Supporting Tom in "Tom and Jerry"

[Ranger2]

I'm probably the minority here, but I support Tom when watching MGM's Tom and Jerry, the cartoon about the cat and mouse chasing each other.

I know that the show usually is biased towards Jerry, the lovable little mouse fighting the big cat, and I'm sure most viewers support him too. I used to support Jerry in his fight against Tom.
But let's take a look at Jerry and his tactics:

-Jerry is such a mooch. He steals food that isn't his, lives in a house he doesn't pay for, and sometimes brings in guests, be it Quackers the duck, other mice, or yappy little dogs. He's eaten food, flooded the house, and on one occassion used the house owner's money to buy sharks to chase Tom.

-Jerry's tactics are so much crueller than Tom's. Tom generally tries to eat Jerry by bashing him, crushing him, and generally ways to eat him that will be quick and painless for Jerry. Jerry, on the other hand, is usually the first one to use matches, electricity, knives, or water to torture Tom. He'll even do it when Tom is sleeping, be it light a box of matches between Tom's toes, or plug Tom's tail into an outlet. And of course, Jerry loves to crush or cut off Tom's tail whenever he can. Jerry's tactics make Tom's suffering slow and painful.

-Jerry brings in innocents to use as shields to hide behind. Has anyone noticed that whenever there's a chicken coop around or the bulldog and his son, Jerry always hides with the puppy or the dad, bringing them into a fight that clearly isn't theirs? And sometimes Jerry will do the ol' switcheroo, deliberately putting the puppy in harm's way to blame it on Tom, or sometimes he'll give the unwitting Tom the puppy to injure when Tom thinks he has Jerry.

-Tom at least has a heart, whereas Jerry is a cold-blooded thief. At least twice, Tom has kicked Jerry out of his house into the rain or snow, only to feel guilty and save Jerry from the cold. Jerry, given his tactics, couldn't care less about Tom's well-being.

Does anyone here see that Tom is the real victim here? He's simply a cat doing his job. He earns his keep around the house. Jerry is an unwanted, unneeded mooch.

[Gobblemeister]

Good point

But then again

It's a cartoon

[Emma]

Haha, actually I did find myself routing for Tom in the show more often when I was younger. Now, I just find the show funny - given that it's a cartoon.

INB4 TomFulp comment

[sweet21]

At 12/15/11 12:45 AM, Gobblemeister wrote: Good point

this

But then again

huh?

It's a cartoon

Shit.

[Jebbal]

We talkin' Tom Fulp?

[Emma]

At 12/15/11 12:48 AM, EmmaVolt wrote:

INB4 TomFulp comment

At 12/15/11 12:50 AM, JebbaL wrote: We talkin' Tom Fulp?

You owe me a cookie.

[II2none]

Yes but the norm is the smaller weaker characters are the protagonist. And Also it's a cartoon about pure SLAPSTICK humor EVERY CHARACTER in the show is bound to be "a victim". So putting so much insight on a pure of heart violent cartoon is slightly silly.

[Demonio94]

So to sum it up: Jerry is a selfish asshole.

Whenever I watched Tom & Jerry, I would always keep a tally on who's considered the winner at the end of the segment... I don't know why I did that, but I don't really recall being biased towards one. Though I do remember it being nice to see Tom actually get his way for once, since Jerry is for some reason considered the Hero or something.

Anyway, in the end it doesn't matter, let's just enjoy the cartoon violence :D

[Scintillating]

Yeah I always felt sorry for Tom. The poor fellow is perpetually starving because Jerry steals the food given to him by humans and on top of that he saves birds and other things that Tom catches to make up for that. That freakin' cat should be skeletal after all that.

[NeutralObjections]

I agree.

On the same note, did anyone ever see the episode where Bugs Bunny loses?

He loses to a turtle in a race, and it has forever been my favorite moment of Bugs Bunny history.

[rifledark1]

I root for Tom as well, poor cat always getting the short end of the stick. :(

[Scintillating]

At 12/15/11 01:09 AM, NeutralObjections wrote: I agree.

On the same note, did anyone ever see the episode where Bugs Bunny loses?

He loses to a turtle in a race, and it has forever been my favorite moment of Bugs Bunny history.

Yeah that was a pretty good episode.

[Entice]

I know exactly what you mean! I used to get so pissed off at what happened to Tom... and I wanted Jerry to get eaten lol because he was always the instigator. Maybe I was just a strange little boy but I always felt sorry for Tom.

Then again... it's just a cartoon. But why the hell do cartoons always feature some (fairly) innocent guy getting outsmarted again and again by a complete douche? I usually emphasize with the bad guys in cartoons, that is if they have a reason beyond "blorp I'm an evil dude of complete evil 'cause I'm evil for no reason".

[HipnikDragomir]

At 12/15/11 12:45 AM, Gobblemeister wrote: Good point

But then again

It's a cartoon

Way to add to the discussion.

I actually agree with the OP. I completely hate Jerry; he's that character that, even though he's small and weak, he still manages to get his way. Most of the time, he's the one causing trouble. Tom is just trying to keep the house in order.

[Mattylew]

I also support Tom

[MadCow]

that mouse is a little asshole just like all other cartoon mices kill em all fuck em all

[123mine123]

the show was made to be funny,
the animator has to make tom funnily have a painful accidents...or something.
Jerry must not be given no kind of pain at all to match the story.
But yeah, I feel bad for Thomas...

[Idocreating]

Tom does actually win in a few of the toons. Was always in support of him as usually the episodes would pan out as: "Tom's chilling out and Jerry starts being a douche"

[TailsPrower]

I'd always side with Tom and my brother would root for Jerry and bet on who was the "winner" of each episode. Needless to say I rarely won the bet but in those few where he came out on top it was sweet sweet victory for the both of us.

[Lionelion]

ive always been on Tom's side, Jerry is just a little too sadistic. this is why i think the best episodes were the ones when they worked together

[satanbrain]

Tom is unsophisticated and dull. Jerry is cunning and ruthless.

[Shady]

You stole that food from the earth man.
Tom is a sadistic bastard.

[Jin]

I always hoped Tom would win. Jerry is a douche.

[Auz]

Wasn't there eventually a season in which they were best buddies? Might've been a spin-off.

Anyway, I used to watch the show a lot when I was a kid. I don't think I was supporting anyone in particular, because the show kind of showed that both characters had their good and bad sides. Even Tom was sometimes nice to Jerry and Jerry was sometimes a real asshole to Tom.

[Sense-Offender]

It depends on the short. A lot of the time, Tom is chasing Jerry just because he wants to do so. Other times, Jerry is being a total dick and provoking the chasing.

[Zeppelyn]

I always supported Tom when I was little, I just wanted him to eat the damn mouse already. Haha.

[Rallard]

My friend and I were flipping channels a while back and a more recent Tom and Jerry show came up.

Jerry was getting his shit wrecked by the dog. He was smacking him around, beating him, and throwing him.

So I guess in the modern times... everyone in the show gets beat up. Happy?

[straberrykiler6789]

That Fucking Cat

[Ericho]

Yeah, I've heard some people talk about that too. I think he might be intended to be sympathetic, kind of like Wile E. Coyote. Speaking of which, I actually heard that Tom and Jerry was intended to be a parody of Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons because it was more realistic. I guess Tom is just doing his job of getting rid of mice in the house. I mean, it's simply a natural thing for cats to do, it's what they were supposed to, huh?

[Emma]

If you notice, though, being more sympathetic towards Tom makes the show more exciting. I mean, if you support Jerry, then there will rarely be a case where you will think "Will he make it out this time??" Routing for Tom always makes you think he will actually succeed each episode even though you know deep-down he won't. I don't know. I think it is cartoon genius - just like Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner.