Introductory description

Animation is a genre and process with its own distinctive language and characteristics. No longer viewed as simply ‘cartoons for children’, animation has become a cultural phenomenon that extends into live action cinema. The popularity of animation in popular culture is now equaled in academia with animation a burgeoning field in film and television studies. This module will explore animation from various angles, including its history, aesthetics, and production, but, also, will examine various animation contexts, including specific processes, types of animation, and topics within animation studies.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

This module will explore animation from various angles, including its history, aesthetics, and production, but, also, will examine various animation contexts, including specific processes, types of animation, and topics within animation studies.

An example syllabus is set out below.

Week One
Topic: Defining Animation
Screenings: various shorts

I. History and Industry

Week Two: Early Animation
Screenings: George Melies, James Stuart Blackton, Windor McKay

Week Three
Topic: Walt Disney
Screening: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand at all, 1937)

II. Technologies

Week Four
Topic: Early Stop-Frame Television
Screenings: Clangers (BBC, 1969); Bagpuss (BBC, 1974)

Week Five
Topic: Computer Animation and Motion Capture
Screening: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Rupert Wyatt, 2011)

Week Six
Reading Week

III. Animation, Aesthetics and Politics

Week Seven
Topic: the Animated Documentary
Screening: Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman, 2008)

Week Eight
Topic: Animation and National Cinema- Japanese Animation
Screening: Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

Week Nine
Topic: Representation and Animation
Screenings: various shorts

Week Ten
Topic: Animated Stardom
Screenings: Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, and Bugs Bunny shorts

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the development of animation in cinema, television and/or new media over the last 120 years.
• Identify key moments/studios/movements/texts in the history of animation and understand how they fit into a broader history of development.
• Identify different styles and techniques of animation.
• Assess animated images in terms of the key theoretical questions regarding animation in relation to live action.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the socio-historical specificity of animation and questions of address, representation, ideology and political image-making.
• Situate animated film within the broader context of live action cinema.

Indicative reading list

Batkin, J (2017) Identity in Animation: A Journey into Self, Difference, Culture and the Body. London and New York: Routledge.

Bendazzi, G. (1994) Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press

Crafton, D. (1993) Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898-1928. Chicago: U of Chicago Press.

Dobson, N. (2009) Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons. Lanham, MD and Plymouth, UK: Scarecrow Press

Dobson, N, Honess Roe, A, Ratelle, A, and Ruddell, C. (eds.) (2019) The Animation Studies Reader. New York and London: Bloomsbury

McCarthy, H. (1999) Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese
Animation: Films, Themes, Artistry. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press

McGowan, D. M. (2019) Animated Personalities: Cartoon Characters and Stardom in American Theatrical Shorts. Austin: U of Texas

Moseley, R. (2016) Hand-Made Television: Stop-Frame Animation for Children in Britain, 1961-74. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Napier, S. J. (2005) Anime From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. Basingstoke and Palgrave: Palgrave Macmillan

North, D., Rehak, B. and Duffy, M. (eds.) (2015) Special Effects: New Histories/Theories/Contexts. BFI: London

Pallant, C. (2011) Demystifying Disney: A History of Disney Feature Animation. London: Bloomsbury

Roe, A. H. (2013) Animated Documentary. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Sammond, N. (2015) Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation. Durham and London: Duke UP.

Telotte, J. (2008) Mouse Machine: Disney and Technology. Chicago: University of Illinois

Wells, P. (1998) Understanding Animation. London: Routledge

Subject specific skills

This module develops skills of audio-visual literacy, through close textual and/or contextual analysis in relation to the moving image and sound. It may also develops understandings of historical, theoretical and conceptual frameworks relevant to screen arts and cultures.

Transferable skills

• critical and analytical thinking in relation
• independent research skills
• team work
• clarity and effectiveness of communication, oral and written
• accurate, concise and persuasive writing
• audio-visual literacy