GIF: Steamboat Willie (1928)
This is Steamboat Willie, the short film that’s considered the public debut of Mickey Mouse.
It’s also the go-to example of the Rubber Hose art style that dominated television from the 1920s well into the early 1930s.
This is about an art style, but the story began as a problem-solving exercise:
With animation being in its infancy, early animators faced significant technical limitations – from having to flawlessly hand-draw every frame (transparent paper wasn’t standard issue yet), to a lack of advanced drawing techniques catered to animation.
It resulted in characters jerking, stuttering, or even “vibrating”.
Notice the differences between Little Nemo and Steamboat Willie. (Granted, they’re 17 years apart.)
GIF: Little Nemo (1911)
How can fluid, natural motion be achieved with the limitations of its time?
The animators’ solution: simplify characters, limit perspectives, and remove realism.
Simple, round shapes with jointless extensions made fluid motions easier to draw. Thus, the “rubber hose” style was born—a cute, minimalist style that showcased inhuman stretching and bending.
These exaggerated movements were common in slapstick, which Rubber Hose animations leaned into greatly.
GIF: Plane Crazy (1928)
It’s important to note that this style, while endearing in its own way, was not intentional, but a product of its circumstances.
However, it was so influential that many of the lessons learnt in the process of animating were adapted into Disney’s 12 Principles of Animation, the go-to guide for all things animation.
These 12 principles would go on to bridge the gap between animation and realistic animations.
In a sense, Rubber Hose was complicit in its decline… Talk about suffering from success.
GIF: Josh Smithness /Dribbble
Rubber Hose’s decline in popularity was multifaceted.
Disney successfully pushed for realistic animations in an effort to differentiate itself from its competitors, while also catering to the growing demand for more sophisticated content.
Cultural changes borne from World War II also accelerated the decline of Rubber Hose.
During the war, studios focused on propaganda films that needed a more realistic tone, something Rubber Hose was not particularly good at conveying.
After the war, the bouncy, whimsical rubber hose animations of the pre-war period felt out of sync with the serious themes and narratives that became popular afterward.
Just compare Plastic Man, a slightly Rubber Hose-ish character, against Batman – you cannot help but feel a certain way seeing them both in the same frame.
Screenshot: Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008)
But even as animations such as Snow White and Pocahontas took the limelight, Rubber Hose’s influence never really left the scene.
Photo: Team Digital Arcane
From its time-tested techniques and minimalist style to its slapstick influences, Rubber Hose’s legacy, however subtle, is still very much present.
Screenshot: One Piece (1999)
There’s a great quote that comes to mind: “What has been again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
Indeed, art often revisits past trends and revives them in new contexts.
The flavor of the day is often dynamic, influenced by current events, feelings, even innovations that give old ideas a fresh twist!
We see the resurgence of the Rubber Hose art style, from the Cuphead franchise, to even our new CAC shirt!
Photo: The Cuphead Show (2017)/Netflix
Photo: NTU Cultural Activities Club
In the end, it seems that no matter how much we progress, we’re often drawn back to the charm of days gone by.
Whether it’s through a resurgence of a nostalgic art style like Rubber Hose, or the playful revival of childhood memories, creativity is timeless, forever reinventing itself.
Though, my favorite resurging trend is definitely McDonald’s curly fries!
What do you think of the cyclical nature of trends, both within and outside of art? Are there trends that you are dying to see a resurgence in?
Thank you for reading, and here’s to the next big revival—whether it’s an art style or, hopefully, those curly fries!