Deadline: January 19, 2026

While the making of animation is acknowledged for its ever expanding use of new and creative techniques, technologies and visual styles – for instance, in Experimental Animation (2019) by Harris et al. (ed.) – animated works are just as rich in their use of the humorous, the comical, the abused and at times the down right silly.

Humorous content was the theme of some of the earliest animations, like Emile Reynaud’s hand-painted Autour d’une cabine (1894), Stuart Blackton’s 1906 chalkboard animation Humorous phases of funny faces, and Émile Cohl’s hand-drawn Fantasmagorie (1908). The connection to the humorous grew tighter with the development of industrialised animation during the 1920’s by the Walt Disney Studio and Fleischer Studios, which, as Norman Klein (1993) points out in Seven Minutes, were primarily influenced by comic theatre and vaudeville more so than silent films. The humors was often expressed, as  Klein further explains, in the dynamism between different kinds of gags that were “(…) a hangover from the pre-industrial rituals, as well as reenactment of social (and narrative) dislocation (…), held in tension as partners: nineteenth-century animal humor and twenty-century chaos, like a barnyard mouse building a floppy airplane” (p. 27). Nevertheless, as Klein describes, the 1940’s animated cartoons moved on from the visual gag to the antic chase gag with sound, a shift  that challenged the retreat from slapstick found in the character driven, melodramatic moralising of 1930’s cartoons and instead encompassed the subversive and the political. A movement, Klein continues, was revived by Tex Avery with Warner Brothers’ Looney Loons and further developed into the quiet madness of normalcy developed by the United Production of America (UPA).

However, more recent American animated works also draw on the humorous in the form of the awkward, the bizarre and the absurd, as exemplified by David Lewandowski’s short 3D animation going to the store (2011) and Adult Swim’s animated sitcom Smiling Friends (2022-present), or by their international counterparts, such as  the Estonian Aeg maha [Time Out] (1984), the Japanese Crayon Shin-Chan (1992-present) comic adaptation, and the Belgian stop-motion feature Panique au village [A Town Called Panic] (2002-2003).

Screen shot of the animated character encountering a staircase in going to the store (Lewandowski, 2011).

For this theme we focus on contributions that engage with the creation, development and situating of the humorous in animation. We are interested in theoretical, historical, artistic, and socio-political aspects related to the theme, which may include, but are not limited to:

  • Any perspectives on animation that contains gag, slapstick and physical comedy.
  • The use of humor in the making process of animation.
  • Historical developments and lineages of humor across animation, comedy theatre, TV and related media.
  • Theoretical takes on humor in animation as a category breaking and philosophical worldview.
  • Socio-political commentary on the affinity of humor and animation, in particular as a subversive approach.

We welcome posts that are:

  1. Between 600 and 900 words discussing any aspect of the above topics. 
  2. Forwarded as a Microsoft WORD file. 
  3. Include at least one image to visually support their argument/post. 
    3a. The images must be less than 2 MB in size per image and sent as individual files. 
    3b. Please indicate where the images should be placed in the text, including image caption(s) and credits. All permissions are the responsibility of the contributor.
  4. Include a short bio of 100 words max.
  5. Include 3 keywords. 

In addition to the Animation and humor theme, we are also currently seeking reviewers for:

  1. Politically Animated: Non-fiction Animation from the Hispanic World (2023) by Jennifer Nagtegaal
  2. Women and Film Animation A Feminist Corpus at the National Film Board of Canada 1939-1989 (2024) by Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
  3. Surrealism and Animation: Transnational Connections, 1920-Present (2025), eds. Abigail Susik
  4. Drawn to Nature: American Animation in the Age of Science (2025) by Colin Williamson

We also welcome suggestions for other books to review.

Please fill in the submission form with all the required information for your submission to both the theme and/or the review here: Submission Form.

Please contact co-editors Carmen Hannibal and Anastasiia Gushchina via blog@animationstudies.org with any questions.