Ding Dong Bell - EdukayFUN

**Ding Dong Bell - EdukayFUN** is part of a series of educational videos created by EdukayFUN.

## Plot

The story unfolds over three acts.

The first act opens to reveal a brick water well amidst a forest of conifer trees. Pussy emerges from behind a tree and settles beside the well, whereupon she begins rocking back and forth and emitting a *ding-dong* sound. Johnny Thin arrives directly after and immediately proceeds to drop Pussy down the well. He celebrates his act of malfeasance by performing cartwheels and eating a nearby tree. Johnny Stout, having witnessed the diabolical act, races to the crime in progress and rescues Pussy from the well. Johnny Thin commemorates his heroism by performing his own set of cartwheels, but the physical effort causes him to regurgitate a tree that he ostensibly consumed earlier in the day. Pussy celebrates her rescue by eating sixteen mice that happen across her path.

The second act opens to a turbulent scene of erratically pulsating trees followed by a thrilling chase scene involving Johnny Thin and Johnny Stout as they run around the well. Pussy's escape is seen to have been premature as we find her once again in the well, struggling to survive. Johnny Thin breaks off the chase to indulge in the consumption of more trees. Johnny Stout, again sickened from the physical effort, vomits up several more trees. The scene then takes a surreal and supernatural turn as both Johnny Thin and Johnny Stout begin interconverting with each other until they respectively launch into the sky and into the ground. Pussy simply fades from view.

In the third act, Johnny Thin is seen to have expanded to encompass the entire horizon. He exploits his new form in yet another attempt to drown Pussy in the well. Johnny Thin then transmogrifies to Johnny Stout and Pussy is once again rescued from the well. All three characters then descend from the sky, having reacquired their original proportions. Pussy proceeds to consume an additional nine mice. In a desperate final attempt to secure Pussy's demise, Johnny Thin endeavors to eat her alive, but Johnny Stout intervenes by eating Johnny Thin instead. Upon ingesting Johnny Thin, Johnny Stout undergoes a transfiguration, levitating into the air, spinning rapidly, and emanating an eerie incandescent glow. Johnny Stout vanishes into thin air, then in an explosion of light, he is resurrected as Johnny Johnny. The supernatural energy released from the occult merger of Johnny Thin and Johnny Stout into Johnny Johnny causes the forest trees to levitate and spin while the ground beneath shifts its dimensions. In a shocking twist ending, Papa appears from the well and eats Johnny, then disappears down the well. The well itself sinks into the forest floor, disappearing from view. Papa can be heard cackling in the distance. Pussy descends from the sky, unharmed, rocking back and forth and emitting her familiar *ding-dong* sound as the scene fades to black.

## Cast

* Johnny Johnny as himself, Johnny Thin, and Johnny Stout
* Papa as himself
* Pussy as herself
* Mice as themselves

## Production

"Ding Dong Bell - EdukayFUN" is an animated video utilizing advanced computer graphics technologies to create an eerily realistic aesthetic, a phenomenon referred to as "uncanny valley" for its ability to almost, but not quite, deceive human perception into interpreting the video as actual live action footage. The animation team incorporate advanced modeling techniques that allow the characters and background scenery to change their proportions in unusual ways. The combination of hyperrealistic animation and bizzare bodily distortions result in an unsettling experience for many viewers.

The video is scored to the nursery rhyme *Ding Dong Bell* which is performed in falsetto by a choir of gifted vocalists. Although uncredited, their skilled harmonizing suggests that they are classically trained with years of professional experience. One research team investigating the identity of the vocalists attempted to isolate the individual vocal tracks using an advanced audio deconvolution technique. Their results show a correlation with the vocal signatures of Jonsi Birgisson of *Sigur Rós* and Thom Yorke of *Radiohead*. However, neither artist has confirmed their participation on the soundtrack.

## Themes and analysis

On its face, the "Ding Dong Bell - EdukayFUN" video appears to be a simple retelling of the classic nursery rhyme *Ding Dong Bell*. However, the video contains additional symbolic elements that suggest a much deeper meaning. Several theories have been put forward, and the scientific community remains divided over the true interpretation of the story portrayed in the video.

### The Irreconcilable Nature of Man's Duality

The prevailing theory postulates that the video is an allegory on how the intractable duality of human nature leads ultimately to mental ruin. Both Johnny Thin and Johnny Stout possess highly polarized moralities, with Johnny Thin representing evil and Johnny Stout representing good. Both Johnny Thin and Johnny Stout are the manifestations of Johnny Johnny's psyche. Pussy represents the essential inner struggle between Johnny's conflicting states of mind, and her incessant *ding-dong* sound is a foreshadowing of Johnny's impending lunacy. Johnny Thin's attempt to drown Pussy outwardly symbolizes Johnny's evil nature, but inwardly symbolizes Johnny's attempt to do good by banishing his evil thoughts and desires to his unconscious mind. Johnny Stout's rescue of Pussy from the well similarly has two-fold symbolism: outwardly it represents an act of heroism, but inwardly it symbolizes the futility of attempting to suppress one's malevolent impulses, as they inevitably resurface, resulting in a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality schism. Thus, both Johnny Stout and Johnny Thin are themselves individually possessed of the same duality that together they symbolize within Johnny's psyche. This tangled, multiplex dualism is represented by Johnny Thin's and Johnny Stout's repeated interconversion. Johnny's inability to resolve these highly recursive and deeply interconnected opposing tensions corrupts his mind, resulting in his inexorable descent into insanity, symbolized by the surreal undulations of the surrounding forest. The transfiguration of Johnny Thin and Johnny Stout into Johnny Johnny represents his total surrender to madness. In the final act, Papa devours Johnny, symbolizing that Johnny's insanity is inescapable and all consuming. Pussy's impassive presence at the end of the video symbolizes that the struggle to reconcile the duality of human nature remains eternal.

### Pussy's Martyrdom

When Pussy first emerges from the forest she positions herself directly beside the well and begins rocking back and forth and emitting a *ding-dong* sound. From her point of view it is clear that she can see Johnny Thin approaching. Pussy's status as a farm cat is well-documented. Farming communities are typically small and tight knit, suggesting that the other inhabitants of the farm are well known to Pussy, including Johnny Thin. Thus it is reasonable to presume that Pussy's relationship with Johnny Thin predates the scenario presented in the video. It is likely, then, that the act of malfeasance portrayed in the video is not without precedent--Johnny Thin likely has a long history of cruelty towards animals, an adolescent trait highly correlated with psychopathy, and Pussy is fully aware of this. Most cats--and in fact most species--would normally try to avoid proximity to wells when psychopaths are approaching since they provide a convenient opportunity for malfeasance. By stationing herself by the well we can conclude that Pussy is courageously acting against her natural survival instincts, and her *ding-dong* sound is a warning to the other farm inhabitants of the impending danger posed by the depraved monster manifest in Johnny Thin.