While Sandra Lahire (1950-2001) is best known for her live action films, prior to 1986 she was working primarily with animation. These early works have received little attention, possibly because of their experimental approach and difficult subject matter. Throughout her…
In the seminal study of Weimar cinema, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of German film (1947), Siegfried Kracauer offers an intriguing tribute to Lotte Reiniger, the pioneering filmmaker best known today for directing the earliest surviving animated feature,…
For anyone interested in equity in gender representation in the film industry, Melissa Silverstein at Indiewire recently posted some depressing infographics regarding the number of both independent[i] and mainstream[ii] motion pictures directed by women. According to the graphics, only 10%…
In spite of animation’s inherent plasticity and the implication that animation can “resist outmoded notions of… performance” and “carry with it alternative ideological imperatives” (Wells, 1998, p.227) prime time television animation tends to follow the stereotypical representations of most visual…
Knitting and crocheting have always been activities strongly connected to women, understood as a part of their housekeeping duties and everyday chores. But recently, this traditional craft has started to be viewed differently. More and more contemporary (mostly female) artists…
Traditionally, the straight ‘man’ in stand up comedy or sitcom gives the eccentric character a presence to play against. It has long been accepted as an essential part of the process. As Mel Brooks has noted, “Well the straight guy…
Since the release of Toy Story (Lasseter, 1995) Pixar Animation Studios has become renowned for creating films that are both commercially successful and critically acclaimed. Collectively, Toy Story and its sequels have grossed over 1.9 billion dollars worldwide, and are…
Generally speaking animated filmmaking is gendered. Men usually work as directors, key animators, and photographers, while women take less important roles such as inkers and painters—jobs that demand repetitive and tedious manual labor rather than artistic creativity and high technology.…
The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams will be recommended to countless students beginning animation classes in the next few weeks. Cited by Paul Wells in his SAS Toronto keynote in a shortlist of texts commonly found in professional studios,…
There seems to have been a resurgence of discussion of all things feminist recently, from the online campaigns of #everydaysexism, the attempts to outlaw Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) practises[i], to the increasing voices of dissent among young female audiences, in…
