Human Contraptions

LIBBY TUDBALL

1 STUDYGUIDE Synopsis an integrated curriculum approach, to look at cartoons from around drawing on English skills, as well as the world produced in the last Academy Award-winning animator, an understanding of the content that decade. Bruce Petty, takes us on an anarchic is drawn from other disciplines. • Teachers and students could ex- journey that is a satirical look at the plore some of the references on inner mechanics of the ‘contraptions’ Before watching the films cartoons listed at the end of this that shape our lives. Education, sex, guide. finance, globalism, art, media, medi- Students could develop an under- • To find out more about Bruce cine, law, government and even the standing of the genres Petty uses in Petty’s career as a cartoonist, brain are all transformed into evolving Human Contraptions before watching visit www.about.theage.com.au/ machines. the films. view_profile.asp?intid=854 • Try to draw a political cartoon Each of the ten five-minute episodes • In a class discussion, talk about yourself, and then compare and begins with the basic concept at your views on these questions: discuss other classmates’ car- the nucleus of the machine. Then, What do you see as the purpose toons. by combining high-energy, free- of political cartoons? Do you The political cartoon can certainly form illustrations with photographs, think that political cartoons influ- be a devastating weapon—it can paintings and other snippets from ence people? To test your theory, make you laugh if it suits your the ‘real’ world, Petty takes us on a construct some questions and point of view, or it could fill you journey through history, as each ap- survey friends and family from with anger if it does not. It has paratus builds to its complex con- various age groups. Discuss your been said that one picture is temporary form. We see how these findings. worth a thousand words; what contraptions are not immutable but • Collect and explore a range of dif- is certainly beyond doubt is that are shaped by society; by our chang- ferent cartoonists’ works from the political cartoons have been a ing ideas and our actions. We are print media. Look at their different powerful method of cutting those encouraged to question and laugh drawing styles and approaches. in authority down to size. They are at the haphazard and often faulty Attempt to uncover meanings in also invaluable in exposing the mechanisms that drive these ma- the various works, either as an machinations of companies and chines that, in turn, run our lives. individual, small group or as a governments. class. Chelmsford Trades Union Coun- The series is witty, provocative and • In a class discussion, develop cil, www.chelmsfordtuc.pwp.blu entertaining. It reveals these contrap- working definitions of the words eyonder.co.uk/cartoon.html, 24 tions to be constructions of a very ‘caricature’, ‘irony’ and ‘satire’. October 2003. human kind—imperfect, sometimes First, jot down your views and • With your class, discuss the unpredictable, and always subject to then share them with other class views expressed by the Chelms- change. members. ford Trades Union Council about • Visit the National Museum of political cartoons. Curriculum links online and download the resource ‘Laughing With After watching the films Human Contraptions will have rele- Knives: Exploring Political Car- vance to students of Cultural Studies, toons’. Work through the activi- Having watched the films, either as Australian Studies, Studies of Society ties for students on cartoons at: a whole class, in small groups, or and Environment, Politics, History, www.nma.gov.au/data/page/847/ as written exercises, discuss your English, Music, Drama and Media laughing_with_knives.pdf answers to these questions: Studies. The films can be explored • Visit http://xroads.virginia.edu/ by middle to senior secondary school ~MA96/PUCK/part1.html to read • What are the main techniques students, and students at the tertiary an American view of the origins of used in the films? education level. political cartooning. • Write down a few of your own • Explore http://home.ca.inter.net/ thoughts about Human Con- Many of the activities are based on ~dmonet/cartoon/archive.htm traptions and then discuss your

2 3 views. TV is good at Jane Austen and the gets. Representing them as machines • Present short oral descriptions life of the otter. We can do them at least suggests they are man-made, of your reactions to the film, and forever, and they will be beautiful, but they wear out and can be fixed even then discuss your ideas with it is very hard to do bank rates and as they do determine how we live. other class members. derivatives, things which determine • What do you think are the key how a country works, and who gets The series offered a chance to check themes in each film? a job. So we keep watching Jane the workings of these ‘contraptions’. • How would you describe the Austen and the otter. There seems Institutions such as the legal, medi- genre of the films? to be a gap. My professional life has cal and finance systems carry our • How would you describe Petty’s always been about finding those gaps ‘trust’—we are expected to believe in cartoon style? and niches and trying to fill them in. them. We are persuaded that they are • Look at the cartoon images from self-correcting and that the correc- the films reproduced in this study • In your own words write or tions are properly and democratically guide. Discuss how the contrap- present an explanation of what monitored. tion is depicted in the image. you think Petty means by these How does the image represent comments. Many people are now beginning to each theme? suspect that this is not so. Petty says that a key challenge with Thinking, talking and writing Human Contraptions was: • Do you agree with Petty’s views? about Petty’s ‘spin’ on his [to] imagine what could be said about Explain your answers. creation such massive subjects as Law, Glo- • Do you think people are suspi- balism, Government, Art, Medicine, cious about the institutions we Petty says, ‘Caricature is a device Education, Sex, Finance, The Brain live with? by which we hope to make complex and Media in five minutes of anima- • In your opinion, which of the ideas (at least) accessible, (occasion- tion. I wanted Human Contraptions contraptions that are explored by ally) witty and (sometimes) informa- to be a cheerful reminder that as our Petty do need ‘correcting’? tive. The Human Contraptions series cars, videos and toasters get smarter is a playful exercise in caricature— and cheaper, the institutions we really Positive themes in the films specifically, political cartooning—for need are getting more expensive and television’. unreliable, and are starting to rattle. I Petty claims that the films are: hope viewers recognize some of our not just a cynical take on society’s • In discussing each short film, talk more bizarre organizational devices major organizations. There is also an about the extent to which you and enjoy the general irreverence. acknowledgment of the human inge- find the ideas ‘accessible’. One nuity, brilliance and good intentions strategy to use is to ask all class • In the films, what instances did behind their construction. Mechanics members to complete the sen- you notice of representations of may not in the end be a perfect meta- tence, ‘The film is about …’ Use our organizations as ‘bizarre’? phor for human organizations: their the results of this exercise to note • List, and then talk about, mo- tendency to develop viruses, attract down the different thoughts about ments of ‘irreverence’ in the films. bacteria-like elements, reproduce the themes and ideas in the film. and reinvent makes them to a large Then share and compare your Petty goes on to say: extent, more like organisms … but ideas, and talk about how varied There is a critical thread to the series, that is perhaps another series. your understandings of each seg- but the main aim was to take an im- ment are. pressionistic, shorthand, comic look • Divide your class into groups. • Do you agree that Human Con- at over-worked, serious subjects. The Consider the aspects of ‘human traptions can be described as a series is based on general suspicions ingenuity, brilliance and good ‘playful exercise in caricature’? people have about the institutions intentions’ in the institutions and Explain your answer. we live with. These bodies are old or organizations that are depicted in biased, often politically disfigured and the films. Petty comments: under-funded—they are familiar tar-

2 3 Analysing the ‘contraptions’

Law

It may have started as a simple ap- paratus to test sin and guilt, but over time, the legal system has become one of our most convoluted contrap- tions, with a noticeable lean towards the financially gifted and a baffling array of attachments. Loopholes, out-of-court settlements, reason- able doubt, company law ... as long as you’ve got a wig it’s possible to • What impressions does the film give of the way the law has developed bypass justice altogether. Bruce over time? Petty shows us the inner workings of • Look at the still image of the barristers at work at the law contraption. this machine, where lawyers speak a Describe the processes depicted in the scene. different language and money speaks • Overall, what views are given of the complexity and power of the legal louder still. machine in our society?

4 5 Brain

From a single cell to self-awareness, • What clever things does the car- consciousness to conscience, the toon say that the brain became human brain has come a long way. capable of? Bruce Petty explores its inner me- • Look at the still image of the chanics in his own inimitable ironic ‘brain individuals’. How is ‘shape’ style, as he takes us from the Big used to express individuality? Bang to genes, hormones and Freud. Why do you think Petty has In Petty’s brain machine, the left side drawn black and white boxes and works things out while the right side arrows in this image? wonders why it should bother, and • Draw your own depiction of a hopefully, there’s enough imagination brain machine. somewhere inside to save us from ourselves.

• As a class, brainstorm your views about the way that Petty depicts the functioning of the brain ma- chine. • What does the voice-over say about the role of the ‘Big Bang’, 15 billion years ago? • What impressions does the film give of the role of the left and right sides of the brain? 4 5 Global ‘race-ometer’ for sorting humans ac- chart showing the changes over cording to the shape of their nostrils time depicted in the film. The main problem with marking out and numerous refugee holding tanks • What devices and images are territory is someone else doing it which are filling up while the fuel used to show world exploration, in the same place. In this episode, tanks are running out. and to depict key world events? Bruce Petty looks at the global • Look at the image of the global contraption and continuing efforts to • In this film, what views does Petty offshore contraption. Why is a divide the planet, even as a world- present of changing global trends shoe used in this cartoon? wide info net shrinks the globe. over time? • How would you explain other im- Petty’s machine comes fitted with a • Create a visual or written flow ages in this cartoon?

6 7 Government

At its basic level, the government machine is operated by people getting together and shouting, and collecting funds to support getting together and shouting. Fuelled by ideological steam, it has survived numerous violent revisions, usually in the name of the common good. From the brown-paper-bag-full-of-money mechanism to the one-man one-vote unit, Bruce Petty surveys the various models of the great government con- traption, many of which have been prone to breakdown.

• Create a flow chart that shows the development of the govern- ment machine over time, using either words or images. • In each of the films, historical im- ages are used to give impressions of changing times. Look at the image of government in earlier times. What historical period do you think the cartoon is focused on? How do you know? What do you think the cartoon is saying about society at the time?

6 7 Education

Historical records show that an early • Create a timeline from the film form of this contraption was a basic, that shows how the education yet compulsory, device that parents machine has developed. used on children. Bruce Petty traces • What overall impressions does the development of education to the film give of education today? its current double-barrelled form. • Look at the cartoon that repre- Whether private or public, it seems sents the issue of state versus that wonder and imagination have private education. Why do you been lost somewhere in the system. think Petty included this image? Now, the whole apparatus has been • Draw a cartoon that depicts your loaded on to an all-subjects, multi- view of education today. ple-choice mainframe, which might be able to spout information, but leaves out how to fit it all together.

8 9 Sex

Moving on from a basic one-celled Why might Petty have included a duplication device, the most suc- cartoon depicting alcohol as be- cessful reproductive machine has ing part of this machine? proved to be the two-human, semi- • What comment does Petty make automatic, chromosome exchanger. about the relationship of sex to It’s simple and neither operator love? requires previous experience, but • What other issues does the film steering the flying, passion-driven, raise? bonding module is far more difficult. • Comment on the effectiveness of From foreplay to feminism, romance humour in relation to the subject to religion, Bruce Petty considers matter of sex. various attempts to get the sex con- traption running hot.

• In this film, what influences are shown to have an impact on the sex machine? • Look at the image ‘sex beer’. 8 9 Finance

One of the first human problems was the sharing business. It worked fairly well until someone discovered money. Before long, they had a fi- nance system—ostensibly controlled by a man known as a banker—con- nected to a new belief system. Eternal growth became the new deity, worshipped by a blessed elite, fuelled by debt and the sacrifice of workers. In this episode, Bruce Pet- ty’s finance contraption starts with money circulating around a simple market tube for the convenience of people, and ends with people being circulated around a complex job tube for the sake of the almighty dollar.

• Using ideas from images and cartoons in this film, draw your own cartoon depicting the world of finance. • Look at the image of the ‘job loop’. Write your own explanation of this cartoon. • Do you think this is a cynical take 10 on finance? 11 Art

The first time a human did something not work related, minds opened and imaginations soared. Attracted by the lack of effort art required, soon everybody was trying to do it so a serious French philosophy team was installed to decide what the art con- traption was really supposed to do. Finally, business stepped in and now anything, properly marketed, can be art for fifteen minutes.

• Look at the cartoon showing the ‘art business’ at work. How does Petty depict the ‘art business- men’ at work? • In the film, what are included as key stages in the development of the art machine? • What overall impression does Petty give of the ‘art world’? 10 11 Media

Since its earliest days, the media or the other way around. machine has run two programs: what people want to hear and what is real- • What impressions does the film ly happening—or news, as it became give of how the media has devel- known. With television, the fantasy oped over time? became so spectacular it made the • Create a flow chart depicting truth look badly acted. Free speech key elements in the process of was left to idealists, academics and the development of the ‘media low-budget documentaries. Then the machine’. machine went global and gave eve- • Look at the still image of the me- rybody what they’d always wanted: dia machine. Write a paragraph 200 continuous talk-down, talk-up, on your interpretation of what is talk-back channels. In this episode, happening in this segment (media Bruce Petty asks whether humans 1). What image is created of how have the media under remote control the news media and other ele- ments are connected? • Look at the still image of pub- lic broadcasting. Write a brief explanation of this image with comments on why the newsread- ers are depicted as they are, and what historical significance there is in this aspect of the media’s development (media 2). • Talkback radio is a more recent aspect of the media ‘contraption’. How does Petty depict the proc- ess (media 3)? • What do you see as the role and IMAGES FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: MEDIA importance of talkback radio? 1, MEDIA 2, MEDIA 3 12 13 Medicine

Humans are basically self-repairing, low-maintenance, all-weather units, but occasionally things go wrong. So, for thousands of years, doctors ad- ministered bedside guesswork, usu- ally with death as a side effect, until microscopes got big enough to find DNA (or how God did it). Now, the medicine machine focuses on getting life perfect at the start and keeping it going longer at the end. The side effect is a shortage of money to fix anyone in between. In this episode, Bruce Petty applies his wry humour to the mix of bioscience, insurance • Look at the two images of the policies and law that medicine has medicine contraption taken from become. the film. The first image shows medicine in the early days. What impressions does the cartoon give of health services? The second image shows the ways that medicine has changed, to include a variety of perspectives on health management. How has the medicine machine changed? • What other key developments and changes in the medicine machine does Petty include in his cartoons?

12 13 Media Studies style. The character of the image was politics, turmoil and change of the mainly determined by a drawing style twentieth century, much of which he How was the series made? that could begin simply and then has documented through his car- increase in complexity. I drew the tooning. Petty says, ‘Distilling such complex production entirely in ‘Flash’, an ex- and lofty subject matter had a sig- tremely flexible software program. It Petty was born on an orchard in Don- nificant impact on how we made this allows animation to be produced to a caster, east of , in 1929. series. Constant revision of the script rough sync soundtrack without hav- His grandfather was an orchardist, and image interaction was necessary ing to use high-end hardware. Cer- as were his father and his uncles. In to refine the ideas and condense the tain movements require twenty-four fact, there were fourteen Pettys in timing’. frames per second treatment, but Doncaster, and they were all or- there are times when twelve frames chardists—growing peaches, pears, • Suggest what you think may per second is quite acceptable. apricots and figs. have been some of the media challenges in creating Human • How would you describe the Petty first found work in an animation Contraptions. animation style? studio in Box Hill. He then pursued • How could you describe Andrew • How is an overall two-dimension- commercial art, later finding expres- Denton’s role in the narration in al result avoided? sion as a satirical cartoonist with pres- the series? • How is colour used in the produc- tigious newspapers and magazines, • What is the role of irony in his tion? such as Esquire, Punch and The New narration? • Why do you think the decision Yorker. He honed his skills and rein- • In what ways are sound effects was made to include historical forced his fame for social commentary and music also important ironic archives? in the pages of The Mirror, The Aus- components? The editor, Sam Petty, edited and tralian and The Age, and in publica- manipulated the animation and tions like The Petty Age, The Penguin Music in the series archival images using a Media Petty and The Absurd Machine. 100 computer package. The award-winning composer, Alan • Find out more about the charac- Petty’s work as an illustrative jour- John, created ‘musical signatures’ for teristics of this media package. nalist has taken him to many of each of the contraptions in the series. • Suggest why this product was the world’s trouble spots, such as His challenge was to devise a musi- used in the production. Vietnam, Timor and Pakistan, as well cal reference for imagined construc- as to the United States for regular tions of abstract notions. Biographies first-hand coverage of the elections.

• How would you describe Alan’s Human Contraptions has been devel- Throughout his illustrious career, music for the Education film? oped by a team that incorporates a Bruce Petty has combined his talents • Discuss the suitability of the mu- high level of talent and experience in for writing, cartooning, observation sic selected for Globalism. the media. Biographical notes have and animation to produce a prolific • In what ways are the ‘musical been included here for the interest body of work over a range of sub- signatures’ developed by elabo- of students who may be pursuing a jects and media. He has successfully rations on each theme? career in various aspects of me- translated his humour, anti-conform- • What connections are there dia studies. These notes provide a ist political views and fascination with between the growing historical snapshot into the professional lives the way things work, from news- complexity of the apparatus and of people working in this field, and print to the screen. He has created changes in the music? recognize their experience and career animated classics such as Austral- pathways. ian History (1970), Marx (1981), the Visual decisions in the making Academy Award-winning Leisure of the films BRUCE PETTY – Writer, (1976) which was produced at Film Director, Animator Australia, Money (1998), This Mad Before reading the following notes on Century (1999) and Human Contrap- the visual processes in the making Bruce Petty is Australia’s only Acad- tions (2003). of the films, suggest what processes emy Award winner for animation. He you think Petty may have used. Petty is a critically acclaimed cartoonist DEBORAH SZAPIRO states: and inspired social commentator, and – Producer is best known as one of Australia’s Visually, I needed to give each of most influential political cartoonists. Deborah Szapiro is a founding the ten contraptions an individual Petty has been an eyewitness to the partner and producer for Freerange 14 15 Animation. Szapiro has over twelve ANDREW DENTON - Neil Armfield and the Belvoir Street years’ experience designing and pro- Narrator Theatre, including on Twelfth Night, ducing a wide range of award-win- The Tempest, Diary of a Madman, ning animated productions for both Andrew Denton started out in The- Diving for Pearls, The Government film and television, using a variety atresports and went on to become Inspector, Death and the Maiden, The of animation techniques. Szapiro’s head writer for Sydney radio come- Governor’s Family, Judas Kiss, Small productions have an excellent track dian, Doug Mulray. Denton first came Poppies, Emma’s Nose and My Zinc record, having won over thirty awards to national attention in a Saturday Bed. in the last six years and receiving morning television show, Beatbox, in nominations for many others. the 1980s, on Broad- Alan’s projects for the Bell Shake- casting Corporation, which quickly speare Company include Antony and Szapiro is a creative producer who gave way to the more ambitious Blah Cleopatra, Henry V, Henry IV and The has carved a niche working on Blah Blah. Winter’s Tale. For the Sydney Theatre quality productions that differ from Company Alan composed the original the standard animated fare. Recent It wasn’t until the much-anticipated music for Hanging Man, A Man with work includes the documentary The sequel to Blah Blah Blah that Denton Five Children and A Doll’s House. Animated Leunig, as well as fifty found his niche. Ditching everyday Alan also composed the music for award-winning animations based on clothes for a tuxedo, he hosted The Tyler Coppin’s one-man show, Tales Michael Leunig’s much-loved car- Money or the Gun, a big-budget talk of Helpmann. toons. Deborah is a vocal supporter show with ‘James Bond’ credits and of the Australian independent anima- linked sketches throughout, based on His film and TV credits includeThe tion sector and has curated and a particular topic each week. Bank (Robert Connolly), Looking for coordinated a number of animation Alibrandi (Kate Woods), Travelling screen culture events, including the His next show, Live and Sweaty, North (Carl Schultz), the ABC mini- Japanime Film Festival (the main film focused on that national obsession, series The Farm (Kate Woods), Edens event for the Sydney 2000 Olympics) sport. He interviewed the less well- Lost (Neil Armfield) andCoral Island which has since become a biennial known sports men and women, as (part 1 of Jan Chapman’s Naked event. She is currently researching well as the better known. Denton has series). a book on animation directors in the moved to the world of commercial Pacific, Asian and sub-continental radio with the Andrew Denton Break- Alan was awarded the Screen regions. fast Show, where his comic wit and Composers Award for Best Music in timing continues to make him one of a Feature Film and best soundtrack SAM PETTY – Editor and the most distinctive voices on the air. for The Bank at the Australian Music Sound Design His latest television program is the Awards. interview-based Enough Rope. Sam Petty studied at the Australian Further references Film, Television and Radio School ALAN JOHN – Composer from 1990 to 1993, completing Helen Barrow (director), Hired Assas- courses in both Editing and Sound. Best known as the composer of the sins – Political Cartooning in Australia He worked on feature films, including opera The Eighth Wonder (produced [videorecording], Evershine/Film Dead Heart and Oscar and Lucinda, by Opera Australia in 1995 and re- Australia, Sydney, 2003. before setting up his own studio—Big vived in 2000) Alan has also worked Ears Productions. Sam’s sound as an actor, dramaturg, musician and Giannalberto Bendazzi, Cartoons: designer credits include the feature musical director. One Hundred Years of Cinema filmsThe Boys, Soft Fruit, City Loop, Animation, Indiana University Press, Rain and The Bank, as well numer- Over the last fifteen years Alan has Bloomington Indianapolis, 1994. ous short films and documentaries, developed close working associations including Tosca for . with director Jim Sharman (Light- Joan Kerr, Artists and Cartoonists He has collaborated with his father, house Company 1982-88, David In Black and White, National Trust, Bruce Petty, for over ten years on a Malouf’s Blood Relations, orchestra- Sydney, 1999. number of documentaries and ani- tions and arrangements for Chess), mations. Sam’s recent credits include singer Robyn Archer (musical director Paul Martin Lester, Visual Com- sound designer on the Australian 1984-88, The Last Decade—A Caba- munication: images with messages, feature film, Travelling Light. ret Song Cycle), writers John Romeril Wadsworth Publishing Company, Bel- (the musical Jonah [1985]) and David mont, California, 1995, Chapter 11. Holman (Frankie—An Opera of Young People). He has worked closely with Bruce Petty, The Absurd Machine: a 14 15 Cartoon History of the World, Penguin, Ringwood, Harmondsworth, New York, Toronto and Auckland, 1997.

Ann Turner (ed.), In Their Image: Contemporary Australian Cartoonists, National Library Of Australia, Can- berra, 2000.

Human Contraptions A Film Australia National Interest Program. Produced with the assist- ance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. WRITER/DIRECTOR: Bruce Petty PRODUCER: Deborah Szapiro EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Stefan Moore, Anna Grieve DURATION: 10 x 5 minutes YEAR: 2003

This study guide was produced by ATOM. For more information about ATOM study guides, The Speakers’ Bureau or Screen Hub (the daily online film and televi- sion newsletter) visit our web site: www.metromagazine.com.au or email: [email protected]

Study guide © ATOM and Film Aus- tralia. For information about Film Australia’s programs, contact: Film Australia Sales PO Box 46 Lindfield NSW 2070 tel 02 9413 8634 fax 02 9416 9401 email [email protected] www.filmaust.com.au

16