Tralla La
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"Tralla La" is a
Scrooge McDuck Scrooge McDuck (occasionally stylized as $crooge McDuck) is a cartoon character created in 1947 for The Walt Disney Company by Carl Barks. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-born American anthropomorphic duck. Like his nephew, Do ...
comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
story by
Carl Barks Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comics, Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of ...
. The story was first published in ''
Uncle Scrooge ''Uncle Scrooge'' (stylized as ''Uncle $crooge'') is a Disney comic book series starring Scrooge McDuck ("the richest duck in the world"), his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in ...
'' #6 (June, 1954). In the story, Scrooge searches for a
utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...
in which money plays no role.


Plot

"Tralla La" begins with Uncle Scrooge having a hard day at his office, and it doesn't get better when he attempts to walk along the street to relax; everyone he meets wants some of his money. The stress of this way of life gets to him and he suffers a
nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...
. Though he improves, he can't stand to see or hear about money, as he now associates it with all the troubles that got him to this point. In order to heal, he searches for a place where money has no influence. Tralla La may be such a place, where a peaceful society without a monetary system is rumored to exist. Scrooge and his nephews, who are there to support his healing, finally locate the mythical place in a deep valley high in the
Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
and arrive by parachute. There, they get acquainted with a more peaceful existence than to which they were accustomed. However, as Scrooge seems to be healing, he doesn't realize he brought his troubles with him. He brought bottles of his medication along. The
bottle cap A bottle cap or bottle top is a common closure for the top opening of a bottle. A cap is sometimes colorfully decorated with the logo of the brand of contents. Metal caps with plastic backing are used for glass bottles, sometimes wrapped in dec ...
s he discards are considered rare treasures in Tralla La and become the basis of a new monetary system. The inhabitants of Tralla La become obsessed with these new treasures. To solve the issue, Scrooge has planes drop one billion bottle caps, but this becomes too many, and the inhabitants become angry, as their fields are now covered with caps. The Ducks must flee, as they apparently cannot find peace even in an Earthly paradise.


Production

In a 1981 interview, Barks said, "The nerve medicine
n ''Tralla La'' N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
was a running gag to help pull parts of the story together. I had learned about running gags before I ever worked at Disney. It was a kind of thread or connecting link in stories, such as Wodehouse's stories, and in the movies:
Chaplin Chaplin may refer to: People * Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), English comedy film actor and director * Chaplin (name), other people named Chaplin Films * ''Unknown Chaplin'' (1983) * Chaplin (film), ''Chaplin'' (film) (1992) * Chaplin (2011 fi ...
and
Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...
had running gags. I liked those movies more than romantic ones or shoot-'em-up westerns. The running gags were a necessary part of the stories, like a period at the end of a sentence."


Analysis

A number of previous stories by Barks presented Scrooge's way of life as rather stressful, but this is the first story where this seems to be getting on his nerves. This is certainly not the last, but subsequent stories rarely focus on it. Scrooge's effort this time is not to gain treasure, but find some peace and regain his health. However, as so often presented in Barks tales, in trying to escape his problems he only manages to carry them with him. Tralla La's (based on
Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains, Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon'' by the British author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently ...
) inhabitants prove to share the human characteristic of greed, while Barks is allowed some bitter commentary on human nature and the impact of "inventing" money. The theme of never finding peace no matter how hard the characters try is a running theme in Barks' tales, but here it takes center place. It is considered among Barks' most memorable because of its view of humanity, paradise, and the vulnerability of his characters. This story features the first appearance of that inexhaustible font of knowledge, '' The Junior Woodchucks' Guidebook''. The story was later adapted into an episode of ''
DuckTales DuckTales refers to: Film and television * ''DuckTales'' (1987 TV series), original TV series ** '' DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp'' * ''DuckTales'' (2017 TV series), reboot TV series Video games * ''DuckTales'' (video game) ...
''.
Don Rosa Keno Don Hugo Rosa (), known as Don Rosa (born June 29, 1951), is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his comics about Scrooge McDuck and other Disney comics, Disney characters. Many of his stories are built on characters an ...
wrote a sequel to the story,
Return To Xanadu
', in which Tralla La is revealed to be the valley of Xanadu. ''Return to Xanadu'' was first published in the United States in ''Uncle Scrooge'' #261-262 (October–November 1991) and reprinted in #357 (September, 2006).


See also

*
List of Disney comics by Carl Barks Carl Barks (1901–2000) was an American Disney Studio illustrator and Disney comic book creator. List of comic book stories Source: Comic strips See also * List of non-Disney comics by Carl Barks / Carl Barks * List of Disney comics by Don ...


References


External links

*
''Tralla La''
in Carl Barks guidebook {{Carl Barks Disney comics stories Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks 1954 in comics Lost world comics