Eisenstein on Disney

The animated cartoon is a short series of hand drawn sketches, shown one after the other to show the characters to be in motion. The animations normally feature a plot or narrative of some kind and after the silent era was often produced to music. In present day many of the animations are not produced by hand, but through computer generated imagery (CGI) which is analysed later. Disney is often described as the creator of animation and the full length animation film. There are many claims that his work is ground breaking when in fact many other directors and producers before him had created full length films, with sound and colour. Sergei Eisenstein was a revolutionary soviet film director and theorist. The book 'Eisenstein on Disney'(1986) is a literature review of Eisenstein's theoretical findings on the Disney corporation, the references to Disney are so widely used because Eisenstein did not often reference such popular culture and so to produce theorem on such low culture texts was a rarity in the war environment. The Fleisher Brothers were a Jewish family, originating in New York and became Disney's biggest rivals. If the Fleisher's had become the prominent animation studio in America then the history of animation would have been very different. They involved more adult jokes in their animation so it appealed to a wider audience. Betty Boop was their biggest success, and in some of the cartoons she appeared in, they seemed quite surreal. She is also deemed one of the few female cartoon characters who has become a universal sex symbol. The Fleisher brother's cartoons were all pre-Disney, but when the more commercial child friendly animation became popular, the Fleischer's work faded into the background. This downfall began in the early 1940's when they moved their studios from New York to Miami, mainly to produce a supposed blockbuster film 'Mr Bug goes to town'. Unfortunately when competing with Disney's qualified and trained animators this film could not contend and lost the brothers a lot of money. Consequently Paramount took over the studio and the brother parted ways in 1942.Disney was formed in 1934 at the same time that adult animation was at its peak. Disney's animations weren't successful and appeared very childish when they were first released, however after the release of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' in 1938 the studio began to form more substantial partnerships. 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' was a monumental film in that it was produced entirely in Technicolor. This set off the trend for following animated films and taking into account inflation Snow White is still the number one selling film at the box office. Disney pioneered the use of multi-plane cameras in their animation work. This technique involved stacked panes of glass each with their different layers to the animation scene; it allowed the animator to re-use the foreground and so move the characters through the picture in a more realistic three-dimensional effect. Following the success of these films Disney branched out into other operations such as television and theme parks, making Disney one of the biggest profiteering companies in the world and bringing his much loved characters to life. This is in keeping with Eisenstein's theory on Disney's visionary thinking, his power in which to capitalise on the popularity of his early works and can still be seen through-out the Disney Corporation today. By diversifying into other areas of commerce he also expanded his creative works as many of the rides featured in the theme parks were turned into feature films and vice versa.Disney's 'technical means' can be seen through-out its long history of achievements. As stated before these were such things as the first feature film in Technicolor seen in ' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', also, the first major motion picture with stereophonic sound, seen in 'Fantasia'. But Disney's techniques went further than this, as can be seen in the following,'Disney moved further away from plasmatic flexibility of many of the early Silly Symphonies and coerced the animated form into a neo-realist practice.'(Paul Wells, 1998:23)This shows the complexity of Disney's animation process, and how the process has changed through time to keep up with audience expectation. Films as a whole have to change through time so that the audience will be interested in new and up coming releases, this is true of animation as well. The general look and style of the films is always evolving but the moral stories normally stay the same.The audience is a key component to Disney's success. Disney films have a wide appeal, across varying age groups, not necessarily exclusively the intended age group can enjoy these films. The plots are layered but without being over-complicated, this is why many of the films follow traditional fairytales.'Disney animals were simpleminded figures of fun, the cartoon children prepubescent and brimming with harmless mischief. When real trouble occurred, it was the fault of outside agitators, or of some mechanical device dragged into Eden.' (Stefan Kanfer. 1997:58)This example relates to the target audience, the children featured in the films are of similar age to the audience, and the harmless fun represents a respectable moral conduct for the children to follow. Disney also showed us the childish interpretation of the world, and constructed within the film a safe environment for the imagination. This also showed Disney's ability to tap into the psyche of the audience, by using the childish protagonists that identify with the audience, and the simple and easy to follow narratives that keep the attention of the audience, all proof that Disney had an outstanding knowledge of his audience and could pay attention to the images, ideas and feelings of the viewers.Throughout the history of Disney's animation studios a number of common themes and values can be identified. These include the triumph of good over evil and the protagonist often overcoming obstacles with the odds stacked against them. These themes are prevalent in the pictures 'The Lion King' (1994) and 'Aladdin' (1992). These are two of Disney's highest grossing and critically acclaimed pictures and were released during the boom period of Disney animation in the early 1990's, which also included 'Beauty and the Beast' (1991) - which was the first animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture award at the Oscars. It appears during this period that Disney found the formula of a male protagonist overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds and replicated this in several of their films. It should be noted that once Disney attempted to introduce a new plotline in the late 1990's with pictures such as 'Mulan'(1998) and 'The Emperor's New Groove'(2000), a downturn in fortunes followed. This formula was extremely successful as it is something all of us can associate or identify with, as we all seek to better ourselves or achieve the unachievable. They also strongly appealed to our sense of idealist in our personality, as both feature a strong male who has been held back or forced into the shadows by a wicked older figure who previously acted as a mentor.This betrayal of trust and injustice appeals to the good within us as we encourage the protagonist to claim what is rightfully theirs. Disney, and in recent years the writing team that has carried on his work after his death in 1966, knew exactly how to appeal to people's good nature and created heart warming tales that always ended in a positive way for the protagonists. Therefore this encouraged the whole family to visit the cinema, as they can be assured of a feel good picture with no danger of upsetting or distressing younger viewers.'The success of Toy Story (1995) created a 'professional' aesthetic for CGI which, while not creating an 'orthodoxy' for the form nevertheless confirmed the potential of the medium by fully exploiting its distinctive credentials.' (Paul Wells, 2002:13)Disney's partnership and later acquisition of Pixar opened the floodgates for a new wave of animated cinema, giving a much needed shot in the arm to an industry that had been in severe decline towards the mid to late 1990's. Disney had failed to attract the same critical response in pictures such as 'Atlantis' (2001) and 'Mulan' (1998), illustrating the receding fortunes of Disney's once tried and tested animation picture formula. Their first collaboration was Toy Story (1995), which attracted a new audience to the flagging Disney brand and revitalised the company's fortunes in the process. This was the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship between the companies, as they enjoyed a close working relationship as Pixar continued to produce box office smashes for Disney Corporation including 'A Bug's Life' (1998) and 'Monsters, Inc.' (2001). Pixar dealt a potentially devastating blow to Disney in 2004 when it announced that it was severing ties with Disney and intended to publish its films itself - hugely increasing their revenue as they had a seemingly bankable stream of films in production. Relationships between the two companies had been strained since 1999 when Disney refused to release Toy Story 2 in pictures - thus deeming it not one of Pixar's five films they had agreed to produce for Disney. However in 2004 Disney ended all the speculation by completing the purchase of Pixar for approximately $7.4bn, catapulting Pixar supremo Steve Jobs onto the board of Disney directors and the majority shareholder. Pixar's fusion with Disney means a change through-out the industry for CGI produced animations, with the two biggest animation studios combining, Pixar the pioneers of CGI technology and Disney the original leaders in family entertainment, increasing their stranglehold over the industry. In recent years a number of rival animation studios have made the transition from hand drawn cells to computer generated imagery, with varying degrees of success. DreamWorks production of 'Shrek' and 'Shrek 2' has seen a change in animation that captures the interest of adults as well as their children. Involving more adult humour and intertextual references to films not associated with the usual animation target audience. However in the last 12 months attempts at replicating the Disney formula have failed at the box office, notably 'Chicken Little' (2005) and 'Hoodwinked' (2006). 'Chicken Little' was a Disney produced CGI film, that was met too much criticism and no doubt played a part in Disney's decision to acquire Pixar into their assets.In conclusion, Disney's excellent management skills, and ability to give the audience film after film of family friendly narratives produced the company billions of dollars in profit, and also worldwide recognition as the leading animation studio, with the most achievements and acknowledgments. The unique charm of a Disney film has become known worldwide, and the release of a major Disney picture has become a global event, in a way no other production can compare with. Therefore I agree with Sergei Eisenstein's view that Disney could read the inner most thoughts of the human mind and manipulate these when creating many of his pictures.