Tom and Jerry is an iconic American animated series from 1940 that centers on the rivalry between a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry. Over its run it produced over 160 shorts and won numerous Academy Awards. The violent slapstick plots typically involve Tom's failed attempts to catch Jerry, though they occasionally work together. It features little dialogue but complex musical scores and remains hugely popular worldwide for its comedy.

1. Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry is an American animated series of short films created in 1940 by William Hanna
and Joseph Barbera. It centers on a rivalry between its two main characters, Tom Cat and Jerry
Mouse, and many recurring characters, based around slapstick comedy. Tom and Jerry has
gained a worldwide audience and is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed cartoon
series.In its original run, Hanna and Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry shorts for Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer from 1940 to 1957. During this time, they won seven Academy Awards for
Animated Short Film, tying for first place with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies with the most
awards in the category. After the MGM cartoon studio closed in 1957, MGM revived the series
with Gene Deitch directing an additional 13 Tom and Jerry shorts for Rembrandt Films from
1961 to 1962. Tom and Jerry then became the highest-grossing film series of all time, overtaking
Looney Tunes. Chuck Jones then produced another 34 shorts with Sib-Tower 12 Productions
between 1963 and 1967. Two more shorts were produced, The Mansion Cat in 2001 and The
Karate Guard in 2005, for a total of 163 shorts. Various shorts have been released for home
media since the 1990s.A number of spin-offs have been made, including the television series The
Tom and Jerry Show (1975–77), The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (1980–82), Tom & Jerry Kids
(1990–94), Tom and Jerry Tales (2006–08), and The Tom and Jerry Show (2014). The first
feature-length film based on the series, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, was released in 1992 before
ten direct-to-video films were produced between 2002 and 2013.Numerous Tom and Jerry shorts
have been subject to controversy, mainly over racial stereotypes which involves the portrayal of
the recurring black character Mammy Two Shoes and characters appearing in blackface. Other
controversial themes include cannibalism and the glamorization of smoking.
Plot
The series features comedic fights between an iconic set of enemies, a house cat and mouse. The
plots of each short usually center on Tom's numerous attempts to capture Jerry and the mayhem
and destruction that follows. Tom rarely succeeds in catching Jerry, mainly because of Jerry's
cleverness, cunning abilities, and luck. However, there are also several instances within the
cartoons where they display genuine friendship and concern for each other's well-being. At other
times, the pair set aside their rivalry in order to pursue a common goal, such as when a baby
escaped the watch of a negligent babysitter, causing Tom and Jerry to pursue the baby and keep
it away from danger.
The cartoons are infamous for some of the most violent cartoon gags ever devised in theatrical
animation such as Tom using everything from axes, hammers, firearms, firecrackers, explosives,
traps and poison to kill Jerry. On the other hand, Jerry's methods of retaliation are far more
violent due to their frequent success, including slicing Tom in half, shutting his head in a
window or a door, stuffing Tom's tail in a waffle iron or a mangle, kicking him into a
refrigerator, getting him electrocuted, pounding him with a mace, club or mallet, causing a tree
or an electric pole to drive him into the ground, sticking matches into his feet and lighting them,
tying him to a firework and setting it off, and so on.[1]
Because of this, Tom and Jerry has often
been criticized as excessively violent. Despite the frequent violence, there is no blood or gore in
any scene.[2]:42[3]:134

2. Music plays a very important part in the shorts, emphasizing the action, filling in for traditional
sound effects, and lending emotion to the scenes. Musical director Scott Bradley created
complex scores that combined elements of jazz, classical, and pop music; Bradley often reprised
contemporary pop songs, as well as songs from MGM films, including The Wizard of Oz and
Meet Me In St. Louis. Generally, there is little dialogue as Tom and Jerry almost never speak;
however, minor characters are not similarly limited, and the two lead characters are able to speak
English on rare occasions and are thus not mute. For example, the character Mammy Two Shoes
has lines in nearly every cartoon in which she appears. Most of the vocal effects used for Tom
and Jerry are their high-pitched laughs and gasping screams.
Before 1954, all Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced in the standard Academy ratio and
format; in 1954 and 1955, some of the output was dually produced in dual versions: one
Academy-ratio negative composed for a flat widescreen (1.75:1) format and one shot in the
CinemaScope process. From 1955 until the close of the MGM cartoon studio a year later, all
Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced in CinemaScope, some even had their soundtracks
recorded in Perspecta directional audio. All of the Hanna and Barbera cartoons were shot as
successive color exposure negatives and printed by Technicolor; the 1960s entries were done in
Metrocolor. The 1960s entrees also returned to the standard Academy ratio and format, too. The
2005 short The Karate Guard was also filmed in the standard Academy ratio and format, too.
Characters
Tom (called "Jasper" in his debut appearance) is a grey and white domestic shorthair cat. He
usually lives a pampered life, although the characters usually live in several lifestyles, while
Jerry is a small brown house mouse who always lives in close proximity to him. "Tom" is a
generic name for a male cat (The Warner Bros. cartoon character Sylvester was originally named
Thomas).[citation needed]
Jerry possesses surprising strength for his size, lifting items such as anvils
with relative ease and withstanding considerable impacts with them. Despite the typical cat-eats-
mouse scenario, it is surprisingly quite rare for Tom to actually try and consume Jerry; most of
his attempts are just to torment or humiliate Jerry. Despite being very energetic and determined,
Tom is no match for Jerry's brains and wits. By the final "fade-out" of each cartoon, Jerry usually
emerges triumphant, while Tom is shown as the loser. However, other results may be reached; on
rare occasions, Tom triumphs, usually when Jerry becomes the aggressor or when he crosses
some sort of line (the best example of which occurs in The Million Dollar Cat where, after
finding out that Tom's newly acquired wealth will be taken away if he harms any animal,
including a mouse, he torments Tom until Tom finally loses his temper and attacks him).
Sometimes, usually ironically, they both lose, usually when Jerry's last trap potentially backfires
on him after it affects Tom (An example is in Chuck Jones' Filet Meow short where Jerry orders
a shark to scare Tom away from eating a goldfish. Afterwards, the shark scares Jerry away as
well) or when Jerry overlooks something at the end of the course. Sometimes, they both end up
being friends (only for something to happen so that Tom will chase Jerry again). Both characters
display sadistic tendencies, in that they are equally likely to take pleasure in tormenting each
other. However, depending on the cartoon, whenever one character appears to be in mortal
danger (in a dangerous situation or by a third party), the other will develop a conscience and save
him. Sometimes, they bond over a mutual sentiment towards an unpleasant experience and their
attacking each other is more play than serious attacks. Multiple shorts show the two getting along