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Boom and Doom
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| Walt Disney setting precedents back in 1938 with the production of Bambi, the first animated film for which he brought in live animals for the animators to study. © Disney. All rights reserved. |
Taking Risks…With Experience
In the days of Termite Terrace and Hyperion Ave., cartoons were produced in a totally different context. At Warner's, for example, the short films that are so beloved today were produced under a system that allowed a great deal of creative freedom. While it was true that certain structural parameters in the form of animation units had to be utilized in order to ensure organization and production, Leon Schlesinger generally stayed out of the director's way and let the animators be. As a result, the Warner cartoons under his reign tended to reflect the highly personal styles of those directors and their units. Chuck Jones was free to exercise whatever artistic pretension caught his fancy, or to abandon them all in the name of character development. Bob Clampett was allowed to slather rapid-fire pacing, metamorphic distortion and bombastic gags over any plot he wished. Friz Freleng tinkered with the intricacies of musical timing, while Frank Tashlin developed a cinematic touch.
Walt Disney spent much of his career taking risks. Whether it was making a synchronized sound cartoon, absorbing the extra cost of color, gambling on a feature-length film, or abandoning a successful formula in order to produce an unprecedented merger of animation and classical music, Walt's vision always came first. Disney wagered that if the story and animation were uniformly excellent, the public would always prove him right. History emphatically records who won that wager. Then there is the case of Tex Avery, whose reality-defying shorts earned nothing but enmity from MGM producer Fred Quimby. This mattered little to Tex, who continued to perfect his high-speed assaults on logic and narrative. In countless interviews, histories and biographies one unifying theme can be noted about this diverse group of artists: they made their cartoons in order to please themselves. Whether they were given the freedom to do so or took risks in the name of their art, each man mentioned above was his own most reliable test audience...and harshest critic.
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| Walt Disney's classic Mickey Mouse. © Disney. All rights reserved. |
When Fools Rush In
The world of primetime TV, however, is another story. In this realm of test audiences, market share, ratings, networks that sell eyeballs to sponsors and programming execs who don't understand animation in the least, a cartoon series has the same chance to flourish as a dead geranium planted in battery acid and watered with iodine. When one adds the effects of TV station censorship, creative control exercised by sponsors and advertisers, pressure by networks to come up with immediate hits, and demands for a show with licensing and merchandising potential it becomes almost impossible for anyone who isn't a seasoned veteran to succeed. In far too many cases, however, an idea or concept was sold by people whose experience consisted of some storyboard work, a couple of episodes in a director's chair and a nose for the latest fad. In some of the worst cases, ideas were pitched by self-promoters who had virtually no experience in the field, impresarios who would swear that Scooby Doo was hand-drawn by Walt Disney.
If that sounds too far-fetched, I refer my readers to the latest issue of TOON Magazine. There you will find a biting editorial written by editor-in-chief Michael Swanigan, an animation professional who actually witnessed one of these misbegotten projects firsthand. Swanigan applies Willy Wonka's admonition to a misbehaving child ("Oh, I wouldn't do that. I really wouldn't...Stop, don't.") to studios that blithely finance animated series without any comprehension of what they are getting into. When stand-up comics, sitcom writers, would-be film auteurs and semi-experienced trend-riders sign contracts to produce animated projects for primetime the result is an embarrassment for all concerned. Mike Judge was correct when he told the Times: "The ones I've seen lack a heart and soul. They look like they've been made by a committee."
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