Telling an Environmental Story: One + One = Ed

"Ed, Edd, and Eddy" has always been one of my most favorite cartoons mainly because it has guided my childhood and evoked my desire to become an animator and create similarly vigorous characters. Well known for its emphasized style, dynamic outlines, and lineless backgrounds, the cartoon marked a time of Cartoon Network (where it was broadcasted) called the golden age of Cartoon Network. However, seeing as I've seen all episodes for a myriad of times, I recalled one episode where the very conventions of backgrounds and scenery dissolve in a frivolous and pensive psychedelic-like adventure of the three Eds. Being facetiously named "One + One = Ed", the episode hitches on the early introduced concept of visual phantasmagorie as the background's "evolution" creates the story, instead of the characters themselves. Furthermore, it is one of the rare episodes where not the fourth wall is broken (as there are many instances of that happening within the episodes), but where their wall is seemingly broken only to be then reestablished as an illusion, spinning awe in the minds of the children and adults that are watching it. As I said prior, the tone is phantasmagorical and otherworldly and along with the gradual transformation of composition, the story is being carried out. For example, at 07:36 the composition of the entire background scenery reaches its final dissolution as now nothing is conventionally organized and everything seems to defy the laws of physics and rationality. Double D, the smart tool of the set, analytically points out every change as the story progresses, where he refers to the technique used by the animators to express this notion of phantasmagorie as the "displacement of perspective", seemingly breaking the fourth wall in a mild manner, understood only by those that understand the conventions of animation. Forms begin to become arbitrary, the space around them completely transforms as they aren't filled with awe as much as we are, as a tree is revealed to have a cardboard shape - reminiscent of a theatrical play prop. Indirectly, the episode breaks down the creativity and the craftsmanship of animation, referring to a plethora of elements used within animation throughout the ages solely with the backgrounds, one example being the bite of the sun Eddy takes, changing the texture and lighting from light to dark, alluding to an interactive relationship between the characters and the background. With the backgrounds being watercolor, their texture adds to the whimsicality of the visuals, and in combination with lined character movement, the contrast almost perfectly juxtaposes what is real and what is not right before the characters exit the visualization.

"Ed, Edd, n' Eddy: One + One = Ed" - https://vimeo.com/78406540