What can I say? In the hands of legendary cartoon moguls Jay Ward and Bill Scott, the ridiculous became sublime. Back in the early '60s, the whole family gathered around the TV set (well, those under 25 did - my parents had no idea what any of this meant) to watch Rocky and Bullwinkle, and it's not because we were interested in the goings-on at Frostbite Falls, the adventures of Mr. Peabody or Fractured Fairy Tales. Those innovative animations were but an introduction to the main event: 7 minutes of rapid-fire, clever satire aimed right at the most stereotypical of Canadian images: THE MOUNTIES.
Most Americans, if they thought about it at all, pictured the RCMP as a horde of red-serge-and-Mountie-hat-wearing anachronisms straight out of a Nelson Eddie-Jeannette McDonald movie of the 1940s. They believed the Mounties' motto was "We always get our man." Where this drivel came from is anybody's guess, but Dudley Do-Right hit all the buttons and summed up, not the ridiculousness of the Mounties, but the idiocy and ignorance of Americans and their narrow and highly-limited view of Canada. Much later there was a lame movie attempt to recreate the madness, but it flopped nearly as badly as George of the Jungle. You simply had to be there, watching Nell endlessly tied to the railroad tracks by Snidely Whiplash, Dudley riding backwards on his horse and, of course, "getting his man" (though the actual motto of the RCMP is Maintains le Droit, meaning uphold the right, as in righteousness).
Thanks to the internet, none of this ever dies, and I have to admit I find it all hugely enjoyable. I am dredging out stuff I was sure I'd never see again. Meantime, Americans continue to assume the RCMP ride all over town on horseback, wearing their red serge tunics and those damned hats. I don't know how to tell them this, but that's only ever done for the tourists in the famous Musical Ride, an amazing feat of dressage (and I'm not sure it even exists any more, as it would likely just cost too much to keep all those horses).
