Techno-Cracked Explained

Techno-Cracked
Director:Ub Iwerks
Animator:Shamus Culhane
Music:Carl Stalling
Producer:Pat Powers
Distributor:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country:United States
Color Process:Black and White (black-and-white)
Runtime:8 minutes
Language:English

Techno-Cracked is a 1933 Celebrity Productions, Inc. animated short, directed by Ub Iwerks and featuring Flip the Frog.[1]

Synopsis

In this satire of the Technocracy, Flip the Frog is nearly killed by a menacing robot he builds to work for him.

Flip would rather not mow the lawn. He reads an article from "Unpopular Mechanics" entitled "Technocracy: Why be a Slave - The Mechanical Man Works While You Sleep". Flip makes his robot out of household parts but gives it a Jack-o'-lantern for a head. The mechanical man cannot follow directions and begins mowing down everything in sight. Flip blows up the robot with a stick of dynamite and finishes the lawn by himself.

Notes and comments

When the robot mows the welcome mat it reveals the word Nerts, a possible reference to either the card game or to a popular expression of the time -- "nertz". Some have speculated that Techno-Cracked may have been photographed in two-strip Technicolor.

References

  1. Book: Lenburg . Jeff . The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons . 1999 . Checkmark Books . 0-8160-3831-7 . 6 June 2020 . 81.

External links