Do you recollect being a cartoon addict in your childhood years? Some of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s will particularly remember the mania Tom & Jerry cartoon series was. Unlike the days of 24 x 7 DTH TV that boasts of at least 15 dedicated cartoon channels, we kids had the innocuous luxury of watching our favourite cartoon shows only on Sundays on good old Doordarshan or rent Video Cassettes during summer holidays when our parents would allow us uninterrupted cartoon time! I have fond memories of my father playing cassettes of Tom and Jerry and watching the iconic Walt Disney animation series together as a family. Not only was the comical rivalry between blue-grey cat Tom and brown mouse Jerry downright entertaining, it also educated us with some enduring life wisdom. On a nuanced observation, you will find there are so many life lessons to draw from Tom and Jerry series.
Life Lessons from Tom and Jerry Cartoon Series
1) You can fight fiercely and yet care for one another in moments of hardships
Tom and Jerry often indulge in cat and mouse chases for food, milk, cheese, chicken etc. They can beat up one another like their worst enemies. Yet when they see each other in hardships like sickness or braving a rainstorm or being thrown out of the house by the master or sinking in a river, they melt in no time and rush to ferry their beloved friend out of trouble. Most fights end in a mushy patch-up. Like how Jerry feeds Tom hot soup to cure his fever. Talk about cuteness overload! But most importantly, it brings to the fore message of friendship and deep down affection despite our differences.
2) Some emotions are universal, like the love a parent feels for their child
Remember how Tom viciously steals a duckling egg from a mother duck to feed itself? The newborn duckling hunts for its mother hopelessly and so does the harried mother search for its young one frantically. Or how a big bull dog sings a sweet lullaby for its baby pup and is especially disturbed by the little one’s non-stop hiccups. Or the time a baby elephant escapes from its circus herd and accidentally lands at Tom’s house, only to be found by its mother later. The series depicts beautifully the protective love every parent feels for their child through animals. Such genius of a representation!
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3) Greed, jealousy, and envy don’t pay
Usually, you will find, that Tom is the wicked one conjuring up conspiracies against the petite mouse. Whether that’s to gobble it, thrash it or sometimes even finish it off with an axe! Jerry gives stiff competition to Tom and plays back with smart moves to teach Tom a lesson. Most times, Tom’s move backfires! Like how it once created a potent chemical concoction in the laboratory to gain inordinate muscular strength to beat the hell out of Jerry, but the sinister formula worked only once. The next time Tom recreated this drug, it shrunk smaller than the mouse almost to the size of a bee! So the inherent message is goodness always wins over evil. Watching the series is like sitting through a moral science class with bonus entertainment!
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4) Family is above all
Recollect the time tiny pot-bellied Nibbles, Jerry’s nephew arrives unannounced at its keyhole burrow, armed with a letter that stated how much Nibbles loves to eat with a PS note – “he is always hungry”! Poor Jerry had to run helter-skelter to fetch food to satiate its perennial hunger! So much so, Jerry risked danger while getting Nibbles to sip from Tom’s bowl of milk, right down to the last drop dripping from Tom’s whiskers! Nibbles is a reminder of that spoilt pampered child in our family whose need we keep above everyone else’s!
5) Food and sleep are vital
If you observe carefully, in most instances, Tom and Jerry quarrel over matters of food or sleep. The fight is either about the last ounce of food in the refrigerator or noisy parties at the time of sleep. And how they both are mostly depicted napping in their cosy beds. Tom’s pet activity to do is to sleep by its milk crucible while it often gets scolded by the master for being a lazy cat. Likewise, Jerry is obsessed with cheese, its staple diet often used to lure it into a mouse trap. Some truth we cannot negate is that our primitive needs revolve around nutrition and rest.
They say classics never go out of style. To me, Tom & Jerry is an example of a cult classic that still continues to entertain children and adults alike. The values it propagated through unabashed humour will never be out of vogue. Like watching each other’s back, living up love-hate friendships, letting go and reuniting, the morality of good over bad and a lot more. And though the series got a recent makeover, the 1940s version feels timeless. On that note, let me go back to watching the next episode that I just paused!
If you have more life lessons from tom and jerry to add, please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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