, focusing primarily on the human race's predilection for warfare and the vanity of war.[1] It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1990, but lost to Aardman's Creature Comforts.[2][3]
Each piece of history is presented as a simple vignette, usually depicting a few simply-drawn characters arguing and making war, over and over again. Generally, a single figure is meant to stand in for an entire group (i.e., a single Caesar-like caricature for the entire line of Roman Emperors).
There is very little spoken dialogue; instead, most of the cartoon is accompanied by a bouncy piano-driven score, which frequently changes style to suit the particular historical era. However, the score rests on a single simple theme, to which it frequently returns in between vignettes.[4][5]
Plotedit
In the course of 9 minutes, Grasshoppers takes us through the following parts of history:
The discovery of fire, and the development of tools and weapons, which Modern Man uses to remove the threat of the larger but less intelligent Neanderthal;
A tragedy in ancient Greece, where a dancer and a musician fall in love and are killed by a king, who is then attacked and defeated by the Roman Empire;
The Roman Empire, represented by a single "Caesar-like" figure, who repeatedly sends troops off to plunder the cultures at the fringes of the empire, until they eventually come back to defeat the now lazy, unprepared later Empire. The birth of Jesus Christ is also alluded to, but it only distracts the warring parties for a split second;
The continual fight for supremacy between the monarchies of medieval Western Europe (including an allusion to Joan of Arc);
The rise of Islam, leading eventually to the Crusades;
The United States' systematic removal of Native Americans;
World War II and Nazi Germany, which leads to the Atomic Age (a bright white flash from off-screen vaporizes goose-stepping Nazis, though not a literal occurrence, like many events in the cartoon, a metaphor for the fact that the atomic bomb effectively ended World War II, and ushered in a frightening new era);
Recent years, up to the present day (1990, the year of the cartoon), which encompasses the Cold War, the Vietnam and/or Korean Wars, and the continual skirmishing that occurs still today, between all nations, organizations, and individuals.
As the centuries (and later decades) pass, the pace of the animation grows gradually faster and more frantic.
At the beginning and end of the cartoon, and occasionally in between vignettes, the cartoon abandons the struggles of humanity to focus briefly on a shot of grass growing and insects buzzing over the ruins of previous battles. In the final shot, the camera finally zooms in tighter on the grass to allow us to glimpse two grasshoppers happily mating.
grasshoppers, cavallette, italian, animated, short, bruno, bozzetto, which, condenses, whole, human, civilization, into, minutes, focusing, primarily, human, race, predilection, warfare, vanity, nominated, academy, award, best, animated, short, film, 1990, los. Grasshoppers Cavallette is an Italian animated short by Bruno Bozzetto which condenses the whole of human civilization into 9 minutes focusing primarily on the human race s predilection for warfare and the vanity of war 1 It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1990 but lost to Aardman s Creature Comforts 2 3 Grasshoppers Cavallette Directed byBruno BozzettoWritten byBruno BozzettoProduced byBruno BozzettoMusic byRoberto FrattiniRelease date6 March 1990 1990 03 06 Italy Running time9 min CountryItalyLanguageItalian Contents 1 Summary 2 Plot 3 References 4 External linksSummary editEach piece of history is presented as a simple vignette usually depicting a few simply drawn characters arguing and making war over and over again Generally a single figure is meant to stand in for an entire group i e a single Caesar like caricature for the entire line of Roman Emperors There is very little spoken dialogue instead most of the cartoon is accompanied by a bouncy piano driven score which frequently changes style to suit the particular historical era However the score rests on a single simple theme to which it frequently returns in between vignettes 4 5 Plot editIn the course of 9 minutes Grasshoppers takes us through the following parts of history The discovery of fire and the development of tools and weapons which Modern Man uses to remove the threat of the larger but less intelligent Neanderthal Ancient Egypt an animal worshipper clashes with a sun worshipper A tragedy in ancient Greece where a dancer and a musician fall in love and are killed by a king who is then attacked and defeated by the Roman Empire The Roman Empire represented by a single Caesar like figure who repeatedly sends troops off to plunder the cultures at the fringes of the empire until they eventually come back to defeat the now lazy unprepared later Empire The birth of Jesus Christ is also alluded to but it only distracts the warring parties for a split second The continual fight for supremacy between the monarchies of medieval Western Europe including an allusion to Joan of Arc The rise of Islam leading eventually to the Crusades Genghis Khan s siege of China and the construction of the Great Wall The Spanish conquest of the Americas The French Revolution The British French Wars possibly the wars of the First and Second Coalition The American Revolution The Napoleonic Wars The United States systematic removal of Native Americans World War II and Nazi Germany which leads to the Atomic Age a bright white flash from off screen vaporizes goose stepping Nazis though not a literal occurrence like many events in the cartoon a metaphor for the fact that the atomic bomb effectively ended World War II and ushered in a frightening new era Recent years up to the present day 1990 the year of the cartoon which encompasses the Cold War the Vietnam and or Korean Wars and the continual skirmishing that occurs still today between all nations organizations and individuals As the centuries and later decades pass the pace of the animation grows gradually faster and more frantic At the beginning and end of the cartoon and occasionally in between vignettes the cartoon abandons the struggles of humanity to focus briefly on a shot of grass growing and insects buzzing over the ruins of previous battles In the final shot the camera finally zooms in tighter on the grass to allow us to glimpse two grasshoppers happily mating References edit Grasshoppers S 1990 Moliterno Gino 12 October 2009 The A to Z of Italian Cinema Gino Moliterno Google Books ISBN 9780810870598 Retrieved 2016 03 19 Oscars 7 July 2015 Short Film Winners 1991 Oscars Archived from the original on 2021 12 15 via YouTube Grasshoppers 1990 Bruno Bozzetto Review AllMovie AllMovie Open Roads 2010 The World According to Bruno Bozzetto The House Next Door Slant Magazine Slant Magazine 8 June 2010 External links editBruno Bozzetto s Webpage Cavallette at IMDb nbsp Cavallette on Bozzetto s official YouTube channel Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Grasshoppers Cavallette amp oldid 1212036959, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
