Back in the 1930’s, Animation was just starting to become a powerhouse and while Disney and Warner Bros. were quickly rising in the ranks, there was an already established studios run by Max and Dave Fleschier who had already made a name for themselves with characters like Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor. Their unique animation style is characterized by the use of rotoscoping not just on their characters, but also in their backgrounds.
One of the films that they did is a cartoon that can serve as a reminder to aspiring entrepeneurs and business companies of what happens when you let your egos get in the way.
I am, of course, talking about the 1936 animated short, “Greedy Humpty Dumpty.”
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Taking a look at this film, you can see that there is a personification hidden in the character of Humpty Dumpty, who is a king in this version. He wants nothing more than gold and power in his life and he has zero care for his subjects (including Mother Goose herself). But, just because you are higher than your subjects, doesn’t mean that you know everything. Rather, you are massaging your ego and pretending that only you yourself are at the top of the heap.
This is demonstrated in the opening song of the short where the Mother Goose characters are trying to warn Humpty Dumpty that his ego will get the better of him. We see this a lot in many businesses, both big and small because all that the heads of these businesses want is to make money and that’s it. But the underlings know that there is a right way and a wrong way, but Humpty doesn’t seem to listen.
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Next, Humpty also demonstrates that you must never let your ego get the better of you on account that the higher you go, the harder you fall. He gets this vision that there is gold in the sun which is not true, at least to the other characters and to the audience (namely neurodivergents). When he demands that they make his wall higher, right away we see that Humpty also demonstrates that the ego is getting bigger and bigger.
In a way, we can see this as an allegory to major corporations and businesses that the subjects represent the workers who are trying to make a living while Humpty is the corporation wanting to make a quick buck. But as we see when he axes the sun, he can see that it’s already too late to cut back and the damage is done to both the corporation/business and that the subjects (employees) were right all along.
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Now, I bring all this up because as a rising entrepreneur, I always have to make sure to keep my ego in check and not let it go to my head. The important factor is that rising neurodivergent entrepeneurs might fail to understand that running a business isn’t a one man show nor is a dictatorship. Humpty Dumpty failed to see that his greed proved to be his undoing.
We see all this in business nowadays because there is an old saying that money is the root of all evils. There are way too many Humpty Dumpty’s out there and the important cardinal rule of running a business is that you serve your customers and not yourself. I recommend this film for not just special and general educators, but also vocational counselors and job advisors to remind clients of what happens when we let our egos and inflexibility get in the way.
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Catch you all later!!
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