ON ANIMATION
Paradigmatic Monograph (Clare Kitson and Tale of Tales by Yuri Norstein)
Clare Kitson’s book Yuri Norstein and Tale
of Tales. An Animator’s Journey (Eastleigh: John Libbey Publishing,
2005) is a real precedent: it is a monograph, not a famous
feature-length film, but rather a short animated film. While
the first is usual, the second is unheard-of. That we are
really dealing with something unusual, can be noticed already
from the introduction chapter where Kitson justifies the
appearance of a book about a short film, reminding us of
the high status of Norstein’s Tale of Tales in world’s animation
circles (the film has been proclaimed the biggest animated
film of all times by several surveys) and about the complex
destiny of this film.
Formerly a distinguished Channel 4
editor for the animated film production, Kitson approaches
the film Tale of Tales as a detective investigator. She
parts from the fact that it is a film with a complex associative
structure with many mutually unconnected elements whose
appearance is difficult to explain, but, nonetheless, the
whole film seems extremely coherent and strongly suggestive.
By focusing on three clues: scriptwriter’s statement that
it is a film about memory, Norstein’s claim that film elements
are not metaphoric but literal, and commentator’s statement
that the film shows only 10% and the rest is hidden from
view just like the ice floe, Clare Kitson embarked on the
exploration of memory sources from which Norstein took
the ingredients for his film and of all those hidden conditions
in which the film and Norstein’s sensibility, manifested
in his master-piece Tale of Tales, developed.
The result of Kitson’s investigation
is an inspiring narrative about Norstein’s spiritual and
creative development, the complex process of creation of
his films, especially Tale of Tales, as well as the Soviet
culture and sociopolitical atmosphere. Kitson’s book is
largely stimulating, capable to intensify the film experience
by demonstrating the inspiring roots of some elements,
and, at the same time, it is discreetly but functionally
rich with all kinds of information and illustrations. It
is an exemplary monograph which, let’s hope so, marks the
beginning of discussing certain animated film masterpieces
in writing. The book was published by the distinguished
animation books’ publisher John Libbey Publishing. It is
technically equipped, with precious supplements.
Hrvoje Turkoviæ |
