Thomas “Tom” Jasper Cat, commonly referred to as Tom Cat, or more simply referred to as Tom, and originally known as Jasper, is one of the two anti-heroic protagonists in Tom and Jerry, alongside Jerry Mouse, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Despite being referred as an anti-heroic, Tom is more often placed in the role of the antagonist, with Jerry often being the protagonist just as much.
Tom is a bluish-grey and white anthropomorphic domestic short haired tuxedo British cat who first appeared in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot. The cat was known as Jasper during his debut in the short; however, beginning with his next appearance in The Midnight Snack he was known as Tom or Thomas.
Tom and Jerry cartoons
His name, “Tom Cat”, is based on “tomcat”, a word which refers to male cats. He is usually mute and rarely heard speaking with the exception of a few cartoons (such as 1943’s The Lonesome Mouse, 1944’s The Zoot Cat, 1947’s Part Time Pal, 1953’s Puppy Tale and 1992’s Tom and Jerry: The Movie). His only notable vocal sounds outside of this are his various screams whenever he is subjected to panic or, more frequently, pain. He is continuously after Jerry Mouse, for whom he sets traps, many of which backfire and cause damage to him rather than Jerry. His trademark scream was provided by creator William Hanna. Hanna’s recordings of Tom screaming were later used as a stock sound effect for other MGM cartoon characters, including a majority of Tex Avery’s shorts.
Tom is usually defeated in the end (or very rarely, killed, like in Mouse Trouble, where he explodes), although there are some stories where he outwits and defeats Jerry. Besides Jerry, he also has trouble with other mouse or cat characters. One of them that appears frequently is Spike Bulldog. Spike regularly appears and usually assists Jerry and beats up Tom. Though in some occasions Tom beats him or he turns on Jerry (like his debut appearance in Dog Trouble). Usually when Tom is chasing Jerry after a bit Jerry turns the tables on Tom and beats him or uses an outside character such as Spike to beat Tom.
Tom has variously been portrayed as a house cat doing his job, and a victim of Jerry’s blackmail attempts, sometimes within the same short. He is almost always called by his full name “Thomas” by Mammy Two Shoes. In 1961 short Switchin’ Kitten Tom has a membership card as belong to the “International Brotherhood of Cats”.
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Does anyone else here have the experience of being completely non religious with no direct religious family? I feel like whenever I say that I believe in a truly disenchanted world otherwise atheist/non spiritual people get uncomfortable and I can’t really understand why. I assume it’s just a me problem but it’s hard to find anyone else without any religious upbringing to compare.
I didn’t even know religion existed until some new people moved in next door and their kid was super into Jesus.
My parents were de facto Catholic by merit of living in a Catholic part of Ireland, but neither of them really believed. My dad never went to church, my mom took me when I was young but I think that was just so I wouldn’t feel left out of the only community thing outside of school.
I told them I was an atheist when I was 12 and they didn’t care at all, mostly used that as an excuse to never have to go to church again. Now it seems bizarre to me when people are religious. I honestly can’t understand why you would believe one religion over another other than it being the religion you were raised with.
I went to my grandma’s funeral in a Catholic church last year and it was so, so strange. All the praying and kneeling and stuff that I had forgotten about. I read out a prayer and it felt like just reading out a parable or something, not really religious, apart from the end when I had to say “this is the word of the Lord”.
my folks are atheist/deist but i wouldn’t characterize the world as disenchanted. thats semantics tho
apart from my mother being a non practicing christian, none of my family members are religious. we never did anything spiritual other than celebrating christmas and easter because that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re white yanks regardless of religious affiliation. I’m only sort of religious, personally. I don’t really know if I truly believe in any of the gods I worship I just up and started praying to them one day out of nowhere a few months back
I have no real religious family. It just wasn’t a thing in my life. I think I was sorta a deist as a young kid since I kept hearing about God in expressions and such. But it wasn’t ever a specific god.
None of my family were religious. It just never comes up. You kinda forget about it.