Response to "Notes Towards a Theory of Animation"

This was an interesting topic about which to read. Being a 90’s child I have grown up with the modern Disney, and think of the older Disney as the ‘unusual’ portion of the company’s work. However I have seen enough of the older skits to understand exactly what he is talking about. The author argues that Disney’s films rarely tell “the audience of its interest in the color, design, and material of its making. Instead, it prioritizes its content, concentrating specifically on constructing character, determining comic moments and evolving the self-contained narrative.” I have to agree with this statement. Though I love Disney movies they are content driven. Yes the graphics look great, and the characters are always loveable, but no Disney film (with the exception of Fantasia) challenges the visual portion of the brain. The author then goes on to argue that there is a certain “absence of the artist” when it comes to the Disney genre. As I see this ‘orthodox’ animation, there is no artist in the work. That, or there is a very small number of artists portrayed through the artwork. Modern day (Hollywood) animation is all developed in a small conference room, or small art studio. Character designs are chosen and stay constant through out the film… unlike experimental animation where artists are constantly showing their inner personalities on the screen. Each line of every frame bleeds with the artist emotions, and traits. The author expresses this idea by saying “Non-objective animation is without a doubt the purest and most difficult form of animation. Anyone can learn to ‘muybridge’ the illusion of representational life, but inventing interesting forms, shapes and colors, creating new, imaginative and expressive motions - ‘the absolute creation: the true creation’ – requires the highest mental and spiritual faculties, as well as the most sensitive talents of hand.” This could not be closer to the truth. One cannot simply sit down and throw inks and other mediums onto a film. You cannot make non-representational art of any kind without reaching deep within yourself and finding the innermost meaning of your life. According to the author, the most successful artist/animator says “I will animate my painting”, not ‘I will make something that is going to sell to the masses.’ Overall I really enjoyed this article and will look further into more of the authors works.