STUDIES AND RESEARCH
Cartoon realism by Walt Disney
At the end of this year it
will be exactly one hundred years since Walt Disney, the
most influential animator of all time, was born. The purpose
of this essay is to deepen our understanding of the impact
Disney had on the history of animated film and film in
general.
A short introduction presents American animation,
the background and the environment from which the phenomenon
Disney emerged. The author of the essay argues that animation,
together with movie pictures, comic strips, jazz, pulp
fictions, Broadway shows etc., was part of a large process
called »the Americanisation of the American culture«, which
definitely marked the fact that America was no longer just
»Europe in emigration«, but a new and authentic society
and civilisation which very soon got up ahead of the whole
world. Unlike some prominent historians in the field such
as Donald Crafton, the author claims that »lighting sketches«,
a form of vaudeville episode where skilful cartoonists
were drawing »live« on the stage, only partly influenced
animation during the silent movie era. Besides Stuart Blackton,
the only animator in the early period who considered animation
to be an extension of vaudeville was Winsor McCay, the
most prominent, highly talented creator of the early American
animation. In spite of this, he is a rather extraordinary
exception with little influence on the mainstream production.
The author considers comic strips to be
the main source of inspiration for animators during the
early years of film history. Comic strips supplied animators
with graphic style, the awareness of animation as a product
intended for market and the concept of a specific »star
system« in which cartoon characters are exponents of the
image and trade mark of longer animated serials. The first
animators that integrated business and entertainment, such
as Putt Sullivan, Paul Terry, Randolf Bray and most notable
The Fleischer Brothers, invented the so called »perf and
peg« system, i. e. cell animation and an assembly line
method of production which created the foundation of the
industrialised animation production in America. This was
the ground plan on which Walt Disney founded his fascinating
career.
In the second part of the essay, the author
discusses the concept of realism, or »conceivability«,
as Disney called it, which was achieved in the Disney Studio
during the 1930s. Disney introduced a new philosophy called
»life-quality« by making cartoons »as if cartoon characters
were real«, which revolutionised the mere art of animation
as well as the technical aspects of the production. His
ambition was to create empathy between the viewer and film
where the difference between reality and fiction would
be temporarily wiped out, as was the case in feature films.
He distrusted metamorphosis; the character’s body was irreducible
and had the same »implied mass« at any given moment of
the film. At the same time, he respected the basic laws
of nature such as gravitation and perspective. In order
to capture the essence of reality, the studio developed
highly sophisticated methods of animation, such as studying
movement with the help of professional actors, a high drawing
count and smoothly flowing animation instead of jerky,
unrealistic movement like those in most of the early animated
films. Result of the development of these methods were
many technical improvements such as the Multiplan camera
or other devices and techniques that enabled the studio’s
flawless combination of sound, colour and animation.
During the early 1930s Disney definitely
got away from the comic-strip influence and set up animation
as an autonomous vehicle. It was during the same decade
that Disney definitely established the cartoon stars creation
as analogous to the Hollywood studio star system.
A special consideration in the essay is
given to Disney’s first animated full-length feature, Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, which was released in 1937. The author
suggests that it was one of the most significant occurrences
in the history of animated movies. Despite the fact that
several feature-length animated movies were made before
(films by, for example Starewitz and Reiniger.), it was
the first animated product that could compete with other
film genres. Until then, animated shorts were normally
just supplemental parts of the so-called film bill together
with the bill’s main attraction: a feature-length film.
Hence, it was considered just as a supplemental product.
Adapting a famous fairy-tale, legend or myth, Disney
created a completely new genre that would prove as one
of the longest lasting in the history of motion pictures.
The author proceeds with an analysis of
the specific ideology and philosophical view that derive
from Disney’s products. Disney created an ideal world made
of families, leisure and heterosexual couples. »The world«
was populated by funny characters representing middle-class
icons. Race or class problems were nonexistent in this
ideal world of
middle-class citizens.
Marketing his product, as Smoodin
wrote, as »ideal children’s fare« Disney created rules
of rigid morality and conservatism. Phenomena such as cruelty
to animals, sexual relations, except those purely heterosexual,
or blasphemy were unthinkable in a Disney cartoon.
In the following chapter the author tries
to clarify his relation to some common themes of criticism
against Disney. Ideology critics, such as expressed in
the work of Dorfman and Mattelart, accused Disney of spreading
American imperialism worldwide, while others reproached
the company that it had ’erased competition’ with its monopolistic
behaviour so that »in the mind of his viewers, Disney animation
was accepted as the only possible one«, as wrote Bendazzi.
To the first critics the author replies that Disney’s propaganda
has never been hidden.
Honestly speaking, Disney’s propaganda
for America and capitalism did not spread oppression; rather
the oppressed people felt that by buying Disney they were
getting a taste of freedom. As far as the latter are concerned,
the author thinks that it was precisely Disney’s power
and influence that made such a turbulent development of
the art of animation possible. Almost all American studios
worked in relation to Disney, as more or less creative
opponents trying hard to compete with »the giant of animation«.
The Warner Brothers’ studio for animators, Tex Avery or
UPA would hardly have developed their original aesthetics
had there not been such a great challenge to be different
and better than the great concurrent.
Disney’s influences are not limited to the
USA but equally obvious in most countries where animated
film production was developed, even in the cases of some
of the most creative enterprises such as British Animation,
Zagreb School of Animated Film, or the whole of the so
called »Canadian phenomenon«. It is less known that the
first three animated cartoons produced by Canadian National
Film Board were not only made by Disney’s animators, Disney’s
characters (Mickey Mouse and others) also »stared« in them.
Disney’s patriotic effort, his animated films that contributed
to create consensus about The United States’ entrance into
World War II, connected him with John Grierson, the founder
of NFB. Consequently, three short movies produced by Disney
and NFB were the impetus for what later developed into
the most important studio for artistic animation.
The essay ends with the conclusion that Disney’s »realistic«
treatment of time-in-space, his creation of various techniques
and use of sound effects and colour, smooth and natural
movement, philosophy expressed through the content of the
story and the aesthetic design and dramaturgic construction
and finally last, but not least, his huge commercial success
are the qualities that doubtlessly make Disney the only
classic in the world of animation. The author emphasises
that any historical study within this field claiming to
be serious, has to include at least a chapter about Disney
— one of the most important phenomena in the history of
film.
Midhat Ajanović |
