Writing about the way elements move in animation proves to be a formidable challenge for any book on the medium, but Ryan Pierson’s Figure and Force in Animation Aesthetics (2019) manages to explore philosophical theories related to change while providing…
Book Review
Review: French Animation History (2011), by Richard Neupert
by Adriana Navarro Álvarez • December 5, 2023 • 2 Comments
French Animation History (2011) by Richard Neupert delivers an essential academic exploration of Francophone animated cinema, a topic of great interest according to Neupert, due to its artistic potential and worldwide influence since its origins. Across six chapters, the author…
Review: Coraline: A Closer Look at Studio LAIKA’s Stop-Motion Witchcraft (2021), ed. Mihaela Mihailova
by Kate Renner • October 11, 2023 • 0 Comments
In the introduction of the recently published anthology Coraline: A Closer Look at Studio LAIKA’s Stop-Motion Witchcraft, editor Mihaela Mihailova writes, “Like witchcraft, puppet craft remains poorly understood and frequently branded as a relic of a bygone era — and…
Anime’s Identity Crisis: Closed Borders, Global Networks, and the Neoliberal Self
by Colin Wheeler • March 8, 2022 • 0 Comments
Review of Stevie Suan. Anime’s Identity: Performativity and Form Beyond Japan. United States, University of Minnesota Press, 2021. Traditional scholarship on anime has left the identity of the media form as de facto Japanese, reducing a global industrial network into…
A Vibrant History, Bursting at the Seams
by Carla MacKinnon • December 6, 2021 • 0 Comments
Review of Jez Stewart, The Story of British Animation, London: British Film Institute, Bloomsbury, 2021. Jez Stewart’s role as a curator at the BFI National Archive positions him well as author of this detailed history of British animation. The book…
The Truth about “Animating Truth”
by Sofía Poggi • October 19, 2021 • 0 Comments
Review of Nea Ehrlich, Animating Truth: Documentary and Visual Culture in the 21st Century, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021. For those of us who are interested in nonfictional animation, Nea Ehrlich’s new book is, to tell the truth, a proper…
Expanding into Unchartered Land: Arab Animation Production from the Thirties to Today
by Myria Christophini • September 20, 2021 • 0 Comments
Review of Omar Sayfo, Arab Animation: Images of Identity, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021. Probably the first extensive dedication to the subject, Arab Animation: Images of Identity is a major contribution to the diverse world of Arab and international animation…
Animating Atrocities: Bearing Witness in War Animation Films
by Genia Boivin • September 28, 2020 • 0 Comments
Review of Donna Kornhaber, Dream Sanctuary: War and the Animated Film. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 2020. When one thinks about wartime animated films, propaganda film comes to most people’s mind. Indeed, since the 1990s, studies in animated propaganda developed…
Crafty Fingers and Imperfect Frames
by Laura-Beth Cowley • January 6, 2020 • 1 Comment
Review of Caroline Ruddell and Paul Ward (eds.). The Crafty Animator: Handmade, Craft-Based Animation and Cultural Value. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. The Crafty Animator: Handmade, Craft-based Animation and Cultural Value is a coherent collection of essays centered around the production of…
Bursting the Bounds of Chinese Animation and Scholarship
by Shannon Brownlee • July 15, 2019 • 0 Comments
Review of Daisy Yan Du. Animated Encounters: Transnational Movements of Chinese Animation 1940s-1970s. University of Hawai’i Press, 2019. Daisy Yan Du’s excellent Animated Encounters: Transnational Movements of Chinese Animation 1940s-1970s is essential reading for anyone interested in Chinese or Japanese…