For the weekend, I thought I would share these two amazing documentaries I found about the two men who are probably most responsible for the modern ideals of what makes a cartoon or defines animiation in a lot of peoples' minds.
In truth, when you look back at both of these docs, you'll notice that there was kind of a 'Good Angel / Bad Angel' type of thing going on. Tex was good, Walt was evil. Or a better way to compare it is that Tex was the good kind of crazy, Walt the bad.
In this first documentary by John Needham, produced in 1988, we learn about this surprisingly shy man from many of his esteemed compatriots: Heck Allen, Mike Lah, Ed Love, Chuck Jones, Joe Adamson, Mark Kausler, and the legendary voice actress June Foray.
ENJOY!
So, did you know before this documentary that Tex loved cartoons so much that he suffered personal injury? Animators' horseplay lost him his eye, and attention to detail made him forget to pee!
There's a lot of good things to be said about Walt Disney the man, but the truth is, they've all been said a million times before, and even been exaggerated to some extent.
So if you like Walt as much as you like leaving nasty comments, I strongly urge you not to watch this documentary which has many people who worked with him vouching about the fact that he was:
A taskmaster
Racist
Chauvinistic
An extremely poor draftstman who after success only drew for the camera
And when the animators' strike went on during the production of DUMBO, he told members of the FBI that he suspected some of them of being communists and named names causing several good animators to get blacklisted.
And then there's that great story about the animation of Minnie and Mickey fucking. But I've said too much already. See for yourself:
See. SEE??? I've been saying it for years, Disney is EVIL!!!
And if you buy the argument that the man and the empire are seperate entites and that any Disney movie shouldn't be avoided by your children just because the man at the heart of it all was an uncertified wack job who was the Hitler of Hearts and Flowers, well then I guess I can't knock you.
After all, I don't try to fuck little boys but I have been known to enjoy a Michael Jackson tune here and there.
Anyway, I hope you've learned something this weekend. Because I sure did, Boy Howdy!
- trevor.
6 comments:
Hi Trevor, in answer you your question. Yes I am. But we don't talk anymore.
Oh and great post by the way. I hadn't seen this film before.
I would take that Disney documentary with a grain of salt. The thing about Disney not hiring women animators was not true for example. Retta Scott was the first female Dinsey animator hired by the studio in 1938.
I take pretty much take everything with a grain of salt. Everyone has their own point of view, and you don't always know where they were standing during the events.
You guys are probably right, but I've read a LOT of shit about Disney. And if you get real psychoanalytic about it, it's not hard to see him as a chauvanist, based on the female 'heroes' that were featured in the films made while he was alive.
But one thing is certainly clear: Tex and Walt both had very distinct feelings about women, and they both managed to objectify women in a completely different fashion, but both in a very flattering way.
IMO.
- trevor.
Hey I'll get back to you soon k'
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