0012 - Scratchy (Patreon)

Oh, the cat is named Scratchy! I got it now.

It's funny how The Simpsons has to define what a cartoon cat looks like within their world.

One of these is a cartoon cat. The other is a cartoon cartoon cat. Neither of them look like cats, not in a literal sense, but the audience has to understand the difference between their roles via context.

The world of the Simpsons is a hideous place, aesthetically. Nothing looks as it does in the real world, deliberately. The colour palette alone is garish and bizarre, not to mention things like children with spiky flesh coloured hair. But the visual language that it has defined over 30 years is second nature to us now, it's hard to imagine this all looking any other way.

I can see myself revisiting Itchy and Scratchy a bunch over this series. They've got some fun redesigns and obscure corners to explore.

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.