You're gonna wake the neighbors next door.
Story from North America is a series of two animated music videos released on YouTube, with music by Garrett Davis.
The first video, Story from North America, was uploaded on January 15, 2009. It tells the story of a boy who calls his father into his bedroom in the middle of the night to kill a spider crawling around the bedroom. The father teaches the son not to be afraid of the spider, and once the son realizes this, the father releases the spider outside. The video uses hand-drawn animation done by Davis and Kirsten Lepore. You can watch it here
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A sequel, Story from South America, was uploaded on September 2, 2013. It was a collaboration between Davis and Animation Domination Hi-Def. As such, it uses flash animation instead of the first video's hand drawn animation. This time, the father and son have to deal with monkeys escaping from prison. You can watch it here.
Tropes found in the videos include
- Actual Pacifist: Pacifism is the overall moral of the first video. The son tries to get his father to kill a spider because he's afraid of it. The father teaches the son that the spider is just part of nature, that just because the spider is unfamiliar to the son doesn't mean it's evil or trying to hurt him. When the son realizes the error of his ways, he agrees that the spider should be released safely. The father takes the spider outside and lets it go.
- Denser and Wackier: The second video is much more bizarre than the first, with more Deranged Animation and a more random story.
- Deranged Animation: Both videos contain frequent grotesque and insane animation, although the second video exaggerates this compared to the first.
- Friendly Neighborhood Spider: Invoked in the first video. The boy is scared of a spider in his room and wants his father to kill it for him. The father changes the boy's mind by convincing him that the spider isn't evil, it's part of nature and should be appreciated. The boy realizes that "maybe he's got a family," and the father releases the spider outside.
- Innocently Insensitive: The father, whether seriously or not, accuses the son of having a "thirst for blood." The son simply wants his father to kill the spider because he (the son) is scared of it.
- Musicalis Interruptus: In the middle of the first video, the music is interrupted for a second by the singer audibly turning the page. This is actually incorporated into the animation, as the scene suddenly cuts to a shot of the narrator character, who turns the page while staring at the camera awkwardly.
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Averted in the first video. The son is initially terrified of the spider, but the father teaches the son to respect the spider, as it's still part of nature.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The setting is deliberately not specified beyond "North America."
- "Godspeed!"
