Thursday 3 January 2008

Metatautology


I noticed an ad for the quasi-CG-quasi-real film version of the classic cartoon 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' today and it got me thinking.

I mean, 'Alvin and the Chipmunks', eh? Isn't Alvin a chipmunk? It's kinda like having a band called 'John Smith and the Humans'. Tautological as this is, it also suggests that 'John Smith' is something other than a human. And Alvin is something other - or perhaps something more - than a simple chipmunk.

I guess Alvin is the front-man, or star (see below) of 'The Chipmunks', but on consideration of the theme song from the eighties cartoon, it seems that Alvin is also a member of 'The Chipmunks' themselves ("We're The Chipmunks! Alvin, Simon, (pause) Theodore!") as well as being the name character in the band's title. We're 'The Chipmunks'. We ARE chipmunks and Alvin is our leader. Alvin is also a chipmunk.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a five-time Grammy Award-winning animated music group, created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual; and Theodore, the chubby, impressionable sweetheart.


And:
Chipmunks construct expansive burrows which can be more than 3.5 m in length with several well-concealed entrances. The sleeping quarters are kept extremely clean as shells and feces are stored in refuse tunnels
.

Wikipedia also lists the 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' musical genres as 'New Wave, music concrete, Country, Pop, Rock and Rap'.