The Unmitigated Cruelty of Jerry Mouse

The BBQ Pit
1

Let’s get this much straight: Tom is a cat. Cats typically hunt and eat mice, one might even say that it’s in their nature to do so. They are predatory animals. They are also somewhat territorial, and when a mouse is in their territory, I can consider itself fair game, as far as I’m concerned.

So, as I see it, what Tom does in trying to catch Jerry is pretty much expected behavior. What Jerry does in response, though, is nothing short of cruel.

Let’s catalogue the various punishments Jerry inflicts on Tom in a given 24 minutes of cartoons. I’ve seen Tom dynamited (several times, that’s a favorite), bowling-balled, hit with fireworks, dragged through keyholes and under doors and up ladders and staircases, run over by all manner of motor vehicles (including a steamroller), zapped, flattened, smashed, punched, kicked, and otherwise pummeled. I’ve seen anvils dropped on him, tricks played on him, revenge exacted in the most brutal and painful of manners.

Tom is the victim of Jerry Mouse’s sadistic pleasures. Tom, simply following his instinct mind you, is repeatedly abused and mistreated by Jerry Mouse in deeply hurtful ways. I suspect that Tom is suffering from a codependent relationship with Jerry, in which he has come to see Jerry’s abuse as a sign of love or attention, and what’s worse, Tom has come to depend on this. Jerry, on the other end, seems to know exactly what he’s doing and exploits Tom’s needs at every turn. Despite appearances to the contrary, it is Jerry who is pretty clearly in the dominant position of that relationship, and Tom has taken an unhealthily submissive role.

It is nothing short of sick, and what’s even worse is that Jerry’s sadistic behavior is displayed on television (on Cartoon Network, no less!) as “entertainment” for our children. It’s true that I grew up watching Tom and Jerry, among many other supposedly “funny” cartoons. What I didn’t see until now is just how deeply disgusting this sort of portrayal is, and I am shocked – shocked – that we as a society have grown so depraved as to allow our children to see such perverted cruelty inflicted on a cat, a poor animal who is only inflicting his instinctual and biological imperatives.

It must be stopped. This sickness needs to be uprooted at its very source: Jerry Mouse himself. As of today, I have begun a crusade to remove Jerry Mouse from any place where he can cause harm to a cat. It has become clear that Jerry Mouse cannot control his own behavior, and mousetraps are obviously ineffective. We must step in to end it.

Further, it has become clear that Tom Cat must be removed from that situation, and given serious counseling. The road to recovery for Tom will be long, but I am confident that a healthy cat can yet emerge from that poor, broken shell of a feline.

This situation is unnatural, it is sick, it is wrong. The cruelty of Jerry Mouse must end, so that Tom (and all cats) can live safe, happy lives once again.

2

You forgot both defenestration by ironing board, and being concertinaed by blinds.

3

Also, don’t forget how frequently Butch is brought into the equation. There has also been a notable episode including elephants! It seems there are no limits to what Jerry will do.

4

For the love of god don’t ever watch Itchy and Scratchy.

5

Pers’nally, I think the way Macalay Culkin molests those poor sympathetic innocent(!?) criminals in Home Alone 1 and 2 is far more disturbing. I mean, who doesn’t end up hoping the criminals catch him?

6

Yes, and let’s kill the goddamn Roadrunner while we’re at it. That poor, hungry coyote is just trying to keep himself from starving.

7

Even when I was a kid this used to bug me. I can take violence in cartoons just fine, as long as there’s some underlying justice. In the cartoons where Tom starts going after Jerry, then the gloves come off, no prob. You know there’s a bowl of kibble somewhere in the kitchen, it ain’t like Tom is gonna starve to death. And sometimes a mouse’s gotta do what a mouse’s gotta do. But I remember T&J cartoons where Jerry is just wailing on Tom, start to finish. Cute, fuzzy schadenfreude just doesn’t do it for me.

This is one reason why the Warner Brothers cartoons were brilliant, and I still watch them to this day. There were rules to the roadrunner cartoons. The first is that the roadrunner never harms the coyote (except occasionally coming up behind him and going “beep beep”), the coyote is hurt by his own overzealousness and incompetence. Chuck Jones had a similar rule for Bugs Bunny, although not all the directors followed it. Bugs was a force of nature. If you came up against him, you were going to lose, simple as that. That meant that if Bugs just went around spoiling for a fight, he’d look like the biggest bully of all time. Not funny.

8

I always rooted for Jerry until I saw this one particular cartoon.

There was this big, fancy party with a huge buffet spread. Tom was doing his Tom thing-- protecting the buffet from molestation-- and not doing too good a job of it.

There was that mouse in the turkey, pawing through the jello, swimming in wine glasses-- it was disgusting. But the worse part was when the lovely hostess steps out onto the receiving line in front of God and all those fancy cartoon heads of state with a mouse riding the hem of her lovely cartoon hostess ballgown.

Eeek indeed.

9

Or having a rack maliciously placed on the ground in front of him.

Or being trapped in the slats of a wooden fence.

Or having a mouse trap released on his tongue. Or tail.

Or having his whiskers plucked one by one.

Or hammered on the foot.

What was always unusual about Tom is he had an almost human squeal of pain. Not catlike at all. I suspect a pervert in a cat suit. He had it coming.

10

Tom does damage to Jerry. Jerry does damage to Tom. And according to some folks, Gene Dietch did a lot o’ damage to 'em both. (rim shot)

But seriously, folks, after a lot of “scientific” research, it appears that the specimen Hannabarberis rodentia (here after referred to as “Jerry”) is basically defending himself. The intervention of Felis hannabarberis (“Tom”), whether at the request of Mammy Two-Shoes or by his own decision, would of course mean death for the poor little mouse if he did not fight back. Defending himself by all means possible, Jerry is only fighting back so he may prolong his own existance. Tom sometimes gets the jump on Jerry, but Jerry always seems to get the best of ol’ Tom.

As for the reckless behavior Biggirl described, Jerry is considered a “pest,” so he is able to use this to his advantage, be it a free buffet on a boat or a free buffet in the fridge. Life is good for him. I only wish I could say the same for Tom.

11

What enrages me is the repeated sexual harrassment of poor Penelope by that vile insane stalker, Pepe le Pew–the hell with an order of protection, she should pack heat!

12

Jerry beating up Tom never really bugged me, as a: it was a matter of survival for Jerry, and b: Tom frequently gave as good as he got.

Granny beating Sylvester also didn’t bother me too much since Tweety can’t defend himself and must rely on Granny for survival. Also, Granny was never came up with sadistic torture plots; it was just a simple “whap-whap-whap! And stay out!” In the episodes where Sylvester is Granny’s cat (and not a stray), I’d sometimes yell “would you just feed the damn cat already? Then maybe he’d leave Tweety alone!” But then, my own cats would eat their fill of Friskies and start trying to catch birds as soon as they were done, so even if Sylvester’s not hungry, he’s still gonna hunt.

What pissed me off, though, was a Woody Woodpecker cartoon in which a cat was being stopped by a human member of the SPCA who didn’t want to see any animals being hurt. Um, lady? Even as a first-grader living a good 20 years before Elton John sang about the Circle of Life, I knew enough about the predator-prey relationship to call bullshit on that.

And Herman was just an asshole.

13

Maybe Tom, Daffy, Sylvester, Porky and Elmer should hire an attorney and sue their employer for having them work with Jerry, Bugs, Foghorn and Granny.

Whatever they do, they had better keep it in civil courts and out of the criminal system. You Know that Jerry, Bugs, Foghorn & Granny would hire Johnny Cochran. He makes a really good living defending celebrity scumbags.

14

And another thing: Bluto has got to be SweetPea’s father. Why else would he keep stalking Olive & trying to beat Popeye?

15

I always wanted the Rabbit to get the Trix. Cruel kids.

16

Tweety did not need proctecting. Sylvester could throw a blanket over the birdcage, and when he came back to eat him, there was a bulldog there instead. And that little yellow twerp was just too damn smug about it.

As for Pepe Le Pew, I kinda admire his confidence. (And I’ve lost one woman to him already. Long story.) You walk under a ladder, toots, and you take your chances. Besides, do you want to be the one to serve him with the restraining order?

17

Tweety was a cold, cold fucker.

Just about the only “underdog” character I liked seeing win was Droopy. Typically, he’d put up with the bully for a while, then hitch up his pants, spit out some tobacky and announce “Y’know what? That makes me mad.”

Then he would proceed to go completely apeshit Rambo postal.

18

Good idea. In fact, it looks as though Wile E. Coyote did it first.

19

Just imagine the hi-jinks if there were automatic pinsetters/spotters in that alley. You could add “swept into the pit/shook repeatedly/stretched out on the wheel/jammed in the chute/squashed under the table”.

I’d have to say that the lack of technology back then saved his furry ass.

20

My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I seem to recall at least one time when Penelope availed herself of a clothes pin(She put it on her nose. Getcher minds outta de guttah!) and turned the tables on Pepe.