The
Animated Bestiary
Price: $23.95
Subtitle: Animals, Cartoons, and Culture
Author: Paul Wells
Subject: Film and Media Studies
Paper ISBN 978-0-8135-4415-1
Cloth ISBN 978-0-8135-4414-4
Pages: 186 pages
Publication Date: January 2009
View the Table of
Contents
Review for The Animated
Bestiary
"Wells has proven himself to be a leading scholar of
animation and has here produced a solid piece of scholarship that shows
an incredible breadth of knowledge."
- Eric Smoodin, author of Regarding Frank Capra: Audience,
Celebrity,
and American Film Studies, 1930-1960
Description:
Cartoonists and
animators have given animals human characteristics for so long that
audiences are now accustomed to seeing Bugs Bunny singing opera and
Mickey Mouse walking his dog Pluto.
The Animated Bestiary critically
evaluates the depiction of animals in cartoons and animation more
generally. Paul Wells argues that artists use animals to engage with
issues that would be more difficult to address directly because of
political, religious, or social taboos. Consequently, and principally
through anthropomorphism, animation uses animals to play out a
performance of gender, sex and sexuality, racial and national traits,
and shifting identity, often challenging how we think about ourselves.
Wells draws on a wide range of examples, from the original King Kong
to Nick Park's Chicken Run to Disney cartoons-such as Tarzan,
The Jungle Book, and Brother Bear-to reflect on people by
looking at the ways in which they respond to animals in cartoons and
films.
Brief list
of movies mentioned:
King Kong
Beauty and the Beast
Chicken Run
Tarzan
The Jungle Book
Brother Bear
Madagascar
Happy Feet
Animal Farm
Ice Age
About the Author:
Paul Wells is the director of animation in the
Animation Academy at Loughborough University. He is the author of
several books, including Animation and America (Rutgers
University Press), Understanding Animation, and Fundamentals
of Animation.
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Price: $23.95
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