Who is she? http://www.pinkyshow.org/about/about.html
In her words: “A double puppet government? I’ve never heard that term before…”
In my words:
The Pinky Show is one of two places where talking cats explaining the Vietnam War just… makes sense (the other being a late-‘60s drug haze). And their explanation is chilling. In 40 minutes they distill one of the most complex wars ever fought (or not fought?) to its bare, factual core. No bearded hippies. No wacky conspiracy theories.
But that factual core is made up of thousands upon thousands of documents, resolutions, treaties and news clippings. Sounds pretty exciting right?
It is The Pinky Show’s ability to present this mind-numbing complexity in an engaging manner that makes their explanation of the Vietnam War great. Two curious cats, Pinky and Bunny, break the Vietnam War down into a dialectic talk. Pinky, the novice, asks Bunny simple questions with increasingly complex answers. This breaks the issues into digestible chunks and walks the viewer down a garden path to understanding Vietnam. Pinky draws the viewer in and keeps them hooked.
More importantly, The Pinky Snow demonstrates the value of creative thinking when it comes to communicating complex ideas. The curious cat premise of this and every episode allows The Pinky Show tremendous latitude in exploring controversial, complex ideas. In a media world dominated by talking heads, we reflexively question a speaker’s slant and motives right off the bat. And though these are critical questions, answering them can interfere with understanding new or controversial ideas. Rejecting an idea strictly because of who is promoting it is the logical equivalent of shooting the messenger. And who would shoot a cat?
Using a symbol to communicate an idea is something that superheroes have been doing for decades. The hope behind this is that people will judge the idea on its own, without a real identity to complicate the matter.
Noodle Scratchers:
Do you buy this superhero-style presentation serious issues? What limitations do you see? On a percentage basis, how much did this video increase your understanding of the Vietnam War?
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