jts963 said:
No chance of her falling to her death. They're on a (partial) bridge over water. In fact she, Popeye and Wimpy do fall later in the cartoon and they all just swim safely to shore.
Yeah , maybe 'falling to her death' is a bit much , but still ... in the reality of the 'toon , there must be
some amount of peril involved. Otherwise , Olive wouldn't have felt the need to hang on w/her foot like that & just take all that foot-punishment unnecessarily.
Besides ... if you fall from a great enough height , hitting water can be just like hitting concrete. I know , I know ... Popeye , Olive , & Wimpy eventually end up falling into the water below , anyway ... but a lot of the time , cartoons don't necessarily follow a logical continuity ( I can't tell you how many
Tom & Jerry cartoons I've watched where Tom gets maimed in some way , only to be chasing Jerry again in the very next scene apparently unharmed ).
In my mind ... during
this scene at
that particular time ( where she's hanging off the girder ) , the animator's intent was this : if Olive lets go w/her foot ... she's a goner ( or at least : it ain't good if she falls ). Hence , the continued 'hanging-on-for-dear-life' display by Olive whilst receiving the torture of a lifetime ... & being unable to do a thing about it!!!
jts963 said:
My take: her shoes were custom-made, to be strong enough outside to support her weight like that, yet still be comfortable enough inside for her to not need socks or stockings. Never in her worst nightmare did she dream of encountering a tickler strong enough to peel away her shoe sole. This must have been especially maddening because it takes place after her hellish feet-tickling on board the ghost pirate ship. But she never used her other foot to push herself off the girder ... because she was irrationally afraid she might drown? Bad for her, good for Bluto and us.
Addendum:
It just occurred to me that Olive never pushed herself off the bridge because she feared that Bluto would grab her other foot, position it on the girder, peel back that shoe sole and then have his evil way with both
unbearably ticklish soles!
This is an interesting take on her 'peel-away-shoes' & 'no socks/stockings' ... & I like it. Though , since the animators clearly drew her
with socks/stockings ( that white part rolled down to her boot/shoe ) , the fact her sole is bare when Bluto peels back the sole of her shoe can be attributed to the reason I stated above ... which is :
cartoons don't necessarily follow a logical continuity.
Are we taking this way too seriously? ... probably. Is it fun to chat about? ...
definitely! Either way , your original closing statement rings loud & true , jts963 ... '
bad for her , good for Bluto ... & us'!