Animation : A Slapstick on Violence

Motion-picture film opened a new medium for artist to produce pieces that could speak to the masses – testing new applications to convey opinions and to express themselves fully. Between 1900 and 1930 the world of silent film was introduced to a new form of motion picture – animation. A stop motion process created to display ideas that the real world could not replicate with actors alone – this effect was created through something as simple as a series of drawings on paper or as complex as a scene of clay figures dancing in a realistic setting. Even in a time where sound was not combined with the stream of motion pictures, emotions could be conveyed through speech bubbles and exaggerated expressions. It took large groups of individuals to painstakingly create animations, yet the finished product often had a relatable story and quickly developed memorable characters like Felix the Cat and Gertie the Dinosaur. It is these early animations that have become a foundation for the animations of today – for it was that motion-picture film that began the idea to create a story in art through shooting a series of pictures one frame at a time.

Much like in John Dos Passos’ Camera Eye – the animations were often a stream of thought placed before the movie in addition to the newsreel. Though animation is not brought up in the books we have read thus far, the progression of the motion-picture animation follows the technological advances of the modernist time.  Animation, as it is developed, steps away from the human actors and focuses more on the drawn characters. The animation Felix the Cat: Feline Follies was created by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messer in 1919 – though it is not the first animation to be viewed it became one of the first to be drawn without real filmed backgrounds and quickly became a success. According to Patricia Vettel Tom’s American Art, Felix was a Modernity of Form stating “these black-and-white silent films combined abstract and surrealistic imagery with the comic antics of a caricatured feline.” This was not meant to replace the real world in the mindset of the viewers but to give a playful example of what could befall in day-to-day circumstances.

The world Felix was created in was meant to speak of possible real life situations from a playful point of view – removing the serious tone that could have come with violence, depression, and day-to-day struggles.  The act of lessening the seriousness of the scenes portrayed becomes a form of fabrication for the reality it emulates – allowing the viewers to see what would otherwise be heinous acts. The animations were created with such speed and accepted with admiration that the studios developed free reign over topics in which they often either endorse or mocked. The themes also held a closer connection to that of mature content– As Canemaker points out when Felix was in his beginnings he was ‘intended for an adult audiences' (Langer). A prime example of this can be viewed in the Felix the Cat: Feline Follies where Felix is tossed from his home after mice destroy the house during his rendezvous with his beau. The abuse has a slapstick effect as he bounces from the front door- running to his cat friend who in turn has had quite a large litter from him. Instead of acting in a positive matter he walks away and the act of killing himself through gas inhalation is implied as the film ends.  This humorous form of violence makes light of the true effect such actions would play in real life situations.

Felix the Cat : Feline Follies

Through the mockery of violence and progression of storytelling a voice has been created. If this developed voice worked for the betterment of the community it catered to or fed the beginnings of mindless violence that is prevalent today remains unknown. 

Question: 

If animation can expand from the limitations of real actors and situations, does the portrayed voice become altered or lose credibility? 

Work Cited

Langer, Mark. "Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat." Rev. of Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat by John Canemaker. Indiana University Press 1 June 1991: 223-25. Print.

Tom, Patricia Vettel. "Felix the Cat as a Modern Trickster." American Art. 1st ed. Vol. 10. New York, NY: Published by Oxford UP in Association with the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1996. 64-87. Print.

Cook, David A., and Robert Sklar. "History of the Motion Picture." Encyclopeadia Britannica. Encyclopeadia Britannica, 11 Mar. 2016. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.