"Meat!" and "Walker" Analysis

Both Meat! and Walker are short stop-motion animations that use raw meats, or otherwise considered "gross foods," as the main subject matter. In Meat!, there is a woman sitting at the dining table getting ready to eat a plate of raw meat. After she cuts off and sniffs a piece, one of the raw meats on the plate starts to inch away. Although scared at first, the women quickly regains her composure, stabs the runaway meat, and stares into the camera for the remainder of the animation. The sound effects that coincide with the animation help to enhance the feelings of disgust and creepiness of the animation. On the other hand, in Walker, the animation centers around a duck character. The duck is walking around a moving turntable when the surrounding noises begin to increase and the duck breaks its leg. For the rest of the animation, the duck just sits in place, letting the table continue to move it around in circles.

In the animation, Meat!, there are many instances of exaggeration used to tell the story. Towards the beginning of the animation, when the woman sniffs the meat, the exaggerated gestures seem to reinforce the gross or creepy feelings that the viewer might experience. There is a similar effect when the runaway meat's heart beats and scares the woman. At the end of the animation, the woman's short burst of laughter followed by near complete silence seems to drive home the woman's sense of insanity in the situation.

Both animations use contrasting elements or scenes in interesting ways. In Meat!, the woman's enjoyment of the raw meat, depicted when she sniffs and smiles at it, is contrasted with her expression of fear towards the meat's beating heart, acting as a reminder that the piece of meat is or was once living. In Walker, the duck walking against the table's rotation is contrasted with the duck remaining still and instead letting the table move it around in endless circles.