100 Greatest Animated Shorts / Rabbit / Run Wrake
UK / 2005
Run Wrake, who originated from the Yemen but worked mainly in the UK, created many fantastic illustrations for the NME and other magazines as well as a series of short films, music videos and other animations that explored narrative in non-traditional ways and were influenced amongst others by Len Lye, Oskar Fischinger and Jan Švankmajer.
Wrake tragically passed away in 2012 at the age of 49, leaving behind his brilliant body of work, a family, a shocked animation world and a sense of waste as we imagine what more treasures he could have produced had he lived longer. Here for example is a brilliant and unique short film that almost defies description, but anyway, here goes, I’ll do my best.
Rabbit is a classic of digital surrealism. Made with CG cutout techniques similar to contemporary TV animation like South Park and Peppa Pig, the short combines innocent imagery from old children’s books into a darkly funny Švankmajer-esque parable about consumerism and the corruption of innocence. Despite being deeply strange, Rabbit remains as entertaining as a Chuck Jones classic in its own unique and disturbing way.
We see two rosy-cheeked children walking through a universe constructed of optimistic, wholesome 1940s/50s style illustrations, labelled like old educational books. The children see a rabbit, which they chase, catch and kill. This primal moment of exploitation opens a Pandora’s Box, as out of the animals stomach jumps a small cartwheeling goblin (labelled ‘Idol’) who kills more insects and stuff which transform into shiny things thrown as temptation in the children’s paths which they are unable to resist.
All hell breaks loose as the children go on a full-on killing spree, swaggering about trashing everything and gorging themselves on jam and shiny stuff until pretty soon the whole bright-eyed, 1950s Garden of Eden has gone to hell. Eventually a tiger eats the goblin and all the shiny things decompose into maggots which consume the children. So pretty much the history of the Western Civilisation in a nutshell.
Rabbit was made for less than the cost of a banker’s Friday night out, by the now defunct Animate! Scheme, one of the UK government funded projects that produced many great animated shorts (including others on this list) and developed the kind of talent that went on to make Peppa Pig, Charlie and Lola and Hey Duggee. Animation like this is an important part of the UK creative industries, which bring in a similar amount to the national coffers as the financial sector, make ‘Britannia’ ‘cool’, attract scores of tourists and provide rosy cheeked children with different aspirations than just trashing economies and grabbing jam and shiny stuff.
You see, that’s what happens when you try and analyse something like Rabbit, you end up projecting your own dark anger and inner fear of jam. Maybe psychiatrists should use this film like those ink blot tests to reveal people’s inner subconscious neurosis, so that they could undergo therapy and unlike the children in this film, would no longer feel the need to kill rabbits and crave shiny things and jam.
Note: The 100 greatest animated shorts is an list of opinions and not an order of value from best to worst. Click here to see all of the picks of the list so far. All suggestions, comments and outrage are welcome but please don’t shoot us, it’s only a list!