The Pygmalion Syndrome: Taral Wayne: Frozen Fur and Flesh: Sun Tot

Taral Wayne
Sun Tot
Art © Taral Wayne.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Note by Leem:

Somehow or other this picture seems to have got lost in the shuffle. Taral recently re-sent it with a note from Panic, who mentioned that it was missing from the gallery here. Now that I think back I’m sure Taral did send me a copy before, but it wasn’t on my hard drive so I must have forgotten to download it from Hotmail. Mea culpa.

Taral Wayne - Sun Tot
Note by Taral Wayne:

You’ll probably need some explanation of Sun Tot.

Some years ago there was a French made cartoon called “The Smoggies”. It was didactic, as usual for a certain kind of cartoon, and taught impressionable young minds that environmentalism was good, and mindless consumption bad. Of course, it was a crock of shit. The sentiments were laudible, but in fact the Sun Tots seemed to have some sort of unspoken magic -- they could make air conditioners, ovens, clocks, lights and all sorts of things out of palm leaves and tree sap. If they could do all that in such an environmentally friendly way, maybe they should give us a few tips? We don’t have a clue how to do it. And the Smoggies who represented “us” were stupid, greedy, and had a blind faith in mechanical technology, respecitvely. (And I’d like to know that if technology isn’t going to invent better ways of living, I’d like to know what will.)

The Sun Tots, by the way, were about five inches tall, and ran around in their tropical island paradise in very scanty clothing. They seemed to stay young and live for a very long time too.

More magical benefits arbitrarily conferred on their “good” lifestyle... The Smoggies were fat, scrawny, and ugly, respectively, and obsessed with discovering the secret of Sun Tot youth.

In one episode, “Poluto”, (subtle naming!) uses a failed chemical potion to turn various critters on the island to stone. He decides to find the Sun Tot princess and turn her to stone for a present to Emma, the scrawny, greedy Smoggie. For half the episode he chases the princess around the island,and when he finally corners her and is about to convert her to a mantlepiece, his squirt gun runs ouf of potion.

Rats!

So I “rewrote” the episode. Here’s the Sun Tot princess, turned to veined marble, her feet epoxied to a piece of wood for Emma’s mantle. I prefer happy endings.

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Note by Leem: Somehow or other this picture seems to have got lost in the shuffle. Taral recently re-sent it with a note from Panic, who mentioned that it was missing from the gallery here. Now that I think back I’m sure Taral did send me a copy before, but it wasn’t on my hard drive so I must have forgotten to download it from Hotmail. Mea culpa.
	Note by Taral Wayne: You’ll probably need some explanation of Sun Tot. Some years ago there was a French made cartoon called “The Smoggies”. It was didactic, as usual for a certain kind of cartoon, and taught impressionable young minds that environmentalism was good, and mindless consumption bad. Of course, it was a crock of shit. The sentiments were laudible, but in fact the Sun Tots seemed to have some sort of unspoken magic -- they could make air conditioners, ovens, clocks, lights and all sorts of things out of palm leaves and tree sap. If they could do all that in such an environmentally friendly way, maybe they should give us a few tips? We don’t have a clue how to do it. And the Smoggies who represented “us” were stupid, greedy, and had a blind faith in mechanical technology, respecitvely. (And I’d like to know that if technology isn’t going to invent better ways of living, I’d like to know what will.) The Sun Tots, by the way, were about five inches tall, and ran around in their tropical island paradise in very scanty clothing. They seemed to stay young and live for a very long time too.
More magical benefits arbitrarily conferred on their “good” lifestyle... The Smoggies were fat, scrawny, and ugly, respectively, and obsessed with discovering the secret of Sun Tot youth. In one episode, “Poluto”, (subtle naming!) uses a failed chemical potion to turn various critters on the island to stone. He decides to find the Sun Tot princess and turn her to stone for a present to Emma, the scrawny, greedy Smoggie. For half the episode he chases the princess around the island,and when he finally corners her and is about to convert her to a mantlepiece, his squirt gun runs ouf of potion. Rats! So I “rewrote” the episode. Here’s the Sun Tot princess, turned to veined marble, her feet epoxied to a piece of wood for Emma’s mantle. I prefer happy endings.