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Kaboodle: The cure

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Full details

Credits:

Reproduced courtesy of the Australian Children's Television Foundation

Creator:

Peter Viska, animator, 1988

TLF ID:

R6839

Source:

Australian Children’s Television Foundation, http://www.actf.com.au

Digital resource description:

This clip shows a humorous cell animation produced for children in which a little boy watches television while his sister attempts to cure his persistent hiccups. She tries simple remedies at first: water, a spoonful of sugar and scaring him with increasingly scary things. Filmed as one single shot, the animation builds expectation about what the girl will try next. Finally she decides to turn off the TV, and for a brief moment the sister and the audience believes this has cured his hiccups.

Educational value:

The central theme of this short animation is the intensity with which children watch television. The television is framed centrally throughout the clip, dominating the room and the viewer's perspective. Although he is momentarily distracted by the various attempts his sister makes to cure him of his hiccups, the boy is so mesmerised by the television that none of them work. Finally it is the television being switched off that 'shocks' him temporarily out of his hiccups.
Colour, line and shape – all important visual concepts for visual arts and animations – are explored in a new way in this clip. The setting is designed to contrast the black and white of the room with the bright colours of the girl and the items she brings out. The impression of the TV casting its light only on the boy, who sits in thrall to it, could be a device to draw attention to the 'real world' that his sister represents contrasted with the fantasy world of the TV.
The animation uses exaggerated humour to entertain and illuminate the theme of the story. The toys are larger than life, move, make noises and can be magically produced and put away by the girl. In contrast, the boy responds very passively to the toys and to his sister's exasperation at her failed attempts to cure him. The hiccup as the last scene fades to black is an aural punch line that works well in this context.
The clip invites the viewer to consider various 'cures' for hiccups that may originate in folk lore, different cultures and among different age groups. Hiccups are produced by involuntary spasms of the diaphragm. Apart from the remedies tried in this short film, others include drinking water from the wrong side of the glass ('upside down'), drinking a tablespoon of vinegar and putting a key down the sufferer's back.
This clip was produced by an animation artist painting on cells and then filming 24 cells per second to create the illusion of movement. Meaning in animations is generated by a unique vocabulary available to the animator that is not available to live-action filmmakers.
This short animation is from the Australian Children's Television Foundation's (ACTF) Kaboodle Anthology for ages 5–12, produced in 1988–89. The ACTF claims that this set of animated and live-action stories, 'encourages imagination, stimulates creative play and encourages exploration of values and issues'.

Keywords:

Family relationship; Family relationships; Hiccups; Home remedies; Reflexes; Siblings

Rights: