"Half-Baked Theories and Misguided Essays!"

May 9, 2008 10:58 PM

The Journal of Cartoon Over-analyzations. For all your cartoon-related, obsessive and critical-thinking needs. Recent over-analyzations include Bestial Sexuality in He-Man and She-Ra, Evil Mickey Mouse and A Freudian Analysis of Beavis and Butthead. For quick fixes, check out the Mini-Analyzations.[Via].
posted by amyms (25 comments total)

Oh, poo. I have this site open in another tab right now all ready to post... eventually.

If this site did a complex cartoon-based over-analyzation of my psyche right at this moment, it would reveal... the shameful truth.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:32 PM on May 9, 2008

I just regurgitated in my plate of beans.
posted by anifinder at 11:50 PM on May 9, 2008 [2 favorites]

This kind of sucks, because none of the "theoretical frameworks" they use are applied correctly or apparently even understood at all. If you want to overthink things, do a good job, dammit!
posted by nasreddin at 2:49 AM on May 10, 2008

I'm troubled by the word analyzation.
posted by psmealey at 4:17 AM on May 10, 2008 [2 favorites]

It's film school all over again, except instead of skipping class I'm not clicking on the links!
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:31 AM on May 10, 2008 [3 favorites]

Here's a pretty entertaining Lacanian reading of Beavis and Butthead.

The single most jaw-dropping moment for the psychoanalytically informed viewer in all the Beavis and Butthead episodes comes in the episode entitled "Steamroller." Our heroes are watching a music video by the eccentric Scandinavian singer Bjork when Beavis blurts out: "I heard Bjork has a schlong." Butthead stammers, and asks where Beavis heard this. Beavis claims it was "the guy in the bathroom." After a few more questions, it becomes clear to everyone except Beavis that "the guy in the bathroom" is Beavis' own reflection.

posted by stammer at 4:43 AM on May 10, 2008 [4 favorites]

Here's a pretty entertaining Lacanian reading of Beavis and Butthead.

Amazing! Especially the bit about the "casual sadism of patriarchy" at the end.
posted by nasreddin at 4:56 AM on May 10, 2008

"My Stuart does not have diarrhea! I'm his mooother. I would knooow."

That is all.
posted by nosila at 7:08 AM on May 10, 2008

How can you not apply a Freudian reading to Beavis & Butthead?
posted by jonp72 at 8:06 AM on May 10, 2008

Yep, "analyzation" is a word I've corrected on a hundred high school papers, and doesn't make me too excited about the content.
posted by kozad at 8:22 AM on May 10, 2008

What's wrong with analyzation?
posted by demiurge at 8:54 AM on May 10, 2008

I'm troubled by the word analyzation.

What's your difficultity with that?
posted by rokusan at 9:15 AM on May 10, 2008 [2 favorites]

That essay on Beavis and Butthead was brilliant. I really wonder how deeply Mike Judge thought about the show and how much was pure free association.
posted by empath at 10:17 AM on May 10, 2008

(to clarify, the one in the comments, not the one in the fpp)
posted by empath at 10:18 AM on May 10, 2008

These guys are doing it on purpose, and are trying (too hard) to be funny. For honest, unadulterated cartoon over-analyzation that doesn't know it's going over the top you want the wikipedia article on Magical Trevor.

In the scene where Trevor is performing for the cows, the lyrics talk about how well-liked he is, but the cows go from indifferent to angry, and Trevor goes from a childish eagerness to a nervous desire to appease the cows. Then, after Trevor has failed to make any impression on his audience, the cow that he used in his trick is given a full press conference. Through these aspects of the story, the cartoon skillfully develops Magical Trevor's character, and makes him likable to boot.

Strangely, the animal involved is a cow, rather than a bull, but the narration refers to him as "he" rather than "she".
posted by yhbc at 3:03 PM on May 10, 2008

This kind of sucks, because none of the "theoretical frameworks" they use are applied correctly or apparently even understood at all. If you want to overthink things, do a good job, dammit!

Agree x 9,000,000,000.
This is very poorly done.
posted by Dr. Wu at 3:28 PM on May 10, 2008

Analyzation seems a cromulent word! It sounds like a Bush-ism.
posted by Coaticass at 4:32 PM on May 10, 2008

I am with psmealey. Please refrain from using the word "analyzation" in any place that it is possible to use the word "analysis" (unless this was an intentional ploy to inspire the over-analysis of your word usage, in which case kudos!).
posted by numinous at 5:15 PM on May 10, 2008

"Analyzation" is a needless nominalization. The word "analysis" is a perfectly serviceable noun form of the verb "analyze."
posted by vitia at 5:18 PM on May 10, 2008

Oops. Beat me to it.
posted by vitia at 5:19 PM on May 10, 2008

I am with psmealey. Please refrain from using the word "analyzation" in any place that it is possible to use the word "analysis"

Exceptions granted if you are verbally disorientated.
posted by psmealey at 9:02 PM on May 10, 2008

I took a gander at the He-man bestiality essay, which seemed a bit too much like something found in a highschool or college freshman paper. You know, sophomoric, pointless, and fueled by a combination of Mountain Dew, pop psychology, and maybe a touch of the ganja.
posted by recoveringsophist at 7:39 AM on May 11, 2008

I so want to cite an article from J. Cart. Overanal. in a paper I'm writing.
posted by lukemeister at 9:04 AM on May 11, 2008

I don't want to make this an lolfeminist thread, but I must give a shout-out to quantum feminism.
posted by lukemeister at 9:05 AM on May 11, 2008

Analysis: yes. Analyzation: maybe, if you're weird. Analyzations: hell no.

Still, a website about over-analysis whose name invites over-analysis gets a firm thumbs-up from me.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:34 AM on May 11, 2008