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 Australia 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.