CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST 👻 is best known nowadays as a film franchise (thank you, Disney!) but before that it was a cartoon which aired in the 1950s. Some episodes were sweet and heartwarming - most became classics - but today we are going to focus on one episode in particular.
THE MAN IN THE MOON is an episode where Casper decides to visit the Man in the Moon, after looking through a telescope, because he seemed friendly. When he gets there, of course, he realizes that the moon is just a bunch of rocks - or is it? After taking a nap (flying to the moon on ectoplasmic energy would be exhausting, I suppose) some tiny little men pop out of the holes.
"He's a giant!" "He's a monster!" "Let's capture him and present him to the king!" The approximately 6 inch tall men then proceed to put the sleeping ghost into a wooden cage (where did the wood come from on the moon?) and crate him off to their city. Along the way, he wakes up and isn't even concerned. Why would he be? He's already dead, after all. "I wonder where they're taking me."
Upon arrival, the royal announcer proceeds to announce the king, "King Luna" and then said monarch 👑 walks in all pompous and annoying like most political figures throughout history. When his people bow to him, so does Casper. However, the king doesn't believe he's friendly and orders him to be put in the royal dungeon. Casper is heartbroken, "Even the Moon People are afraid of me."
Before they get him to the dungeon, however, a lookout warns that the "Tree men are attacking!" so the king orders everyone to defend the wall and protect their city.
Please note, the Tree Men are just walking about in a group. They have not yet attacked anyone. Sure, they look angry in that they aren't smiling, their 'eyebrows???' are pointing downward, and they are bare of leaves or fruit and are reminiscent of the Talking Trees in the movie The Wizard of Oz in a lot of ways. Still, they haven't actually attacked them. However, this does give an answer to my earlier question about the wood cage Casper is in.
The Moon Men proceed to shoot fiery arrows at the Tree Men. Because this is a cartoon, they don't actually die. They do, however, get shorter, thinner, and one even ends up as nothing but a burned stick - with legs and arms- running away from the Moon Men.
"Hooray! You have them on the run!" shouts Casper, rooting for his own captors even though we still haven't seen any violence from the living Trees.
Rather than leaving, however, the Trees are actually running to a random watering hole (there is no water on the moon!) where they suck it up through a branch (meant to remind us of the nose) and then quite effectively hose down the fires of the Moon Men. This is still self-defense rather than straight on violence, if you ask me.
Then, for whatever reason, the Tree Men break down the barricaded gate. They could have destroyed the entire city, which was made up of moon rock, but they only broke down the gate made of wood. Nothing else gets broken.
The king is the last left standing, while all his soldiers have abandoned their posts out of fear, and is fighting to stop the (seemingly) leader of the pack of Tree Men. Yet, after he cuts off the Tree's left branch (arm) the Tree only grabs him with his other arm. He picks him up and walks off with him, as the others have done with his army - but not his civilian citizens - without having acted violently.
But, as this was clearly the 50s, Casper sides with the Moon Men and simply walks out of his cage (remember, he's a ghost who can go through walls) and, rather than trying to talk to the understandably upset Tree Men, proceeds to pull their leg branches under ground and tie them together in knots.
The Moon Men are let go as the Tree Men proceed to attempt to free themselves. The Moon Men cheer, and then it cuts to Casper getting a medal and being knighted "The Friend Casper" before fading out to a establishing shot of the moon (like anyone has forgotten where they are) which then smiles and winks at the viewers.
From my point of view, the Tree Men were only trying to get back their dead so they could properly lay them to rest in whatever way Tree Men do that sort of thing. Maybe they were capturing the army and monarch of Moon Men, but who's to say it wasn't so they could have a proper sit-down and negotiate a truce?
I feel like this whole episode is just the perfect showcase to explain the invasion and colonization of indigenous nations.
I apologize for ruining what may be a cherished childhood memory, but I really needed to let this out.
