Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers

Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers

Aardman Animations

Released 1989 (A Grand Day Out), 1993 (The Wrong Trousers)

Director & Writer: Nick Park

Starring: Peter Sallis

Unrated

Grade:  4/5

Today we’re going old school. And British. We’re looking at two of the original Wallace and Gromit shorts today: A Grand Day Out, and The Wrong Trousers. I was going to watch A Close Shave too, but that short is basically the reason why I don’t watch horror movies and while I’m supposedly an adult, I couldn’t bring myself to watch it, it’s also the least gay of all the original shorts and it’s my blog I can watch if I want to (or not, in this case).

I loved these shorts as a kid. The charm of the stop animation, the simplicity of the characters, their overwhelming Britishness, and how totally gay they are make for some excellent 20-minute storytelling. Wallace and Gromit at are basically the English version of Bert and Ernie. They are domesticated male companions who share a love of cheese! You can’t get much better than that.

These two shorts chronicle their charming inter-species relationship (intersectionality points anyone? Inter-racial metaphor maybe?), it’s ups and downs, and emotional twists and turns. Before we get started, I want to mention this inter-species thing. I’m definitely not talking about equating gayness and bestiality and that whole anti-gayness arguement. There’s actually some interesting scholarship on fictional human-animal relationships as metaphors in queer coming of age stories. Kathryn Bond Stockton talks about girls and dogs (think movies like Lassie) as codified lesbian relationships. So…there’s that.

A Grand Day Out is the first ever Wallace and Gromit short film and I couldn’t get enough of it as a kid.

One small step for man, one giant leap for claymation

The story is simple. Wallace and Gromit are trying to figure out where to go for the upcoming bank holiday (that’s a long weekend for all you American dweebs out there, jk HAPPY almost FOURTH OF JULY!). Wallace realizes they are out of cheese. OH THE HORROR! And he wants to go on a cheese vacation! Cause, duh. They decide to build a rocket ship so they can taste some delicious moon cheese, cause everyone knows the moon is made of cheese. 

Say cheese!

They get themselves to the moon (which apparently has oodles of gravity) with Wallace’s inventing genius brain and sample its cheesy offerings. But there’s a robot on the moon! And it really doesn’t want them to steal any moon cheese. While they escape in their rocket ship, the robot tries to stowaway, but it messes up while trying to keep them from going and it gets all robot-y sad until it fashions itself a pair of metal skis from parts of the rocket ship that got left behind and everyone is happy.  Wallace and Gromit head home with their cheese-y conquest.

Hmmmm, tastes a bit crater-y

This first look at the brilliance of Wallace and Gromit introduces us to their charming dynamic. They do everything together and are the very definition of true companionship. They invent together. They holiday together. They picnic on the moon together. And they share an epic love of cheese. #relationshipgoals

If that’s not gay AF, then idk what is.

Next up is The Wrong Trousers, by far my favourite. 

We start off with Wallace and Gromit’s morning routine full of funny Wallace contraptions like the bed that turns into a slide and slips him straight into his chair at the breakfast table where another contraption dresses him while he eats his toast. The simple brilliance. I really wanted that machine as a kid. It would have made mornings so much easier. And then it’s Gromit’s birthday! Wallace presents him with a pair of electronic trousers he can wear and do cool things in like walk on the ceiling. And then they get a new roommate? Still a bit iffy on how that part happens, oh well. It’s a penguin! Yup. But it’s an evil penguin who takes over Gromit’s room and basically ruins everything. The penguin traps Wallace in his own electric trouser invention. 

This is not what I expected from yoga...

Gromit spies on the penguin and figures out that it’s trying to steal diamonds from a museum! The penguin’s a jewel thief! And it’s going to make Wallace steal the diamond while he’s wearing the trousers! Penguin mayhem ensues and Gromit ends up saving the day! Yay Gromit! Boo penguin!

This short is the gayest. Wallace and Gromit live in simple domestic bliss. Their routine is down pat. Gromit knits while Wallace reads the morning paper. Ah, wedded bliss. I think it’s fascinating (despite perpetuating gender roles) that Wallace and Gromit take on these gendered stereotypes of married life, even though they are both male (and supposedly in a non-romantic relationship). Any romantic parallels magnify when the penguin comes into the picture. It’s totally mimics the break up narrative. Gromit gets ousted from his room by the penguin, then gets kicked outside into the dog house where he watches Wallace and the penguin have a nice candle-lit dinner. Gromit packs up his things in a bandana, ties it to a stick (FYI, it is very difficult to get this to work, my 5-year-old self can attest to it), picks up a picture with him and Wallace, cries all the sad break up tears, and leaves his home in the rain. 

Nooooobody knows, the trouble I've seen

But then Wallace realizes that the stupid penguin is evil and makes up with Gromit and all is right with the world again. They are OTP through and through.

MVQ: The moon robot. It’s just so happy on its metal moon skis!

I'm pretty sure this is where Pixar got the idea for Wall-e...

OTP: Do I even need to say Wallace and Gromit? What’s their ship name? Womit? Grollace?

Favorite moment: The train scene in The Wrong Trousers is seriously epic.