Paint It Blue

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by XanderDWulfe

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Halloween Countdowns

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no.26: Chief Blue Meanie - The Beatles: Yellow Submarine

The Beatles are a band whose name is synonymous with the 60's psychedelic wave of peace and love. So then tell me why their name is also synonymous with one of the most unsettling animated features I have ever seen! As a rule, I avoid incorporating things that I dislike or simply have a total lack of care for into my Halloween countdowns that I dislike. Why should I? These projects, while enjoyed by others, are done purely for myself if I'm to be brutally honest. I gain nothing from them, save for a fun way to celebrate my favorite holiday all month long. The knowledge that I make others happy in the process is a nice bonus though.

Of course there are exceptions to this rule which I ironically find myself breaking more then I'd care to admit. It's almost like I'm really bad at keeping myself to my own standards. Sometimes I find that due to a certain subject's significance to that year's theme they deserve representation, or as is the case today, I simply enjoy an individual character far too much that it circumvents my overall dislike of the source material from which they come. This isn't the first time I've done this and it certainly won't be the last!

As Yellow Submarine stands as one of the most disturbing animated features I've ever seen that is somehow overstimulating and profoundly boring all at once, I've always found the Blue Meanies compelling on design alone. It's the only place I feel that the weird and frankly ghoulish look of the film works, allowing the Blue Meanies to straddle the line between joke villain and actually intimidating. (It's just the a shame that the Beatles themselves share the exact same appeal as the Meanies.) Criticism aside the Blue Meanies have a look and a vibe I really enjoy and I would be remiss if I didn't give a proper shout out the that which inspired both the Gromble and Mark Hamill's portrayal of the Joker. It's a classic, for better or for worse and I've got to give them their dues.

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