Paul Wells
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748626014
- eISBN:
- 9780748670673
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748626014.003.0019
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
In this chapter, Paul Wells argues that the literal and metaphorical developments of animation in the twenty-first century allow ‘virtual histories’ to be constructed from the subjective and relative ...
More
In this chapter, Paul Wells argues that the literal and metaphorical developments of animation in the twenty-first century allow ‘virtual histories’ to be constructed from the subjective and relative contexts of the contemporary period. He examines special effects in animations and controversial works such as Edouard Salieri’s short film Flesh (2006), which juxtaposes images of the 9/11 terrorist attacks with images drawn from the booming pornography industry, as well as more mainstream animations such as the two Ice Age films (2002, 2005) and Happy Feet (2006), which struck a more conventional liberal-ecological note. He looks beyond the shift from Disney’s classical 2D aesthetic to Pixar’s 3D computer imagery, and argues that 21st-century animation has become a richly nuanced language, incorporating metamorphosis, fabrication, symbol and metaphor, and interweaving memory, history and fabrication to challenge the dominant ideological myths of the day.Less
In this chapter, Paul Wells argues that the literal and metaphorical developments of animation in the twenty-first century allow ‘virtual histories’ to be constructed from the subjective and relative contexts of the contemporary period. He examines special effects in animations and controversial works such as Edouard Salieri’s short film Flesh (2006), which juxtaposes images of the 9/11 terrorist attacks with images drawn from the booming pornography industry, as well as more mainstream animations such as the two Ice Age films (2002, 2005) and Happy Feet (2006), which struck a more conventional liberal-ecological note. He looks beyond the shift from Disney’s classical 2D aesthetic to Pixar’s 3D computer imagery, and argues that 21st-century animation has become a richly nuanced language, incorporating metamorphosis, fabrication, symbol and metaphor, and interweaving memory, history and fabrication to challenge the dominant ideological myths of the day.
