animation
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
style that became standardized in the American animation field. The defining feature is a curving motion that most animated objects possess, resembling the motion and physical properties of a rubber hose. While the style fell out of fashion by the mid-1930s, it has seen a renewed interest since the 2010s.
History
Beginnings and rise
In the early days of hand drawn animation in the 1920s, the studios' main areas were not in Hollywood, but
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Animation was a new phenomenon and there were no experienced animators; yet there were skilled artists working on newspapers, creating
comic strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
s in a time when even the comic strips themselves were relatively new. Many of them became fascinated with the introduction of moving drawings, and saw them as new possibilities and challenges to use their skills on something they found more exciting than the newspaper strips.
For this reason, many of the first
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...
s had similarities with moving comic strips. The artists experimented with what worked and what did not, and what they could and could not do. In the strips, they had no need to think of their work in three dimensions or how they moved, but at the same time this extra aspect gave them the opportunity to introduce gags and elements not possible in comic stills. Moreover, because the drawings had to be mass-produced to create the illusion of movement, they had to come up with a compromise where characters were less detailed and time-consuming, but at the same time alive and complex enough. As animators gained experience through trial, error and collaborations, cartoons became more professional and dominated by specific rules of how to make them.
The studios had to be sensitive to any new business trend to survive the competition. A consequence of this was that the style and design of the most successful and popular cartoons had a great impact on the rest of the animation business. One of the earliest examples was Felix the Cat, who quickly spawned imitators at different studios. Combined with the natural evolution of animation, this resulted in a dominating design that would be known as the ''rubber hose style'', despite individual differences between the studios. Bill Nolan is credited with the introduction of this animation style.
Decline and fall
Rubber hose animation gradually faded away as cartoons were made more sophisticated, especially by
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
. Disney wanted to make his cartoons more realistic and have them follow much of the same rules as
live action
Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...
, a direction that would later be named ''full animation''. Disney saw animation as a potential surrogate for live action, where he could do what was impossible in live action once it achieved his demands of realism. This direction did not allow the fluid bodies seen in the rubber hose style and, due to Disney's success, this trend was spread to the remaining producers of cartoons through demands from their Hollywood distributors.
Rubber-hose trademarks appeared in some later cartoons, including those of Tex Avery for MGM, The Warner Siblings for WB Animation, or '' Ren and Stimpy'', but the original style and its influence became a part of animation history by the start of the 1930s, and went out of favor by the mid-1930s. Fleischer Studios held to it the longest, finally conforming to the more contemporary West Coast animation style by 1940. The style's influence, however, still continues into the present, with shows like '' Adventure Time'' incorporating some of rubber hose animation's elements, and the video game '' Cuphead'' paying full homage.
Influence in modern media
While there are not many uses of rubber hose animation today, there are some media that pay homage to the animation style.
Theatrical animated shorts
In 2013, Walt Disney Animation Studios produced a 3D animated slapstick comedy short film using the style. ''Get a Horse!'' combines black-and-white hand-drawn animation and color CGI animation; the short features the characters of the late 1920s Mickey Mouse cartoons and features archival recordings of Walt Disney in a posthumous role as Mickey Mouse. It is the first original Mickey Mouse theatrical animated short since '' Runaway Brain'' (1995) and the first appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in a Disney animated production in 85 years.
Video games
*Some video games use rubber hose animation, including '' Epic Mickey'', '' Cuphead'', '' Bendy and the Ink Machine'', '' Enchanted Portals'' and '' Mouse: P.I. for Hire''.
*'' Skullgirls'' includes the playable character "Peacock", whose visual design and attacks draw from 1920s animation tropes characters are based on 1920s rubber hose animation, having the appearance of old black and white cartoons.
*'' Smite'' has two gods with skins that take inspiration from the rubber hose animation with Baron Samedi as Funny Bones and Cthulhu as Toon Mania.
*The animation for each of the numerous characters and creatures in '' Cuphead'' relies heavily on techniques pioneered by the animation style; its creators wanted players to feel as though they were watching a 1930s cartoon.
*''Sonic the Hedgehog'' also had rubber hose limbs, especially in the games in the 90s. An example of his rubber hose limbs is evident in his trademark pose with one hand on his hip, a waving finger, and crossed legs, seen on the box art of his original game. He also uses some exaggerated running poses.
*Several characters within '' Fortnite'' received "Toon" outfits that resemble the style, including Meowscles, Fishstick, Peely, and Bushranger.
*The 2023 video game '' Pizza Tower'' shows the characters animated in a similar, cartoonish art style with smooth animated frames.
* In the game '' Honkai: Star Rail'', a character of a popular cartoon series in Penacony, Clockie, takes inspiration from the rubber hose animation style.
Card games
*The Japanese trading-card gameYu-Gi-Oh! and the franchise it is based around features a line of cards called 'Toons', based on 1920s American animation styles (to contrast with the Japanese animation style of most cards).
Film and television
*The '' Futurama'' episode " Reincarnation", in its segment " Colorama", uses rubber hose animation. In this portion of the episode, the characters are rather bouncy and have an air of playfulness about them.
*Another prominent use of rubber hose animation is Disney Television's ''
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...
''. The series has the slapstick feel of the original Mickey Mouse shorts, while providing a modern update with the extensive use of Toon Boom and Flash animation, and "presents Mickey in a broad range of humorous situations that showcase his pluck and rascality, along with his long-beloved charm and good-heartedness.
*The claymation TV series, '' Pingu'' has techniques incorporated in its animation, such as having characters have their upper body stretch to reach up or roll up in a ball.
*The animated series '' Tom And Jerry'' uses rubberhose techniques in its characters.
*The mascot of Planters, Mr. Peanut, who is an anthropomorphic
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...
who wears 1930s style Gentleman clothing, in his advertisements he does rubberhose techniques, and his son Peanut Jr. who does the same things as him
*The mascot of both
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...
and
Monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
, Mr. Monopoly, has 1930s Gentleman clothing. In his advertisements, he does rubberhose gags and techniques to the players.
*'' The Peanuts Movie'' and the ''Peanuts'' specials and shows use rubberhose elements as well as the '' Peanuts'' comics they are based on.
*'' Clarence'' also used the rubber hose animation style in episode "Goldfish Follies".
*In ''
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
'', Scrat uses rubberhose elements, by extending his body and bouncing around while trying to get his acorn.
*In the episode " Truth or Square" from the television series ''
SpongeBob SquarePants
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...
'', Patchy the Pirate presents a film of how the cartoon would have been like if it was made in the 1930s. In the film, the animation is done in rubber hose animation and the song used is called Rubber Hose Rag.
*In the episode "It's A Wonderful Half-Life" from '' CatDog'', the dream sequence for the entire episode is done in the style of the 1920s–1930s cartoons, and the characters all have pie eyes.
*In the episode "Tame That Toon" from '' Pucca'', the entire episode is centered around this, complete with a Betty Boop lookalike shown.
*In '' Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'', many characters use rubber hose elements including Sonic and Tails.
* Mondo Media's '' Happy Tree Friends'' is done in rubber hose style using Flash animation and most of the characters have 'pie eyes', which are in the shape of Pac-Man's body and that resemble eyes from rubber hose characters from the golden period of this animation style, the 1920s and 1930s.
*In '' Steven Universe: The Movie'', the main
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Spinel is animated in this style but other characters remain animated in the more contemporary style typical of the series so far. Spinel uses this stretchy and unarticulated movement to her advantage, stretching and morphing her limbs into objects she uses in battle to get the upper hand. Her main song and most of her music themes are in Electroswing, a modern twist on music from the time period where Spinel's character inspiration came from.
*In '' Bojack Horseman'' season 6, the conglomerate Whitewhale plays a video to new corporate employees which includes several animation techniques different from the dominant style of the show, including a segment done in classic rubber hose animation.
* Lauren MacMullan cited rubber hose animation as an influence for her style, including for her character designs in '' Mission Hill''.
*The Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series, like the card game itself, features 'Toon' cards based on 1920s American animation.
*In the episode "Hill Billy" from '' The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'', Billy is briefly depicted in this art style while he inflates his nose in a rubber hose fashion, and it explodes shortly after, and other characters are turned into this art style as well.
*DJ Catnip and his cousin, DJ Comet, from '' Gabby's Dollhouse'' can stretch their limbs in a similar fashion to rubber hose animation.
*Mr. Tickle from '' The Mr. Men Show'' can stretch his arms in this fashion.
*One episode of '' Teen Titans Go!'' features the Titans depicted in this art style.
*Velvet and Veneer, the antagonists of '' Trolls Band Together'', and their race, the Mount Rageons, are rendered to resemble this art style, complete with pie eyes.
*Bartholomew the Bat from the ''Beetlejuice'' TV series resembles a rubber hose character.
*Blossom from '' IF'' is designed to resemble this art style.
*The ''
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
'' character Mr. Hankey is designed to look like a rubber hose character, in particular the original version of
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...
as he appeared in ''
Steamboat Willie
''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black-and-white by Walt Disney Animation Studios and was released by Pat Powers (producer), Pat Powers, under the name of Cele ...
''. Fittingly, his musical numbers in the show are usually in the style of 1930s-era
Dixieland
Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
music.
*In the
film adaptation
A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...
of the video game '' Deemo'', the titular character, besides bearing a vague resemblance to 1920s cartoon characters, also uses elements of rubber hose animation, especially when stretching his limbs in a similar fashion.
*Some animated TV programs on BabyFirst have characters that use elements similar to rubber hose animation. The most notable example is in ''Albert and Junior'', which features a talking tablet named Junior who bends and stretches his limbs in a similar fashion.
*The ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' episode " Lux" features Mr. Ring-a-Ding, an animated character rendered in this art style, whom the episode's eponymous antagonist takes the form of.
*The Aardman animated series ''
Wallace and Gromit
''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British claymation comedy media franchise, franchise created by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations. The series centres on Wallace, a good-natured, eccentric, cheese-loving bachelor inventor, and Gromit, his ...
'' and its spin-offs '' Shaun the Sheep'' and '' Timmy Time'' use elements of rubber-hose animation in the characters who bend and stretch their limbs in the same fashion.
*The cartoon character Michigan J. Frog, who was mascot for
the WB
The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...
in the 1990s, uses similar techniques when singing and dancing.
Music videos
*The video for
Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa ( ; born22 August 1995) is an English and Albanian singer, songwriter and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Dua Lipa, Her accolades include seven Brit Awards and three Grammy Awards.
Lipa worked as a model before v ...
's single " Hallucinate" depicts Lipa and a series of fantastical characters in rubber hose animation.
* Ghostemane released a music video for his song "AI" that portrays the artist in a combination of rubber hose animation and
stop motion
Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...
animation.
*The video for
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
's "
The Story of O.J.
"The Story of O.J." is a song by American rapper Jay-Z from his thirteenth studio album '' 4:44''. It was produced by Jay-Z and No I.D. Following the release of the album, the song charted in multiple regions, entering and peaking at number 23 on ...
" uses a rubber hose animation style.
*The video for the Evelyn Evelyn song " Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn" features characters animated in the rubber hose style composited over a glass window.
*The Electro Swing music video/Concept Album series Clover uses the rubber hose animation style.
*Satanic Doo-Wop group Twin Temple's video for "Let's Have a Satanic Orgy" utilizes a rubber hose-like style.
Comic books
*In the manga ''
One Piece
''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as he explores the Grand Line in search of the myt ...
'', the
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
Monkey D. Luffy eats a fruit that gives him the ability to stretch like rubber, which he enhances using techniques similar to those in rubber hose cartoons, such as blowing air into his arm to increase its size and punching power. When awakening all its power as "Gear 5", Luffy gains the ability to use fighting techniques based on other rubber hose animation style, such as tearing a piece of ground like a mat to deflect attacks, while he himself (and those that are in his vicinity) also behave similarly to rubber hose cartoons, such as having his head deform around a spiked club and take its shape, or cause people around him to have exaggerated eye pops. It was confirmed at a later interview that Gear 5 is heavily inspired by ''
Tom and Jerry
''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...
'' cartoons.Weekly Shonen Jump 2022 Issue 34 (p. 45), Interview of Eiichiro Oda and Gosho Aoyama