The Longest Now

You all know I’m a huge fan of language-free communication.
That is, using definitions of “language” and “communication” that are
productively different.  (If they are synonyms in your idiolect, I
may have a hard time expressing this notion to you in English!)

Done properly, it is faster and more thorough than any language could
be.  So I collect stories, puzzles, instructions, snake-charming
techniques — anything with a didactic, connection-forming, or
otherwise predictable effect — that are independent of language. 
The more universal the effect, and the more specific the concepts
conveyed, the better. 

Here are from two [groups of] animators whose work I love, though each
is sprinkled
with morsels from specific languages or cartoon-cultures… for the
first, you should know what cats, rabbits, and love-icons look like in
cartoon form, and live in a world with coffee-vending machines and
elevators.  For the second, well, you only need some experience
with hammers and nails, and with larger creatures eating smaller ones.

• SamBakZa‘s There she is,
  an gem of conceptual and visual collage; full of broadly-evocative
  human emotion, shared experience, and instinctive thought processes;
  with a rich and crystal-clear plot that is an object-lesson in
  elision.  The background music, like the producers, is
  Korean.  The whole is the greatest animation short I’ve seen in
  years.  [Here’s an FAQ about it; here is the sequel, “Cakedance“.]

• Walk-smash-walk, a simple animation by Sakupen
  inspired directly by a dream, captures the essence of some elaborate
  relationships, emotions, and motivations, without wasting effort on
  characters, dialogue, or plot.  I cannot imagine having this
  vignette described to me in words.

• Adam Phillips’s Prowlies at the River, about a half-hour’s
  interaction among a collection of unfamiliar creatures in a somewhat
  familiar forest.  There is introduction text, but the vignette
  does just as well without it.

If you have a fave olde-tyme cartoon or bit of wordless film, past or present, let me know.