Rageddy Ann and Andy allusions in TADC:
So before the finale comes to eviscerate us all, I wanted to get this meta out there exploring how the allusions to the Raggedy Ann and Andy 1977 movie are utilised in the TADC series, particularly with the implications they have within the themes of the story itself
The catalyst of Raggedy Ann and Andy’s plot is the arrival of a new doll in their playroom, Babette, a beautiful french doll from Paris. Babette isn’t the protagonist like Pomni is, but Pomni is also a new arrival to the circus, which is akin to a giant eternal playroom, with Pomni being a new “toy”, and her arrival being the beginning of the show’s story. Babette and Pomni both are distraught and depressed upon arriving, feeling they don’t belong and are desperate to leave:
Raggedy Ann: My name is Raggedy Ann.
And this is my brother, Raggedy Andy.
Raggedy Andy: You're in the playroom, that's where.
Babette: Oh, la, la, la, la, la.
What am I doing in such a terrible place?
Pomni: W-What's going on? I-I-I put on some weird headset, and now I'm... here. (Her eyes widen) Who are you people? Why can't I take it off? Where am I?
Ragatha: Let's just try to calm down. Everything's gonna be okay, new stuff. We've all been through this. You just need to get your head to—
Raggedy Ann and Ragatha both take a shine to Pomni and Babette and are eager to befriend them and help them adjust to their new life and are sympathetic to their plight, where Jax and Raggedy Andy are initially pretty unsympathetic:
Raggedy Andy: (about Babette): Eh, I think she's kind of a pill.
Raggedy Ann: Oh, she's probably homesick.
Ragatha: Hey, be nice to her. She's had a rough couple of days.
Jax: Her and everyone else.
Raggedy Ann: Everyone here to welcome you
And all I want to say is really simple
Babette: But who are you?
Raggedy Ann: I'm just a rag dolly
Happy and smiling all day
Wishing your worries away
This is too good to be true
Has a friend who's as lovely as you
Ragatha: Oh, man. Poor Pomni. I hope she's all right.
Jax: "Poor Pomni"? How about "poor us"?!? We're one tanker away from being Augustus Glooped!
Despite Raggedy Ann and Ragatha’s attempts to befriend them, Babette and Pomni are dismissive to the care and concern they are shown, mostly wrapped up in their own troubles of wanting to leave:
Poor Babette, poor Babette, so far from Paris,
Poor Babette, can't you see how miserable she can be?
Like a bird in a cage with no will to go free.
Babette, poor Babette, that's me!
On the flip side of this, when Babette is kidnapped by pirates and Pomni ends up on a team with Jax in ep6, Raggedy Ann and Ragatha hold themselves responsible for having “failed” them:
Ragatha: (sighs, voice cracking) I think... I might have failed Pomni.
Raggedy Ann: Poor Babette. Kidnapped by pirates! Poor Marcella…
The captain just ran off with her birthday present.
Kinger: It sounds to me like you put a lot of pressure on yourself to be there for everyone, and when you're not, you beat yourself up for it.
Ann and Ragatha perceive Babette and Pomni to be fragile and needing to be rescued/protected, but in reality they turn out to be a lot more resilient and tougher than they were expecting. Babette takes control of the pirate crew that kidnapped her, overthrowing their captain, while Pomni is perfectly capable of standing up to Jax and his bullshit, or making it through other adventures in dire circumstances.
Babette takes command of the pirate ship because she wants to sail back to her home, to Paris, but it’s revealed that she was simply sailing in a small pond and thus her attempts to go home were in vain. But she realises she still has her new home in the playroom, and after realising the effort ann and andy went through to save her, realises the value of that friendship. In much the same way Pomni tries to leave in Ep1, and through the course of the series accepts that she will never leave the circus, and that the only real thing they have now is each other, and the importance of appreciating the value of her friendships:
Pomni: I just want to say... (Sighs) Thanks for always being concerned about me. I feel like, through everything, I haven't really been appreciative enough about that.
Ragatha: O-Oh! Thank you, Pomni. I just want to make sure you're doin' alright. You know, we care about you.
Babette: Dear Raggedy Ann, I am sorry I caused such trouble.
Ann: Oh, that's all right, Babette.
Andy: What do you mean, all right?
Look at the mess we were in just because of her.
Babette: You are quite right, Andy.
Ann: Babette, you're one of the most courageous persons I have ever met. I hope you will be my friend.
Pomni: (sighs) She’s right. We’ve all done bad things. But we’re also all we’ve got. (inhales deeply, then sighs) I think… we need to abandon the idea of leaving.
Pomni: We got our hopes up, and we were let down. I don’t know what exactly happened with Kaufmo… But we can’t let that despair consume us. We should focus on what we have.
Pomni: (to Ragatha) Like you said… constantly chasing an unobtainable goal will drive us crazy. Maybe what we have to do now is to just… live
And this of course ties into the main themes of the amazing digital circus, that there is meaning to be found in a stagnant existence. That the meaning is found in other people, in the bonds formed there, because in a world where nothing is real, the only real thing becomes other people, their love and humanity, and the only home to be found is in each other
…and this ties into how Babette is foiled to another character in the movie desperately searching for home, so much so they become blind to the real home in front of them, with the Blue Camel.
I don’t think the blue camel actually has a 1:1 allusion with any of the tadc cast, but is more about the concept of abstraction in the story and disillusionment with reality and suicidal ideation. This can be prevalent for Kaufmo, Pomni, Kinger, Gangle, Ragatha, but yeah coming into the finale Jax does feel the most front and centre with this concept.
The Blue Camel is a toy that has been thrown out and abandoned, and is desperate to find a home, for someone to love him.
Blue Camel: Well, I used to be somebody's favorite toy.
Once for a while, a nice little kid named Sam found me in an old junk shop.
I lived with him in a real nice house where he hid me under the pillow every night in a real nice room.
My humps got kind of flattened out, but I didn't mind because I had somebody to love me.
One day, Sam's ma found me.
She was a real pretty lady, but she was also kind of mean.
When Sam wasn't looking, she threw me away, and I've been on my own ever since, looking to find some kind of place I could call home.
Unlike Babette who is beautiful and a new toy, the Blue Camel is old and misshapen:
Blue Camel: Oh, my joints.Thank you.And thank you.It's my legs, you know.
They're not what they used to be.I had real sticks in them once.
Then I used to have a lot of real things once.
But things are sure different now.
The Blue Camel has been alone for so long and so deep in his own depression he has started to hallucinate a home and companions in the form of the “camels in the sky”, losing touch with what is real and what is not.
While Ann and Andy promise to be his friends after hearing of his troubles, he still sees and chases after the camels in the sky, to the point he puts himself and his new friends in danger, running off a cliff at one point and saying he doesn’t care what happens:
Raggedy Ann: But you shouldn't be sad. We'll be your friends.
Raggedy Ann: And maybe things will get better.
Blue Camel: Well, that's why I keep a-chasing them other camels.
Blue Camel (seeing the camels in the sky again): Home, oh home, we're going home!
We gotta catch them before they get away!
Raggedy Ann: I don't see anything, Andy
Raggedy Andy: This is really weird…
Raggedy Ann: But there's nothing there!
Blue Camel: Hey, wait for me. Wait for me.
Raggedy Ann: Slow down, Mr. Camel.
Blue Camel: I've been looking for happiness all my life.
I ain't gonna let it get away from me now!
Raggedy Ann: Please, please, you're going too fast. Whoa, whoa!
Raggedy Ann: You don't know where you're heading!
Blue Camel: I don't care!
His eyes when hallucinating the camels in the sky are exactly the same as the ones the abstractions all have, that we see Jax have when coming close to abstracting after his dream, in which the vague shapes of his old friends Kaufmo and Ribbit can be seen. The mirage of the camels call him home, tempting him with a blissful promise of perfect companionship and belonging. The same way Jax seemingly falls into the mirage dream of his own when touching Ribbit’s hand, dreaming of his friends.
We also know Kaufmo abstracted after driving himself insane chasing an exit, a way home, that was not real, so much that he lost sight of what was real, the friends he still had in the circus.
Kinger also temporarily seems to lose his grip on reality in ep3 when mistaking the angel head for Queenie, which puts him and Pomni in danger.
Gangle nearly abstracts in ep4 when she lets her manic mask take complete control, and takes the fast food adventure too seriously when it is not real, being incredibly controlling and manic towards her friends as she spiralled, and running out into oncoming traffic after the adventure:
It is pointed out by Pomni that this disillusionment with reality and the people around you, is likely the cause of abstraction:
Pomni: Wh—I—mmm... you reached out to me, not the other way around. You're just gonna pretend that didn't happen?
Jax: You must be misremembering.
Pomni: Is this why you didn't show up to Kaufmo's funeral?
Jax: I don't show up to ANY funerals.
Pomni: Yeah, I bet you don't, because you're scared. Y-You're scared you'll actually show a human emotion.
Jax: I'm scared I'll be BORED to TEARS. (His two gloved-hands on his cheeks of his face)
Pomni: Have you ever thought that this might be what causes people to abstract in the first place?
Which is clearly what Jax is struggling with currently.
The conclusion of the movie is the Blue Camel no longer chasing the camels in the sky because he realises he has a home and friends that are real, with Raggedy Ann and Andy:
Raggedy Ann: It’s no mirage Mr Camel
Which will likely be what we see Jax realise in the finale, being anchored by all his friends, as payoff to the end of ep2, where we see the hands all reach out to help Pomni except Jax, because Jax needs someone to extend their hand to him.
Another theme of the TADC series being that “the worst thing you can do is make someone feel not loved or wanted” is prevalent with the Blue Camel, who has a whole song about feeling unloved:
Blue Camel: When you can't find a friend
And the road doesn't seem to end
And you're lonesome the whole day through
How can you be anything but low down saggy and blue?
When you're wrinkled and cold
And your fortune has all been told
And you're nobody's I love you
But low down saggy and blue
…which feels prevalent for Ragatha, Jax and Caine, honestly. All struggle with being lonely and feeling unloved
Ragatha: Maybe she just doesn't wanna hang out with someone who's mean to her all the time
Jax: She likes when I'm mean to her, though!
Pomni: I didn't think you cared about what other people like.
Jax: That- (Scoffs) I just... No yeah, y-you're right. I don't.
Pomni: Do you have any... actual friends?
Ragatha: (To Pomni, quietly) Not anymore.
Ragatha: (sighs, voice cracking) I think... I might have failed Pomni. Just like I failed Jax. I try too hard to get on their good side, and then I just end up pushing them away. And then, they end up hating me...
Kinger: Well, I don't think anyone in here hates you.
Ragatha: (scoffs) Jax does! Gangle and Zooble don't ever talk to me, and... Pomni probably won't after today, either. (sighs) She came to me wanting to be on my team. I said no. (sighs) Why did I do that?
Ragatha: I don't know... I feel like every day, we're drifting further apart. Like she's seen through all my tricks and doesn't trust me anymore. Before I know it... she'll be a different person. One who doesn't even want me around.
Ragatha: I don't even know what I want. I just want everyone to be happy. And I don't want people to hate me.
Caine: (fidgets the rubix cube) I -- I-I don't understand, Bubble. They want an exit. They want answers. They want something real. I give them an adventure that covers all of that, and they still hate it?! Surely they don't want to actually leave me. Right?
Caine: I-I do everything for these people. I slave over these adventures for them. I step outside my comfort zone to appeal to them, a-and they still hate them! I made a program that creates a body perfectly encapsulating their mind files, and they hate those, too! I'm starting to get the feeling that they just... hate...
Loonyland also feels prevalent for Jax and Caine. The first resident of Loonyland our heroes meet is Sir Leonard Looney, a lanky purple prankster, and also a fantastical inventor, who continuously plays pranks under the guise of helping them, singing a song about how he does this because he loves them:
The flag says, "You need help."
Raggedy Ann, Andy and Blue Camel, reading the flag: You need help.
Sir Leonard Looney: No, "You need help."
From a helpful person who gets a big kick out of helping people who need help.
Now I bet you want to know where Babette is.
Raggedy Ann: How did you know that?
Sir Leonard Looney: Well, leave it to Sir Leonard Looney.
The looniest knight of the year.
It's where all the practical jokes in the world come from.
We're going to try them all out on you!
Raggedy Andy: Come on, let's get out of here.
Sir Leonard Looney: Oh, I love it! I love it!
Once you're in, you're in, and nobody ever gets out of Looneyland.
Raggedy Ann: Why are you doing all this to us?
Sir Leonard Looney: It's easy!
*sticks an explosive cigar in Andy’s mouth*
I bring to your attention
is just to show how much I need you there.
*honks horn in their faces*
I'll show you every crazy way I do.
You made be all a’ tatters, but laughter's all that matters.
*throws pie into Ann and Andy’s faces*
And that's how I love you.
Much like Caine who is characterised similarly in being over the top and goofy, and in the Ep8 trailer is described as “the Lover”
“The Lover had always wanted friends. But he didn’t know how to get anyone to love him back. The harder he tried to impress the people with his magic, the more he would drive them away.”
…desperate to show his love and be loved, but only hurting them in the process, like we see in EP8 during his breakdown, especially his song “The One whose Running the Show” where he also tortures them with similar cartoonish gags and nonstop wacky adventures like Leonard Looney, to force them to see things from his point of view, because he wants to understand, to be understood, to love and be loved, however twisted the way he goes about it seems.
There’s also Jax who for most of the show characterizes himself as “the funny one” who says he adds a necessary dynamic to the group in doing so. He only feels safe interacting with the others and existing in the circus if he treats everything as a joke:
Jax: (scoffs, turning to face Pomni. he points to himself) Listen, I add a key dynamic. I see how far I can push things, (shoves Pomni) I screw with people, (toys with Pomni's hat tails) and I break the fourth wall. (stares and points at the camera) You wanna know why? It's 'cause it's funny! (Ducks down to Pomni's level, then straightens up and flails his arms in the air) I do everything 'cause it's funny! 'Cause I'm the funny one!
But this also clearly stems from Jax having a deep seated fear of being laughed at, feeling insecure and small:
…So he puts down others to make himself feel bigger, usually under the guise of it being some kind of funny gag that is often violent:
…which is exactly what the King of Loonyland does, as an incredibly short king, he laments his own smallness:
Raggedy Ann: Your Highness-
King Kookoo: You mean lowness.
Yeah, lowness. That's what it is.
King Kookoo: Tell it like you see it, dollface.
You notice it. Everybody notices it.
Raggedy Ann: Notices what?
King Kookoo: Oh, just think what I could do
and I didn't have to put up all this front.
Imagine me an enormous king.
How they'd bow, how they'd cheer.
I'd be the heir of everything.
But now they hardly know I'm even here.
I can never hope to lead.
And if he was here, you'd see, he was tall compared to me.
I can hardly stand myself.
It's not easy being king when you're short.
Raggedy Ann: Oh, maybe you'll grow.
King Kookoo: The only way I can grow is when I laugh at other people.
And that's why you're here.
Raggedy Andy: You lay off my sister!
King Kookoo: Ha, ha, ha. Oh, that's cute.
And can only make himself feel bigger by laughing at others, which he gets called out on by Raggedy Ann:
Raggedy Ann: Making fun of other people never made anybody bigger than anybody else!
Putting up a front to cover up their own insecurities, hating themselves, putting down others to make themselves feel like a big man, all fit perfectly with Jax’s own coping mechanisms in the circus as the “Funny One”
Now of course the most obvious allusions are the titular characters themselves, Raggedy Ann and Andy, with Ragatha and Jax, since they are explicitly stated to be inspired by them. Ragatha is a ragdoll who is kind and always tries to see the bright side like Ann, Andy is the more cynical one who puts up a tough guy front, who cares more than he lets on, like Jax. Ann and Andy are meant to balance one another out, Ann calls out Andy when he’s being too mean, and brings out a softer and more caring side to him. When Ann is too hard on herself or her kind nature leads to her getting hurt, he is there to uplift her and protect her.
He helps Ann in her initial attempt to befriend Babette, (even while not liking Babette himself much) and while Ann describes herself as “plain as can be” Andy describes her as “sweet as can be” in her song.
After Ann frees the pirate captain from his snow globe out of a desire to help him and he ends up kidnapping Babette, she blames herself and sees it as her responsibility to save Babette, Andy insists on coming with her to make sure she’s safe
Ann reprimands Andy for making fun of the Blue Camel and dismissing him as crazy
Andy sings a whole song about how Ann’s care and love for him helped him in his darkest moments and when he was feeling scared in Candy Heart and Paper Flowers
However, with Ragatha and Jax, they clearly clash instead of complimenting and uplifting each other, because while they possess the same traits as Ann and Andy, it is in the extreme to the point they antagonise one another. We have Andy’s machismo tough guy front who while he says he hates girls and refuses to show a softer side (and has a whole song dedicated to this):
Andy: I'll tell you something.
I'm getting pretty sick and tired of all the dumb things that go on around here.
This is no place for a strong, tough, and terrific boy like myself.
Grandpa: You're strong, tough, and terrific?
Andy: I could be, if I didn't have to hang around this nursery and be a girl's doll!
Well, you can push me, shove me, turn me around, but I’m no girl’s toy!
You can tie me, toss me, upside or down, but I'm no girl’s toy!
I sing my own sweet melody, I go my own sweet way
I won’t beg ‘round tomorrow for the kind of affection that was free today!
Oh, you can squeeze me, tease me, say I’m your own, but I’m no girl’s toy!
You can charm me, chase me, follow me home; I won’t be coy!
You may not like it much, but I’m my own best boy
And not some sugar and spicy, lacy and nicey, sissy you’re gonna enjoy!
Oh, Andrew, you're just terrible
[SUSIE PINCUSHION, spoken]
Wouldn't you be? Pushed around and squashed up by a bunch of girls?
Yeah, ya- d'uh. Tell 'еm what?
What'da mean? Tell-a da truth!
You say I’m heaps of trouble and I’m headin’ for a fall
Well no rag, no bone, no hank o' hair is gonna make me do what I don’t wanna do at all!
So squeeze me, tease me, say I’m your own, but I’m no girl’s toy!
Oh, charm me, chase me, follow me home… forget it, sweetie!
You may not like it much, but I’m my own best boy
And not some sugar and spicy, lacy and nicey, sissy you’re gonna enjoy!
…but spends all of the movie helping and protecting his sister Ann. Meanwhile Jax is incredibly entrenched in toxic masculinity of never showing any vulnerability and deliberately hurting and abusing those around him, specifically the most feminine characters in the cast, Gangle and Ragatha. Ragatha meanwhile is genuinely kind like Ann is, but holds herself so responsible for everyone’s wellbeing that she puts too much pressure on herself, and tries so hard to be friends with everyone that her efforts can feel performative. She tries to see the bright side of things like Ann, and Ann has a whole song about how the world is bright and beautiful through her eyes:
(ANN): I LOOK AND WHAT DO I SEE?
LOOKING OUT WITH TWO BRAND-NEW SHOEBUTTON EYES, HERE’S WHAT APPEARS TO ME:
I SEE LOTS OF PRETTY, AND A LOT OF HAPPY
AND A BIT OF EVERYTHING THAT’S THERE INSIDE OF ME!
I LOOK AND WHAT DO I SEE?
FROM A HEAD ALL FILLED WITH THREAD AND LINEN IN A RAGGY JAMBOREE
I SEE LOTS OF SMILING AND A LOT OF SINGING
AND A LOT OF SOMETHING ELSE THAT NO ONE ELSE CAN SEE!
LOTS OF BUTTERFLIES IN THE AIR
LOTS OF HONEYCOMB EVERYWHERE
ALL THE PRETTY THINGS WE COULD SHARE
I LOOK AND WHAT DO I SEE?
IT’S A FACE AS SMILING AND AS HOPEFUL AS MY OWN FACE HAS TO BE
SEEING SOMETHING PRETTY, ALL LIT UP AND SHINING
SEEING SOMETHING EVERYONE COULD BE IF THEY WERE ME
WHEN I LOOK, THAT’S WHAT I SEE!
You really see it that way?
WITH THE BUTTERFLIES IN THE AIR?
WITH THE HONEYCOMB EVERYWHERE?
WITH A HAPPINESS WE COULD SHARE
I LOOK AND WHAT DO I SEE?
IT’S A FACE AS SMILING AND AS HOPEFUL AS I KNOW A FACE COULD BE!
SEEING SOMETHING PRETTY, ALL LIT UP AND SHINING;
SEEING SOMETHING EVERYONE COULD BE THE SAME AS ME!
But one of the notable things about Ragatha’s design is her blue button eye, which alludes to her mother’s abuse and her having a black eye. So, the way Ragatha views the world through one eye is like Ann, having an optimistic view. The other button eye which Ragatha sees through is her worldview being coloured by her mother’s abuse, the hurt, pain and fear of abandonment.
One of the most explicit references to the movie is Ragatha’s line in Ep4:
Ragatha: Hurt, nothin'! I'm hurt enough. Packages landin' on my head. Tea parties. Dancin' lessons.
Which is what Andy says during his song “No Girl’s Toy”, which is interesting to me that Ragatha, the one alluding to Ann, would say instead of Jax, who alludes to Andy. Of course the line ties in better to Ragatha’s background growing up in a wealthy family. But I also think it is making a point about Ragatha and Jax being narrative foils who need to integrate, in Ragatha’s case she needs to be more comfortable expressing her negative emotions, like Jax, like Andy. In Jax’s case he needs to reach out to others and show more compassion, like Ragatha, like Ann.
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