Notes from the Underground Part Six — From Mary Ellen Bute to Pierre Hébert, Animation in a Different Key! | AWN

Notes from the Underground Part Six — From Mary Ellen Bute to Pierre Hébert, Animation in a Different Key!

In this final installment of articles exploring animation as commercial entertainment and as an art form, Jean Detheux heralds a group of animators who listened to their own music and delivered it up on the animated screen.

By Jean Detheux | Monday, June 30, 2003 at 12:00 am

Posted In | Magazines: AnimationWorld | Columns: DigitalNotes

Tien Yang: "You know, I am like a young punk in animation and art — still very ignorant and knowing very little. Yes, I heard you mention to me Mary so many times, and it is only here that I finally catch a glimpse of her work. POETIC! Something unknown, unexposed, unrecognized, untaught among (most?) animation programs. The difference being (perhaps) between something connected to life against something born out of constructs (or institutionalized).

Oh, I forgot to mention that it reminds me SO much of Kieslowski’s works. Especially Bleu.

Travis Wall: "I've watched Mary Ellen's work at a video at Quickdraw and it struck me how visually sophisticated it was; it had none of the animation themes I'm used to, it was more painterly — I was watching a painting unfold in time. I really love her work, I wish I could pass her the compliment 'you make me want to start a new film when I see yours'."

Sharon Katz: "I'm watching Mood Contrasts and at this late stage in her work I see that she has fully broken with illustration, or cartoon imagery. I'm still in a debate with the figurative, so it's that dialogue and progress in Bute's art —moving away from figurative references — that intrigues me. She creates her most interesting work once she's free to play with the imagery. The truth is I was stunned when I saw the Mood Contrasts clip and I do think it is really exciting work. And you can quote me!"

Richard Reeves: "Yes, I know of Mary Ellen Bute's films, I was lucky to be able to see the retrospect of her work at Ottawa International Animation Festival several years ago. This was the best, to see the actual film prints on the big screen. Also, I have been able to see her work on video at the Quickdraw Animation Society. Mary Ellen Bute's work has been very inspirational, and I get a feeling that Mary Ellen Bute, as well as making discoveries, enjoyed the process of her animation."

Steven Woloshen: "In regards to Mary Ellen Bute, I have only seen Spook Sport (in Madrid) and I thought it was great. Beyond that, I am always on the lookout to see more of her stuff."

Pierre Hébert: "I 'know' Mary Ellen Bute's films, or rather some of them. I can't recall which ones I have seen, as that was about 30 years ago. That's why I place "know" between brackets. Her work belonged to my aesthetic frame of reference of that time but (unlike McLaren's and Len Lye's which I viewed regularly, and whom I knew personally), I have a rather imprecise recollection of her work as it is entwined with all that I was seeing at the time. Therefore, concerning Mary Ellen Bute, I think my education has to be redone."

What Mary Ellen Bute worked on, this connection between image and sound, is still a wide-open field, a vast horizon left to be explored. Music and animation share the same mystery — in essence, they do not "exist!" They do not exist "in themselves," as they require a reading in time in order to come to life. In that sense, the viewer/listener is a fundamental "component" of the "life" of both animation and music, and this essential contribution the viewer/listener brings to the experience is far too often totally ignored by animators (and musicians).

I see two poles between which these artists work. At one extreme we could have a "literal" connection with the "sound" aspect of music, a human oscilloscope of sorts, while on the other, we would have work presented with music, but with no apparent direct connection to it. The possibilities between these two poles are endless, and their exploration fascinating.

Here are a few quotes from Essence of Life, a special feature that is on the Koyaanisqatsi DVD: "These films are meant to provoke, they are meant to offer an experience rather than an idea or information or a story about a knowable or a fictional subject…" (Godfrey Reggio)

"It was like looking at the world for the first time…" (Philip Glass)

"When you watch commercials on TV, you realize that the image and the music are stuck on top of each other, there's no room between them for you to move in, there's no place for us! Let's say there's a space between the image and the music, and when the spectator crosses that line, that's when he personalizes the experience, it becomes his." (Philip Glass)

"Music has a powerful ability to tell us what we are seeing." (Philip Glass)

In our time of militant dehumanization ("a face to face confrontation between the zombie and the fanatic," as Alain Finkielkraut described it), I feel grateful to those who, against many odds, still try to connect with their own experience, offering us glimpses of the universal in the particular.

The world is not merchandise, and neither is life.

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Thanks a lot. I needed that.

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Daniel Poeira (not verified) | Tue, 07/08/2003 - 00:00 | Permalink

To Tony Saliste: You say: “yes, pablum, as you call it, is pervasive today... but, like they say about tv, that's what the remote is for. mindless stupidity is present in many areas, and all some are capable of... leave them to it.” Tony, zapping is only as good as that which we can zap to. There are practically no alternatives to pabulum these days, the “suits” have managed, through decades of enforced dumbing down programming, to create expectations in the minds of the viewers so that pabulum is what is mostly expected (and offered). Read the comments to my six articles, time and again you will see this visceral reaction to my positing “Art” as important and distinct from (indeed "better than") “entertainment,” accusing me of being “elitist.” Animation is this amazing medium that is being totally swamped by mindless stupidity, “escapism” (“Prozac”) is the dominant force in it, and I most certainly see no openness to something a bit more “mature,” more life-sustaining. Even animation festivals are under the crunch of budget cuts unless they go even more into commercial servitude. And as for TV, that is utterly hopeless, when was the last time you had a chance to see quality animation on it, with or without cable? You say: “the problem, and i think you will agree, is so much of it is 'published' and deemed as 'art'... perhaps to them it is. others of us may not 'like' that, but, so what? if no one pays attention to it, it, too, shall pass. when the 'suits' have squeezed the last nickle out of any fad, true 'art' will survive.” Indeed, we are in a situation that is quite amazing, the “brainwashing” has been so very successful, the expectations have been shaped so “well,” and the frame of reference contained even “better” (the Weltanschauung), the more one focuses on intrinsic worth and inherent universal “stuff,” the more one appears to be an “outsider.” As I said in some of my previous writing, the basic belief is that “the eye works like a camera and we all see the same thing.” That is likely why so many “different” major animation productions actually look the same to me, they all are born of the same world view. You say: “if it takes another 50 years, i say, have at it, knock yourselves out. just don't expect to make a fan out of me.” You must be a lot younger than me, I most definitely do not have 50 years ahead of me, far from it. Besides, why should one wait? If one can switch from being a mere viewer to becoming a doer, now’s the (only?) time!

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Jean Detheux (not verified) | Sat, 07/05/2003 - 00:00 | Permalink

jean, what you say is true, if a bit too far in the other direction... i'm sure your intent was not to stifle exploration of the media, including animation and music. there are more than two sides to animation, as in all art, stories, or lies. yes, pablum, as you call it, is pervasive today... but, like they say about tv, that's what the remote is for. mindless stupidity is present in many areas, and all some are capable of... leave them to it. the problem, and i think you will agree, is so much of it is 'published' and deemed as 'art'... perhaps to them it is. others of us may not 'like' that, but, so what? if no one pays attention to it, it, too, shall pass. when the 'suits' have squeezed the last nickle out of any fad, true 'art' will survive. if it takes another 50 years, i say, have at it, knock yourselves out. just don't expect to make a fan out of me.