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His world premiere took place at the age of 79e Edinburgh International Film Festival, Harvey Kurtzman’s MAD Worldis a feature documentary directed by Bart Simpson and executive produced by Terry Gilliam (founding member Monty Python).
The film tells the story of cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman (1924-1993), creator of MAD magazine, which inspired Matt Groening (creator) The Simpsons), Terry Gilliam, Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman (creator Mouseand had an instrumental impact on the world of comics, satire, and popular culture at the time.
Featuring interviews with Kurtzman’s close friends and family, his youngest daughter, Nellie Kurtzman, who is the main voice in the documentary, and rare archival footage, including Kurtzman’s interview footage, hand-drawn animation, and an original jazz score by Marty Hale, perfectly blending Kurtzman’s artistic style with professional documentary art. Kurtzman and how his work helped redefine American humor and visual storytelling.
From his early college days writing cartoons and comics for his classmates on bulletin boards, Kurtzman joined Timely Comics, which eventually became Marvel Comics, and became editor of the great man himself, Stan Lee. After several years of producing the strip, Hey look!Kurtzman moved to EC Comics and began producing comics that focused more on the harsh realities of the world. Although quite an introvert in his domestic life, Kurtzman took his concerns and criticisms of his contemporary world to the (cartoon) page. His work often satirically lynched those in power and authority, desperately exposing his readers to lies and corruption – his anti-war comics led to him being investigated by the FBI.
Knowing little to nothing about Kurtzman going into this film, I’ll admit I went in still knowing very little. Although a well-constructed, edited and stylized documentary, the film fails to detail why Kurtzman’s work was so influential and beloved. Except for the section dealing with (anti)war comics, which uses gruesome and graphic comic cartoons of a missing child sitting in the ruins of a Korean war; Of course, it reflects active anti-war, anti-establishment sentiments in his work.
Beyond that, the film makes a tongue-in-cheek, glowing statement that Kurtzman changed cartoons and the comic book industry forever, but lacks substantial reasons and evidence as to why or how. Many of the brief visual panels and designs shown are not fully contextualized within the timeline of Kurtzman’s career. The audience will just have to take their (Simpson’s, Kurtzman’s peers) biased word for it that Harvey was an influential guy. It’s hard to know who the target audience for this documentary is.
I feel more like a passion project for director Bart Simpson, who is more interested in glorifying the work of his favorites (Kurtzman and his protégés) than in providing an uneducated audience with a basic biography of his life and the influence of his work, or giving mega-fans some fascinating new insights, perhaps from beyond the archives.
The end result is an obscure hagiography of Kurtzman’s life, preoccupied with Kurtzman being a role model for his peers and Gilliam, who takes over as president, to draw viewers into the complexity and intrigue of the life of a man who was a father, husband, war veteran, son of Jewish immigrants, and revolutionary, as well as a revolutionary. Gilliam’s admiration for Kurtzman is clear, he said: “When Mad Comics came out, it completely changed the way I looked at the world. That was the beginning of my fascination with Harvey Kurtzman.
He ended up being a god for me when I got to college. I practically worshiped him.” Indeed, the entire film seems to put Kurtzman on a pedestal, this lack of criticism making the documentary feel disconnected and completely out of place in the 21st century.St century and undermines the film’s broad claims that Kurtzman’s work is fundamental to the ideas of satire and pop culture criticism for generations to come.
Especially for me as an “outsider” viewer (I have no knowledge of the comics of the time) trying to see the greatness of the man – beyond his creative revolution and pursuit of artistic talent – because the documentary doesn’t really show anything.
Sections during his time at Playboy and his financial and business disputes with William Gaines initially hint at the man’s imperfections, but the final tone of these parts of the film portrays Kurtzman as an arrogant failure unable to admit his own shortcomings – just as his protégés and peers like him.
The presence of professional fans blinded them to the potential of this documentary to be a deep exploration of the unique, imperfect, interesting life story of a unique, imperfect, interesting man.
However, the film does a great job of editing together a collage of clips and footage related to Kurtzman’s work, successfully shining a light on his artistic talents in a way that celebrates and expresses his colorful and creatively progressive attributes. These visuals, along with an equally colorful score and the genuine manner in which his family and friends recount his life, attitude and ethos, make the film an energetic, nostalgic piece that unfortunately feels like an ode to Harvey Kurtzman’s special influence on a few (mostly famous) individuals and the careers of such influential individuals.
