Not Jiminy Cricket but Gregory Grasshopper – someone ought to tell Walt

Something that really bugs me is the way that so many cartoonists, artists and animators don’t get their insect details right. Too few legs, legs arising from the abdomen, mandibles when there shouldn’t be any, too many wings, too few wings, the list goes on.

Jiminy is clearly not a cricket – perhaps not even an insect?

Call me a pedant but I thought artists were supposed to be observant. Artistic licence is well and good but the Disney character Jiminy Cricket really annoys me. Not enough legs, or if present, hidden under his clothes and if he is an insect, clearly a grasshopper! Even the original artist didn’t get it right, but at least it has some cricket features, although in some ways it resembles a cockroach as does the one in the mural below.

A shame Walt didn’t do his research either.

A meadow grasshopper (courtesy of NatureSpot http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/meadow-grasshopper) and a Great green bush cricket (courtesy of http://www.durlston.co.uk/index.php?nid=2&id=1) to put things in perspective.