Ernst Home: Beavis and Butt-Head, Max and Moritz

Beavis and Butt-Head, Max and Moritz

These fellows, while no longer making new episodes, still get their share of bad press from concerned parents. I mention them only to give me the opportunity to advance my opinion that they are in fact the reincarnation, the MTV version of, a very (in)famous pair of bad boys called Max and Moritz, created last century by German satirist and cartoonist Wilhelm Busch (no relation to George or Barbara).

Consider the striking similarities:

Beavis and Butt-Head:	Max und Moritz:
- Beavis is blond, Butt-Head has dark hair	- Max ist blond, Moritz hat dunkle Haare
- They're both very naughty	- Sie sind beide sehr schlimm
- They skip school a lot	- Sie schwänzen oft die Schule
- Their parents aren't ever around	- Ihre Eltern sind nie dabei
- They make fun of their teachers	- Sie spotten ihre Lehrer aus
- They're wildly popular, especially among boys	- Sie sind sehr beliebt, besonders unter Buben
- They talk about choking their chickens	- Sie stehlen Witwe Bolte's Hühner
- They'll likely come to a bad end	- Rickeracke, rickeracke, geht die Mühle mit Geknacke...

Related links:

Here is a small sample of the "Max and Moritz" Widow Bolte escapade, with accompanying English translation by Gabriele Kahn.
Here is a site at Virginia Commonwealth University containing many 19th-century German stories (including, of course, Max and Moritz) with complete English translations. I prefer translating "Streich" as "escapade" rather than "trick" (as in the foregoing site's English translation of M&M), but I suppose that's nitpicking.

http://hogranch.com/mayer/bbmm.html -- Last Revised: 21 May 2005
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