LA Weekly

. . . it's useful to ponder how we got here:

In this fascinating little cartoon, produced by the American Petroleum Institute in 1956, you can see how thoroughly oil was sold to the American public as an egalitarian, patriotic value ("Anyone in the USA willing to risk it can drill for oil!") as well as how, backed by a powerful lobby, it became the lifeblood of manufacturing ("fabrics, toothbrushes, insecticides . . . "). The Martians substitute neatly for Soviets; the Ogg-powerful leader looks like Stalin, and competition+oil=happiness for all. It's beautifully animated, and bald in its pronouncements.

Of course there's no mention of climactic influence or pollution (or dying baby walruses); burning coal to heat homes was so much worse. It makes me wonder what we're making cartoons about now that will come back bite us later. Or what we should be making cartoons about.

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