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The animated film may be one of the quintessential American film genres. Hand-drawn animation in movies began its almost one-hundred-year success story with the work of Walt Disney and his rendering of a small mouse steering a steamboat. Since those humble beginnings, the Walt Disney Company has become one of the leading global media company. Its popularity and success, however, tend to overshadow the rich and diverse history of the animation. This seminar will look at that history in detail.
Our chronological approach will begin with a look at early animation by Walt Disney but also the Fleischer Studios and Warner Studios. While Disney films will play a part in the seminar, we will also look at releases from various film studios, mainstream and experimental animation films, TV shows, and video games. We will also study the explosion of animation since its shift to the digital in the 1990s. In the seminar we will learn how to analyze the aesthetic and technological dimensions of (hand-drawn and computer-animated) animation such as, for example, camera work, voice acting, and use of music and sound. We will further situate animation in its cultural and social context exploring questions of race, gender, class, able-bodiness, and sexuality. The seminar will eventually explore the complexity and diversity of animation throughout the twentieth and the twenty-first century. |
