Joe Glow, the Firefly

Other than anthropomorphizing a firefly as a bug with a lantern, very little happens in this short film. He explores. He tries to "bug" the sleeping man. He doesn't even seem to be all that interested in his food. I don't know if this character ever appears again.

Firstly, "Joe Glow the Firefly" is very interesting. Unlike most of the shorts from Looney Tunes, this episode includes a one-off character and it is not all about him - the creators of the episode used this short to experiment with perspective (the character is a firefly and he explores a man's face, and other things that are normal to us but huge to an insect).

Secondly, I like this short not only for the interesting perspective part of it, but for the character of Joe Glow the firefly. He is animated in an interesting way and his personality is recognisable, even though he only says a word once, at the end. His personality is cleverly expressed through his face expressions and body language. I think he should have been used in more shorts, as I have explained already, he is a very good character and has a likable personality.

Also, the themes of the episode are interesting, including the perspective theme, the insect theme and the tent theme. All of these work well together.

And lastly, I think this short should be more widely known. It is very well worth watching, beautiful in some ways and very interesting. It is up there with the classic Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons.

I recommend this to people who like silent Warner Bros cartoons, people who like interesting cartoons and to people who like cartoons which save humour til the last moment. Enjoy "Joe Glow the Firefly"! :-)

P.S The music in this short is worth listening to, it is very well done and makes the cartoon more exciting.

"Joe Glow, the Firefly" was a first for Warner Bros cartoons. Previously all Looney Tunes had featured their stars (at that time Porky and Daffy), while the Merrie Melodies had featured one-shot characters (except for Bugs and Elmer, nascent characters at that time). This cartoon was the first Looney Tune to feature a one-shot character.

While watching the cartoon, I wondered why the man left his food so exposed. He was practically inviting anyone to walk in and steal it, or even inviting ants and bears into his tent! OK, so I shouldn't try to analyze a cartoon that much. It's a fairly interesting cartoon. It was around that time that Chuck Jones's work started to shift away from simple plots and to the clever, wacky stuff that characterized his most famous work.