For years this childhood memory has haunted me, but the weirdest thing was I could not remember what it was from. Often I would ask people if they remember "The Infinite Dog" but no soap. Honestly, I began to think I had dreamt it up myself. But just the other day, I was looking up psychedelic animation on You Tube and a suggestion popped up for the 1970s animated film "The Mouse and His Child." This film used to play all the time on the Disney Channel when I was a kid. And then it all came back and hit me like a ton of existential bricks:
"Note well an endlessness of little dogs receding to a regressive diminution to a revelation of the ultimate truth... Somewhere beyond the smallest dog, the last of them is-- infinity!"
The image horrified me so much, I can't even explain it. Perhaps it was the super-creepy original illustration of the dog. Or maybe animated films from the 70s were all designed to terrify small children.
5 comments:
Haha wow. Thanks to your description I found it on youtube and you're RIGHT its horribly creepy and trippy!
THANK YOU! The Infinite Dog has been haunting my subconscious for years. I now have a name for my nightmare fuel.
Guys, I am so glad it wasn't just me.
In Russell Hoban's defense (for he was the writer of the original book) the movie is quite disturbing, as it badly combines cute with violence, but the book is wonderful, albeit full of analogy and philosophy...
It's not really for kids, tho'.
Noooo! what he sees is not *infinity* but— right at the end, there's a tear in the label and he sees *his own face* reflected in the metal of the tin can. With this act of self-recognition, he finally becomes free!
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