I am conducting visual research in to examples of slapstick comedy to get ideas for the type of actions and animations my character will be involved with, and one such source is Laurel & Hardy. They are best known from the silent movie era in the early part of the 20th century. Throughout their career there work consisted of largely slapstick gags, often seen now as clichés.
In this clip, they are playing the role of people checking the wine in a cellar:
This scene is constructed by following up every slapstick gag with another gag. Every action by Stan Laurel provokes a slapstick reaction from Oliver Hardy. The first one in the scene is when Laurel is leaning against Hardy with a candle in his hand. Hardy can feel something, and has an over exaggerated look of puzzlement on his face. He then screams in pain when he realises he is being burnt. The next gag comes when laurel moves away from the ladder, not realising he is supporting it so Hardy falls from the ladder and a big jug of wine or water pours over his face.
Next, in an attempt to be helpful Laurel puts the ladder back up, but knocks the cork from one of the barrels and a big stream of liquid pours out on to hardy who sits there, still, as if to show how fed up he is. Hardy then tried to get liquid from the barrel again and it sprays up in his face. Most of the slapstick gags stem from accidents or a result of laurels clumsy, perhaps ignorant nature. He is causing things to fall down etc. without intentionally doing so.
My animation:
I could use this concept for my animation. We want the child to appear naughty, but not in such a way that the parents find it obscene or likely to incite naughty behaviour from the children. This style of slapstick comedy suits that perfectly, as (philosophically), it is questionable is someone is morally accountable for the consequences of their actions if they are not intentional or stem from ignorance. Therefore this may be an appropriate level of 'naughty', while not making the character accountable for the result of his direct actions. This would create an appropriate level of comedy without offending parents.
