In the 2010 video game Red Dead Redemption, set in the wild west of 1910s America, players can enter cinemas (for 2 in-game dollars) and watch animated cartoons. The short films––“The Dangers of Doctors and Patent Medicines” and “Beaumont the Burly”–– are presented in the style of early animation, and spoof issues of the time period like the temperance movement and women’s suffrage.
If these cartoons were actually real, they would be among the first 10 animated films in world history, and only the 3rd/4th ever made in America! Cartoonist and vaudevillian Windsor McCay made his first film Little Nemo in 1911, the same year Red Dead's set in, which contained 4 minutes of animation.
I love that they made these cartoons so very clearly aimed at adults––a lot of real early animation was the same way, and the first feature-length animated film (El Apóstol, made in Argentina in 1917) was a political satire.
The shorts were created by artist Steve Ellis + animator Jasmina Mathieu.
