Ralph Bakshi is 87 today. He was born on 29 October 1938.
Because of my age, I didn’t learn of Bakshi until the late 1970s. I saw Wizards and American Pop as a double feature at the Plaza Theater (now Mystic Theatre) in Petaluma at least a half-dozen times. I also saw The Lord of the Rings in the theater when it was first released. And I thought it was fine. At least I had no problem sitting through it like I did with Peter Jackson’s version!
Since then, I’ve seen most of his work. But the main thing I still like is Wizards. It’s the only one of Bakshi’s films that I own on disc. But I will admit, I most love the non-animated stuff. The opening with the stills of Mike Ploog’s artwork with Susan Tyrrell’s narration is unbeatable. (Note that Ian Miller is also credited for the artwork. Although I think he’s outstanding, I don’t see him in that opening.)
I also like that Avatar is so clearly a rip-off of Cheech Wizard. And I was a huge Vaughn Bode fan back then.
I’m not a huge animation fan. Not that I’m against it. I like stories. It doesn’t much matter to me how they are rendered — as long as it is done well. And Ralph Bakshi renders most things well.
Wizards is not really a great film. I just think it’s fun with a lot of great gags. And, of course, “I wanna show you a trick mother showed me when you weren’t around!”
So I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Ralph Bakshi’s birthday than by watching Wizards. It’s fun to do any time. And unlike Tolkien, it doesn’t take itself seriously. And really: how does anyone take this stuff seriously?
Ralph Bakshi in 1979 via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.
.png){kind=link}
I guess Peter Thiel names all his evil side ventures after magical LOTR objects. The books are a big deal among Silicon Valley types. What’s the famous quote?
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”
There has been a huge movement over the past couple of decades for conservatives to claim to be “cool” by having pop culture interests that signal liberal. The problem is, they are just followers. If you want to know their opinions on pop culture, just ask ChatGPT for its opinion, and you’ve got it. It’s kind of like the Nazis being into what we would now call New Age beliefs or, as I would call it, woo. If America were still liberal-conservative, we could depend on conservatives to sit and count their money. But we are liberal-fascist. And the fascists demand that we tell them how cool their are as they sit and count their money.
And they really get pissy about it when we say they’re not cool, they’re cultural imbeciles…
And whether one likes Tolkein or not, I can PROMISE you that the idea of Theil naming his spying company after something in LOTR would infuriate Tolkein. I dunno if you ever read The Hobbit (it’s rather a charming little kids’ book, where the small, clever hobbit can do things the Big Brave Heroes can’t). Well, the villain is a mean dragon who obsesses over protecting all his gold!
When I was in grammar school, I loved The Hobbit. But I found Fellowship boring. I haven’t reread them as an adult. But I couldn’t make it through the Peter Jackson films…