Identify: Out of Inkwell - The Tantalising Fly (1919) by Max Fleischer

Max Fleischer is the inventor of rotoscope which is a medium used to animate in the silent era of animation when animation is generally comedic. Apart from being an inventor he is also an animator who is famous for his character, Koko the Clown, designed after his brother who worked as a clown at Coney Island then. In this deconstructive episode of Out of the Inkwell, Fleischer and Koko tries to catch or kill a fly which is tantalising them.

In terms of technique, Fleischer's animation moves smoothly as his work shows that he is very familliar with the principles of animation. Moreover, he took comedy to another level by allowing interactions between the character in the real world and the one on paper. For instance, he lends his pen to koko so that koko can draw a fly bait (another man) on the paper and hit the fly while it is on the man's head. I really like the comical interaction between the two characters in the story since it tells me that Fleischer perceive Koko as a mindful and trustworthy partner, not just a mere creation of his. Fleischer also shows Koko's superiority as he is able to suck up the bald man that he drew.