Line #32 Headscratchers/AnAmericanTail


1	! General
2	* I get that humans can't understand the talking animals, but do they not notice that they wear clothes?
3	** They probably do, but in this universe there doesn't seem to be anything unusual about animals wearing clothes. The humans would just think of it as normal; maybe they'd notice it more if they saw an animal that ''didn't'' wear clothes. "Hey, look at that mouse, Bill, not a stitch of clothing on him! Times must be hard."
4	** I suspect this is just one of those little quirks with CivilizedAnimal fantasy stories that you're just not really supposed to think about too hard.
5	----
6	* Why is Tanya so arrogant in the last two films? In the first ones she was more close and lovely to Fievel.
7	** She's growing older and entering the age where she begins thinking of herself as "grown-up" and "done with childish things." And so the younger Fievel, who is still playing around, comes across much more as an AnnoyingYoungerSibling in her eyes, hence she has less patience with him. It's not an uncommon phase for older siblings to go through.
8	! ''An American Tail''
9	!!!That ain't no rat.
10	* Warren T. Cat is trying to pass himself off as a rat to decieve the mice. Except...wouldn't his size be a dead giveaway? None of the mice ever though he was awfully big for a rat?
11	** [[https://a-z-animals.com/blog/the-10-largest-rats-in-the-world/ Here's]] a list of the largest rat species found around the world, and [[https://www.thesprucepets.com/small-cat-breeds-4846258 here's]] a list of the smallest cat breeds. There's actually a bit of crossover between the largest rats and the smallest cats. Sounds crazy, but RealityIsUnrealistic and all that.
12	!!!Those are some strange concepts about the American Dream, y'all.
13	* Where did they get the idea that there were no cats in America in the first place?
14	** Same way the human immigrants got ''their'' unfortunately false misconceptions about America.
15	*** Yup. "The streets are paved with cheese" was a reference to an actual belief that America was so ridiculously rich that they paved the streets with gold.
16	!!!Shouldn't they escape?
17	* Why did all the other sweatshop workers never think of tying their sheets together into a rope and going out the window before? Why did they need a little kid to tell them they could do that, when at least one of them is clearly an adult? And what made them think Fievel was crazy and it wouldn't work?
18	** How high they were up was probably a discouragement, and Fievel's idea was crazy. Crazy enough to work.
19	** More likely, they just didn't see the point. To even be "working" in the sweatshop they must have no family, no money, no place to go. Why run away and risk ending up on the streets starving, when they could stay where there's guaranteed food and shelter?
20	!!!Telling the authorities about the sweatshop
21	* We can assume that after they escape from the sweatshop, they notify the authorities of it and they arrest the owner. What he was doing was basically keeping them there and using them as slaves.
22	** Given the time frame of the film (the year 1885), there is no 'proper authorities.' The New York Police Department of the time was heavily influenced by Tammany Hall corruption, and were more of a city-operated gang than a law enforcement agency (receiving pay-offs to ignore criminal ventures, and being used to support illicit voting practices). It wouldn't be until the 1894 Lexow Commission that any sort of attempt would be made to rein in the NYPD. It is very likely (given the film's themes), that the mouse version of the police is just as corrupt, was paid off by Moe to look the other way, and would more likely than not help him in rounding up his escaped 'employees,' rather than risk the loss of revenue with no more bribes.
23	*** On top of that, a lot of your labor laws didn't really happen until many years afterwards, with child labor being banned in 1938 and OSHA being in the 1970s ([=IDR=] which year), so even if Fievel did go to the authorities about the sweatshop, it's not like they could legally do anything.
24	!!!Shouldn't they just eat 'im?
25	* When the cats capture Fievel, why do they put him in a cage instead of just killing him?
26	** Maybe they were planning on sending him back to the sweat shop?
27	** Warren could have been planning to use Fievel as some kind of bargaining chip, perhaps.
28	** They weren't hungry at the time and were saving him for later.
29	!!!Cossack cats?
30	* So is there any particular reason why a bunch of cats were travelling across the frozen wastelands of Russia with the Cossacks? I know the point of this is that it would run parallel to the prejudices that the Jews faced, but how often do soldiers bring cats to a warzone? Dogs? That I can understand. But ''cats''?
31	** I was always under the impression that the cats weren't with the Cossacks so much as scavenging off them.
32	** Another possibility is they were brought along as provision guards. Mice, small animals, etc could get infi supplies, which could lead to shortages. Bring cats, and suddenly those small animals aren't a problem...
33	** Cats have been among the most common and widely-distributed pets in the human world since basically their domestication. From the deserts of Arabia, to the streets of New York, to yes, even the frozen steppes of Russia, anywhere you can find a sizeable group of human beings you are almost guaranteed to find at least one cat. In addition to the points made above, the Cossacks were no more immune to both the charms and the practical reasons of cat ownership than any other group.
34	!!!That evil wave
35	* What was the deal with the evil-looking Poseidon-shaped wave during the storm at the very beginning? I guess one might argue that it was Fievel's imagination, but the scene was clearly not from his point-of-view. It just seemed really out-of-place.
36	** RuleOfSymbolism, basically. It's just underlining how terrifying Fievel's situation is, as if the sea itself has come to life to attack him.
37	* Why are the cats in the beginning so unrealistically terrifying and why do they roar like lions? Is that what they sound like to the mice?
38	** I'd assume that's the reason. This is all from the mice's point of view.
39	!!!Getting sent to Orphan Alley
40	* During the fire sequence at the pier, Fievel is unconscious but just begins to come to as they're extinguishing the fire. How does Fievel get so far away into Orphan Alley without coming across family?
41	** It's safe to assume that Orphan Alley isn't too far, as his family would likely be searching the immediate area after searching the extinguished pier. It might have even been likely in their minds that he had died in the fire. He hit his head, and when he awoke he could only stumble around until the firefighters hit him with a water jet. I believe the shack that they made the Mouse of Minsk inside was close to the shore, and Fievel was taken by the water stream into a hole in the floor. He either ended up in a drainage stream, or was quickly washed ashore (again) by the waves, either of which lead him to Orphan Valley, which has a small flow going right through it. Either he climbed out of the stream himself or was unconscious and, despite the other Orphans' ill natured way of acting, out of the many orphans there, there was likely at least one who took pity on him and pulled him out.
42	!!!Immigration of the 1880s
43	* Unless we never see Fievel go through immigration at the end of the first movie, Fievel's technically an illegal immigrant!
44	** In 1888? there was no such thing. If you got to the USA, you were legal.
45	** They are animals and laws do not apply to them like that?
46	*** But we see the rest of his family become registered citizens at Castle Garden early on in the film, which makes the FridgeLogic more jarring. Although it probably didn't matter as much back then.
47	*** Minor nitpick, put they were not being registered as citizens but as residents. You didn't get citizenship until you had lived in the country for a certain amount of time and pass a test.
48	** Maybe the Statue of Liberty flight happened right after running Fievel through immigration. They were in the right area for it to happen, and we don't know how much time has passed since the family's reunion and Fievel and Tanya getting a close up view of the newly finished statue.
49	*** To answer a point, immigration statutes in the 1880s were, in comparison to today, more rather lax. Back then, (according to [[https://bit.ly/3vuHN2Q Ballotpedia]]) to become an immigrant you had to 1) not be sick, 2) not be a polygamist, 3) not be criminal (inasmuch as they defined as such back in the 1880s), and 4) not be someone "unable to take care of themselves without being a public charge". However, here comes some Fridge Horror, as, if Fievel showed up to registry by himself, he actually likely would have been sent back to Russia, as, unaccompanied minors weren't allowed, so ''An American Tail'' could have had a waa~y! sadder ending.
50	!!!Again, how did humans not notice that?

Context Headscratchers / AnAmericanTail