"When you throw punches at actors, you stop, you pull it, and it looks like you pulled it. When you throw punches at cartoon characters, they are not there, so you can swing through. It looks like you really decked them"
About this Quote
Cartoons blow up that contract. The “they are not there” line is doing more than stating the obvious; it’s permission. In animation, the actor’s body becomes raw input, liberated from consequence. You can swing through because there’s no partner to protect, no human face to flinch, no shared risk that forces politeness into the movement. That freedom translates into a different kind of authenticity: not truth to real physics, but truth to the emotion of impact. The hit looks “real” precisely because it isn’t.
The subtext is about why audiences so readily accept heightened violence when it’s displaced onto the unreal. Animation lets aggression go full-volume while staying socially washable; it’s catharsis with plausible deniability. Coming from Fraser, an actor associated with both physical comedy and effects-driven adventure, the remark also nods to a career spent straddling eras of movie-making: the old craft of selling a fake punch, and the newer pleasure of letting the medium do what reality forbids.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Fraser, Brendan. (2026, January 17). When you throw punches at actors, you stop, you pull it, and it looks like you pulled it. When you throw punches at cartoon characters, they are not there, so you can swing through. It looks like you really decked them. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-you-throw-punches-at-actors-you-stop-you-48377/
Chicago Style
Fraser, Brendan. "When you throw punches at actors, you stop, you pull it, and it looks like you pulled it. When you throw punches at cartoon characters, they are not there, so you can swing through. It looks like you really decked them." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-you-throw-punches-at-actors-you-stop-you-48377/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"When you throw punches at actors, you stop, you pull it, and it looks like you pulled it. When you throw punches at cartoon characters, they are not there, so you can swing through. It looks like you really decked them." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-you-throw-punches-at-actors-you-stop-you-48377/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.
