The China Plate

I first saw this Disney short on Youtube a few months ago. I've become enraptured with it ever since. Everything about it I find great, but what I really love most about it is the Chinese musical score featured in it. It's one of my favorite compositions used in a Silly Symphony and I think one of the best. I never paid much attention to Chinese music before this, but this instrumental Chinese song grabbed me like no other. Maybe it was just all in a matter of finding what I'd consider to be the perfect tune in that sub-genre of world music that actually appealed to me.

Despite the Chinese stereotypes, I read somewhere that this was one of the few (allegedly) racist Disney shorts that actually aired on the Disney cartoon anthology show The Ink And Paint Club. It must not have been that supposedly bad enough to ban it, the stereotypes must be slight only if that's the case, at least I can't find anything bad in it, not sure what that would be. Anyway, a delightful short in which we get a different look at the country China: From the plate and what takes place on it. I don't know for sure if this is one of the first cartoons in which we get to see things come to life, but if it is, then it's certainly among the pioneers and is groundbreaking for its time, not to mention imaginative. I like the Chinese boy coming to the aid of the Chinese girl (too bad the father had to be such a ruffian) the chase scenes, and the boulder being rolled into a dragon's mouth and in its stomach. One of my favorite Silly Symphonies.

I found this to be quite endearing. While I'll admit that there are some Asian stereotypes at work here, it is pretty harmless. The music is nicely put forth. The sight gags work quite well. There is criticism of Disney for making these films. It was significant because he had to put together sound and substance which later could be tweaked. There was an engaging story with some funny moments. I suppose a Chinese person today would find it offensive.

So this isn't quite my type of Silly Symphony but the artistry of it is fairly impressive, if not exactly their best. I like some of the animations, the backgrounds are well detailed and it's a little more elaborate looking than a lot of the Symphonies of this time in the production run, I do like the orchestration of the motions of the characters and the sound of the woman's odd shoes, I thought it was cleverly done. I just generally prefer the short animations that are set in nature or have more fun and novel ideas for their themes, like I would probably have liked this one more if it had featured a cast of walking china plates or something, knowing this series I'm sure there's sometime similar out there somewhere! The short begins with the beautifully detailed image of a China plate and as the picture draws in painted figures on the plate's surface come to life, and it tells the tale of a young fisherman falling in love with a princess after saving her from drowning after she falls in the river while trying to catch a butterfly, and he soon incurs the wrath of the enormous mandarin/emperor who is her father who strongly disapproves of the young lovers being together. It picks up the pace a lot when he goes on the attack, and engages the young man in a sword fight, loses, and eventually runs into a giant cave which turns out to be the giant mouth of a giant dragon which swallows him whole! The ferocious firebreathing drake then gives chase after the young couple until they stop stop its menace by slugging a boulder down its throat! The China plate is very enjoyable for what it is but still pretty average in my opinion, not bad, but definitely not an among the best that this great series of vintage animations has to offer. X 🐉 🦋

This is an amazingly strange and dated little Silly Symphony cartoon from Walt Disney. It begins quite oddly--with the camera going in for a closeup of a Chinese plate. As it gets closer, suddenly the scene changes to an amazingly patronizing and stereotypical view of China of old. It's kind of like a China of the Charlie Chan variety--Chinese in name only as lots of cute stereotypical Chinese folks dance about and have fun. And, like a typical Silly Symphony, there is a baddie that comes in and tries to spoil the fun--and the little Chinese guy needs to fight him to get back his girlfriend. It's all very odd--and very un-Chinese. I'd really love to show this to some Chinese folks to watch their reactions--I am pretty sure they would NOT be very positive!! It's all an obvious relic to our past and the way we viewed 'strange people from strange lands'. In addition, it's really not that good a cartoon either--though the animation is the best for its time, as are all the Disney shorts from this era.

The artwork on a Chinese plate comes alive and the characters start moving about in time with the music. That's it, that's the premise for the entire cartoon. You have to wonder how Walt Disney never managed to get bored of making these repetitive shorts. They wear thin very, very quickly.

It's an early black-and-white effort with nothing at all to give it any lasting appeal all these years later. Some people have complained about the cartoon being "racist" or using "stereotyped characters". I wouldn't pay too much attention to that, it's harmless. These accusations are the only thing that stop it from being completely forgettable though.