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Thursday 8.3.2001
Kössi the Kangaroo Has No Midlife Crisis
The Animation Figure in His Forties Takes Again Part in the Finnish Competition
"He had to move in leaps because it was too slow to animate walk. That didn't leave much choice; so he had to be a rabbit, a jerboa or a kangaroo." The animator Heikki Prepula speaks about the birth of Kössi the Kangaroo. In the animation world, there was already a rabbit, Bugs Bunny, and a jerboa, Speedy Gonzales, so the only character left was a kangaroo.
Kössi is a non-violent paper kangaroo.
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Kössi the Kangaroo made his first television appearance in 1968. Two generations of spectators have seen these animations. The child viewers of 1970s now watch Kössi reruns with their own children.
"Child viewers do not give feedback until they are in their thirties", says Heikki Prepula as he ponders on the cult status and popularity of Kössi the Kangaroo.
"In recent years Kössi has surfaced in discussions held in very surprising contexts", Aila Prepula, the wife of the animator, says. Kössi films have been screened in electronic music festivals and in film clubs. Recently an Internet newsgroup tried to recall the names of Kössi's friends.
Kössi's popularity has been noticed at the Tampere Short Film Festival as well. At the request of the adult audience, there will be a special screening for such classics as Kössi the Kangaroo, and the Käytöskukka series. These are all from the children's programme Pikku Kakkonen and anyone under the age of 24 will be frowned upon at the screening.
Same Themes Since the 1960s
Kössi the Kangaroo's character was born in the end of 1960s in a situation where Finnish children's programming and animation was needed in television.
"Before I had made even a single animation, I contacted Channel Two to ask if they were interested. They were."
Kössi the Kangaroo had no real role models, even though the Käytöskukka animations that Heikki Partanen had made in mid-1960s had given people faith in the possibilities of paper cut techniques. The atmosphere in the end of the 1960s contributed to the Kössi figure as well.
"The atmosphere, to some extent, did dictate Kössi's type: helpful, loyal and non-violent."
Prepula admits that the sentiments from the 1960s have partly stayed with him. He says that he has wanted Kössi to keep the same character features.
"In a way this has been - and still is - like giving moral lectures. Certain themes, such as giving one's best, helping others and not looking for answers in violence, repeat themselves. These characters are still big influences in children's lives."
"I'm not quite sure if this is the impact of 1960s, but I think an animation should have a message as well. Or perhaps my journalistic background plays a part here", Prepula speculates.
Six Kössi films procuded by Channel Two were made between 1968 and 1976. The first one, Kössi the Kangaroo in the North, was still in black and white. These films, each about half an hour in length, where aired in five-minute episodes in television. Adventures took Kössi and his friends Masa the Mole, Anselmi the Space Monkey and Allu the Alligator everywhere from space to the realm of water people.
Anselmi the Space Monkey appears also in the new Kössi animation.
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During the first ten years, the figure's appearance did experience some changes, but in the film The Engine Kössi's figure was again quite near its original form. The Engine was finished in 1978 and it was the first film that Heikki Prepula produced himself. It was also a transition towards purer cinematic expression. For the first time a Kössi film did not have a narrator. Prepula created the sound effects himself: "The metallic sound of the engine was made by recording my chuffing and puffing when my head was inside a washing drum."
Kössi Returns
After The Engine Kössi had a long vacation. He stepped down for Prepula's other animation figures. Kössi returned in 1997 in the film Plumps! where fish tried to stop Kössi from getting to a palm-filled island to bask in the sun.
This year Kössi will star in a new film Yhä ylöspäin (Still Going Up), which participates in the Finnish Competition at the Film Festival. This time Kössi has a problem that he can't handle without the help of his friends. Several of Prepula's animation figures from the past years will co-star in the film.
Two times Heikki Prepula's animations have won the Finnish Competition at the Tampere Short Film Festival. In addition, he has got two honorary diplomas. The Kössi films have not won prizes, but the Kössi films produced by the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation were not even entered in the competitions. These older Kössi films can now be seen in the Nostalgic Animations of Pikku Kakkonen -screenings, which will be held for both children and adults during the Film Festival.
"He's not really that unpleasant", smiles Prepula at the end of the interview. He is already thinking of another Kössi film. Kössi the Kangaroo is now middle-aged and he may be having the time of his life. Doing!
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