The Art and History of Disney Animation—Flex

Welcome to the Art of Animation Through Disney and Pixar! As the leading provider of family entertainment in the world, the Walt Disney Studios have created films that have resonated with generations of audiences for nearly a century. This course seeks to analyze the artistic medium of animation through the shorts and films of the Walt Disney Studios—a medium that has been left out of traditional history, art history, and film studies despite its prevalence in the Modern world. Through an art historical lens, we will evaluate production art and processes of creating animation, as well as how animation connects to defined art historical movements, like Surrealism, German Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, etc. and compare the processes of animation to other historical-artistic processes. Through a history lens, students will learn about major events in the United States and how they impacted animation, including the evolution of technology, like television, photography, and computers, world conflicts, changing socioeconomic statuses, and more!

No background knowledge is required of learners! I ask that you come prepared to discuss animation with enthusiasm.  Each week, students will view 1-2 prerecorded video lectures lasting between 30-45 minutes per lecture. Then students will respond to writing prompts with a paragraph or two to understand how much they have learned. These prompts facilitate discussion of the week's material in the classroom and students will be asked to apply concepts learned to new material. Each response may include watching a new cartoon or engaging with outside reading, all of which will be provided to the student in the classroom. Students will walk away from this course with a foundation on how animation is created, as well as how animation connects to the art world and American history!

Course Schedule:

Week 1: Students will learn about the origins of animation and predecessors to the Disney Studios, including Windsor McCay, the Fleischer Brothers, and Otto Messmer. Students will be able to identify how animation stemmed from earlier artistic developments and the traditions of narrative art, what technologies allowed animation to be developed, and how animation became one of the earliest American artforms.

Week 2: Students will learn about Walt Disney's early life and how he ended up being involved in animation! Students will be exposed to some of the earliest Disney cartoons, featuring both Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse, and discuss traits of early animation. Students will understand how socioeconomic status informed who was the audience for these cartoons and how events like the Great Depression led to the evolution of characters like Mickey!

Week 3: Students will focus solely on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and discuss its significance as the first commercial animated feature film. Students will be able to identify shifts in the production process at the Walt Disney Studios, like the development of the multiplane camera, technicolor, and personality animation, that made the film so successful. After this class, students will be able to identify the eight key components of early cel animation and discuss why this film was important for animation to be seen as more than "low-brow" entertainment.

Week 4: Students will learn about Modern art movements of the early 20th century and how animated film and shorts developed after Snow White toyed with notions of Modern art. This lecture will look primarily at Fantasia and a collaboration Walt Disney did with Surrealist painter Salvador Dali in the 1940s. Students will be able to identify the main motivations behind each of these movements and discuss why animators would want to utilize fine art concepts in animation and experiment. Parts of this lecture will include my own research performed at the Museum of Modern Art and photographs from their archive from shows on animation in the early twentieth century.

Week 5: This class emphasizes how World War II impacted the production of animation, not just at the Disney Studios, but across the world. Students will learn what types of animation were being produced by the Disney Studio for the American (and Canadian) public, how animation was used to influence citizens at home through propaganda, and audiences abroad through films like Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. Students will be able to identify how World War II affected the artistic development of animation during this period and how it affected the animation studio system, leading to the shut down of many studios.

Week 6: Students will learn about a shift in the aesthetic values of the Disney Studio during the 1950s and 1960s, leading up to Walt Disney's death in 1966. Students will be able to identify important technological innovations of this period that impacted the appearance of commercial animation, such as xerography. Students will also learn about how animation and commercialism flourished in the post-War period, leading to the development of Disneyland, large merchandise sales, and booming success with film.

Week 7: Students will focus on the notorious aesthetic decline of the Disney Studios, as well as commercial animation as a whole, during the 1970s and 80s. Students will be able to identify how television, commercialization, and the art world as a whole, impacted how animation was viewed as an art form during this period. We will discuss the ultimate demise of the established studio system, the rise of competition for Disney, and how television impacted the market for shorts.

Week 8: This week focuses on the Disney Renaissance and the rebirth of artistic production in the Studio starting in 1989. Through discussions on the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the Lion King, students will be able to identify why the films of this period are considered some of the most artistically advanced of the Studio thus far, as well as begin an understanding of how computers altered animation as a whole in the 1990s. 

Week 9: Pixar Week! This lecture looks at the Pixar Animation Studios, their history, and their focuses in animation. Students will learn about the process of computer animation and how the Pixar Studios approaches realism in a much different way than the Disney Studios. Students will learn about Pixar through the lens of Toy Story (1995), which was the world's first fully computer-animated film, and discuss how Pixar and their success impacted the Disney Studios.

Week 10: Disney Computer Animation and Wrap Up. This lecture focuses on how Disney has developed their own process of computer animation and how it differs from that of Pixar. Students will understand why there was a break with traditional cel animation. Students will also touch on what the future of animation looks like, though Virtual Reality, video gaming, and new competition for the Disney Studios.