The Presence Of Word Painting In The Cartoon Series Tom And Jerry

Any meaningful attempt to appreciate a piece of music must begin with the text, if it has one. Listeners, critics, analysts, and performers must all take the text as their starting point for the simple and obvious reason that that was where the composer began. Music can most definitely be expressed without text, but the presence of lyrics helps listeners easily visualize when the music is trying imitate an emotion, action, and/or natural sound as described by the text. This musical depiction of words in text is also known as word painting. In this short essay, I am going to analyze the presence of word painting in the cartoon series Tom and Jerry.

Tom and Jerry is a cartoon that relies heavily on the use of musical accompaniment to emphasize and illustrate the characters’ actions, intentions, and emotions. It is a very fast-paced ‘cat and mouse’ style cartoon with Tom and Jerry switching roles as the hunter and the hunted throughout the piece, along with an orchestral score composed by Scott Bradley. The musical accompaniment is extremely effective in emphasizing the sudden changes in the mood of the piece. Notably, the characters rarely speak, which means the sound effects have considerably more information to convey than what is normally expected in a cartoon.

The opening scene in the Oscar winning episode ‘Yankee Doodle Mouse’ begins at a frantic pace, with Tom chasing Jerry throughout the house. The music is very fast-paced and busy, which effectively represents and enhances the chase scene. Interestingly, the frenetic music used in the first scene is a continuation of the title music, which gives the viewer no time to breathe as the action starts immediately and emphasizes the excitement of the chase. Thirty seconds into the episode, Jerry safely goes into his mouse hole in the wall and the music comes to a stop just as Tom pauses his pursuit and eagerly waits for Jerry to come out. This period develops tension as the viewer is startled by the dramatic change in the music: from a very hectic, upbeat piece of music to complete silence.

The moment of silence also gives the viewer time to think about what could happen next, adding to the suspense and thrill of the chase. Later in the episode, as Jerry scuttles away to prepare his next attack, his movement is described in the music with a solo flute riff. The flute piece is jovial, bright in nature, and very high pitched. One could argue that this symbolizes the lightness of Jerry’s footsteps. Also, the cheery nature of the piece adds emotion to the scene as it portrays Jerry as a cheeky little chap who has been successful in humiliating his tormentor, Tom. If the music accompaniment was not included in the animation, there would be a tremendous lack of emotion. As Jerry is making his escape, we do not see his face, yet with the musical accompaniment we can visualize and imagine him smiling, content as could be with the results of his trap. This is the presence of word painting in music.

Another interesting use of musical accompaniment is when Tom finds himself at the top of a coconut tree. As he slides down the trunk of the tree, the sound playing is of a percussionist running his beater down a xylophone from high to low pitch. A high to low pitch progression is used to illustrate the feeling of falling downwards, with each change in note symbolizing every bump along the way.

Therefore, word painting is present all throughout Tom and Jerry cartoons, as well as music all over the world. In the episode I analyzed, I was able to see the huge effect music had on the delivery of emotions. The episode was able to tell a story with music and the use of word painting. I believe music has the ability to illustrate emotions in ways that words/text cannot. After all, “music is the shorthand of emotion.” –Leo Tolstoy