David Firth is a somewhat popular animator widely known for his bizarre YouTube videos which often delve into the grotesquely horrific and darkly humorous. His brief four video series of 2 minute long, foulmouthed comedies known as Not Stanley seems to have confirmed my suspicion that Firth is something of a modern artistic genius akin to the likes of Samuel Beckett and David Lynch. His absurd sense of black humor wreaks through this series with wild energy as the foulmouthed title character spits out a confusing, rambling bunch of monologues that seem silly on e surface, but are also heavily satirical, disturbing, and sometimes quite sad. He simultaneously acts like an elderly insult comic, a stereotypically Jewish used car salesman, and the narrator of Beckett's excellent novel Molloy, a man who is also unsure of his identity, often speaks in baffling, yet quick witted and sometimes dirty, tongues, and has an odd, dysfunctional relationship with his mother. Firth has adapted Beckett's humor and style to animation, while other sources that seem to be of inspiration to him range from Jan Svankmajer to George Orwell. Simply put, Firth is clearly an intelligent and witty man that enjoys crafting absurd, surreal, comic, and disturbing animated art, and I appreciate him wildly for sticking to his passion and being able to create wonderful, hilarious, and insightful masterpieces such as this feat of modern animation and satire.
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