New Light on the "Heartless" Video

(via Gawker)

I don't usually repost anything I've already talked about, but when I posted the "Heartless" video last week, I knew very little about it. I knew it was directed by Hype Williams, and that's about it. But yesterday Gawker learned us that Hype's inspiration for the video came from the work of rotoscoping king Ralph Bakshi (Wizards, Fire & Ice, Cool World):

Hype presented the concept to Ye, and they decided to use rotoscoping technology (as in films like Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly) to create a look that's not unfamiliar.

…Hype had screened Bakshi's classic 1981 animated joint, American Pop, before they decided to go forward with the project.

I thought the "Heartless" vid looked awfully Bakshiesque, but it's nice to get confirmation of that inspiration. I think it's a swell look, but of course, when once thinks Bakshi, Coonskin inevitably comes to mind:

Presumably Hype didn't also show Kanye any of Bakshi's 1975 film Coonskin. The highly controversial animated film is about a black rabbit, a black fox, and a black bear who...climb the organized crime ladder in Harlem. The exaggerated African-American caricatures were strongly criticized, and stalled the film's release.

I've seen probably half of Bakshi's films, and Coonskin isn't one of them. But I can only imagine it's offensive for no real good reason, since Bakshi's films tend to be flaccidly and brainlessly gaudy. But whevs. Obama will fix all hate. Here's "Heartless" again:



P.S. The video for Kanye's song "Heard 'Em Say" was directed by Bill Plympton, so clearly Ye is up on his toons.

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