00:03Animation allows total immersion into a manufactured
world.
00:06Everything the viewer sees is conceived.
00:09However, rather than presenting
reality in a literal way, animation creates
00:12life through expression.
00:14Character and emotions are conveyed through
exaggerated movement and the possibilities
00:17of what can be presented are limited only
by the author’s imagination.
00:20Meaning anything can be seen
00:22and anything can be felt.
00:30Hello and welcome to Animation/Propaganda.
00:31In our last episode we looked at the history
of mass manipulation and information control.
00:35This video will be just a little lighter as
we dive into the early days of American animation,
00:39specifically cartoons.
00:41We’ve actually covered a lot of ground in
terms of early animation so that will save
00:45us some time here. I f you’re interested
in the roots of the medium, check out last
00:48years history of computer animation.
00:50That took us from the magic lantern all the way
00:53This is going to pick up where we left off
with McCay and run through the Golden Age
00:56of American Animation. We will of course be
venturing into the cartoon history other cultures
01:00in future videos, but this one is going to
focus exclusively on America’s output
01:04and why it lends itself so well to propaganda.
01:10Cartoons as we know them grew out of newspaper
comic strips, where many pioneers of American
01:14animation got their start, including Winsor McCay.
01:17McCay produced his films similar to
01:19multi-panel comics, by drawing and filming
every movement on an individual piece of paper.
01:23These experiments were often financed by his
boss, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.
01:28Hearst’s newspapers were instrumental in
the widespread acceptance of yellow journalism,
01:31or what we today call fake news.
01:34The stories he ran were often exaggerated or straight
01:36up fiction, with a focus on the sensational.
01:38In 1915, Hearst founded the International
01:40Film Service, or IFS, an animation studio.
01:44Hearst hoped he could capitalize on the popularity
01:46of his strips by bringing them to life through
the exciting new medium of animation.
01:50IFS, however, was not the first animation studio.
01:52Raoul Barré began his career producing cartoons
for Edison Studios. In 1914, he would establish
01:57his own, dedicated completely to animation.
02:00While no iconic star emerged from Barré,
02:02the studio is notable for the introduction
of the peg system, which allowed animators
02:05to keep each frame in line, as well as the
less enduring slash system.
02:09The slash system was a way of minimizing an
animators work by allowing the reuse of parts
02:13of the frame. A frame could be drawn, photographed,
and then part of it torn away and replaced
02:17with the succeeding action, creating an animated
scene.
02:20Many animators that would contribute to the
medium’s evolution got their start at Barré,
02:24including Pat Sullivan, who we will talk about
in just a bit. However, as he was wont to
02:28do with newspapers, William Randolph Hearst
poached Barré’s staff, with Barré himself
02:32briefly acting a consultant for the IFS.
02:35The same year Barré opened his studios, John
Randolph Bray founded Bray Studios. Rather
02:39than employing established cartoonists to
adapt existing properties, Bray brought on
02:43new talent to create original series, the
first of which was his own Colonel Heeza Liar,
02:47lan adventurer loosely based on Teddy Roosevelt.
02:49Along with Earl Hurd, Bray would develop the
next major innovation in animation, the cel
02:54process. Animators could now save time and
effort by drawing the action on transparent
02:57sheets and photographing them over a static
illustrated background, thus replacing Barré’s
03:02slash method as industry standard.
Streamlining the process also helped Bray
03:05Productions establish themselves as the country’s
top animation studio. Bray would go on to
03:09employ and foster the talents of
03:14and Dave and Max Fleischer.
03:17As covered in the last episode, in 1917 America’s
Committee on Public Information crafted a
03:21massive anti-German campaign aimed at swaying
public opinion towards war. William Randolph
03:26Hearst, who believed a majority of his readers
were of German descent maintained a sympathetic
03:30position with Germany. Because of this, and
the CPI’s success, Hearst’s reputation
03:34suffered and with it his business. IFS folded in 1919
03:37and his animated properties were licensed to Bray.
03:45Cartoons were used to bookend newsreels prior
03:47to film screenings. They were not marquee
attractions.
03:50That changed in 1919 with the emergence of
Felix the Cat.
03:54Debuting as Master Tom in Feline Follies,
Felix quickly captured the nation’s attention,
03:58breaking out of the medium and into the mainstream.
04:01Felix was treated like a movie star and was
04:03merchandised to no end.
04:04He spawned a slew of imitators and the mixture of a lovable anthropomorphic animal and surreal situations
04:09wrote the template for pretty much everything that followed.
04:11Felix also has the distinction of being one
04:13of the first images transmitted by television,
when a doll bearing his likeness was broadcast
04:17as a test pattern during an experiment in 1928.
04:21Now there is some dispute as to who created
Felix. The studio, owned by former Barré
04:26animator Pat Sullivan, claimed ownership.
It was common practice that studios retained
04:30rights to anything created by their staff,
who went largely uncredited. Sullivan’s
04:33lead animator, Otto Messmer, claimed to have
conceived and drawn Feline Follies himself though.
04:37Sullivan’s career was marred by incompetence,
04:40not to mention racism, alcoholism and pedophilia,
and a majority of historians and peers back
04:44Messmer‘s claims.
Regardless, Felix was a product of his time.
04:48He captured the spirit of the jazz age and
reflected the events of the day. However he
04:52fell out of fashion when film and cartoons
made the move to synchronize sound. He continued
04:56to be marketed throughout the 20th century
though never again reached the heights he
05:03In 1921, illustrator Walt Disney and his partner
Ub Iwerks were contracted by a Kansas City
05:08theatre to create a series of newsreel cartoons.
Inspired by Paul Terry’s Aesop’s Fables,
05:12the resulting Laugh-O-grams were takes on
popular fairy tales, featuring Felix-clone
05:16Julius the Cat.
Julius would appear in Disney’s next series,
05:20the Fleischer-inspired Alice Comedies.
This series, which combined live action with
05:25animation, was loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s
novels and followed the adventures of Julius
05:28and Alice as the navigated an animated wonderland.
It was born out of the final Laugh-o-gram,
05:33Alice’s Wonderland, during the production
of which, Disney’s studio filed for bankruptcy.
05:37He would contact distributor Margaret J. Winkler
in hopes of getting the film seen.
05:41Winkler had been instrumental in the growth
of the industry, having distributed the Fleischer’s
05:44Out of the Inkwell series as well as Felix
the Cat. Disney’s timing was perfect, as
05:49she was losing the rights to both when he
sent her Alice’s Wonderland.
05:52Moving to Hollywood, Disney Formed a new studio
with his brother Roy, with Iwerks in tow.
05:56Disney Brothers, which would eventually grew
into The Walt Disney Company, was born.
06:00Winkler married her employee Charles Mintz
in 1924, who would assume control over Disney’s
06:05distribution.
The combination of cost and waning interest
06:08lead to Disney abandoning Alice in favour
of total animation.
06:11With the popularity of cartoons, film studio
Universal Pictures sought a character of their
06:15own. Mintz encouraged Disney and co. To come
up with something they could pitch.
06:19The result was Oswald the lucky rabbit.
With Oswald, Disney ushered in a new era of
06:23character-driven animation. Building upon
Felix, Oswald introduced a level of expressiveness,
06:27in which personality is informed by movement.
Oswald was Disney’s first hit and His popularity
06:32allowed the studio to grow. However, despite
creating it with Iwerks, they did not own
06:36the rights to the character, Universal did.
After being denied a larger cut of the profits,
06:40Disney would step away from Oswald. and Charles
Mintz continued producing shorts with a staff
06:44comprised of many animators he hired away
from Disney.
06:46Iwerks stuck with Disney and the pair set
out to create their own character they would
06:49have complete control over. In 1928, They
produced two shorts featuring a mice couple
06:53but they could not find distribution. Inspired
by The Jazz Singer, Disney decided a synchronized
06:57soundtrack would make his new cartoon more
appealing and attract a distributor.
07:01Sound had been used before in cartoons but
failed to make much of an impression, It was
07:04very much a novelty. This gamble paid off,
and the first released Mickey Mouse cartoon,
07:09Steamboat Willie, became a resounding success
and launched a media empire that today owns
07:13nearly 100 billion dollars in creative assets
and is responsible for over a quarter of the
07:17film industry’s total output.
07:21What followed has became known as the Golden
Age of American Animation.
07:25As he had done with sound, Disney popularized
07:27the use of colour in cartoons with 1932’s
Flowers and Trees. While not the first, he
07:31would again further the medium with 1937’s
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a feature
07:35length cartoon.
This asserted Disney’s dominance as the
07:38country’s top animation studio.
During this time, many of Disney’s contemporaries
07:42also established their own iconic characters.
In 1930, his early rivals the Fleischers debuted
07:47Betty Boop. Like Felix, Betty Boop embodied
the spirit of the Jazz Age in the post-depression
07:51world. She stumbled through surreal situations
and maintained an independence few female
07:55cartoons were allowed. She was her own character,
who embraced her sexuality, at least until
08:00the passing of the Hays Code in 1934.
In addition to Betty, the Fleischers produced
08:04an adaptation of the comic strip Popeye that
would become their most popular property,
08:08eclipsing, briefly, even Mickey Mouse in terms
of star power.
08:11The series followed the spinach-fuelled adventures
of Popeye the Sailor, who was more often than
08:15not pitted against his rival, Bluto, for the
affection of Olive Oyl.
08:18Both Popeye and Betty Boop reflected the gritty
realities of Depression-Era America, contrasting
08:23Disney’s whimsical disposition. While these
characters enjoyed their time in the limelight,
08:27they have since largely fallen from the public
consciousness.
08:29Next to Disney, no studio has been able to
maintain relevance quite as much as Warner
08:33Bros.
Prior to founding their in-house studio in
08:361933, Leon Schlesinger had produced cartoons
for Warner with former Disney animators Hugh
08:39Harman and Rudy Ising.
08:41The early shorts featured Harman and Ising’s
Bosko. Conceived while the two were still
08:45working for Disney, Bosko was one of the better
depictions of African Americans in cartoons,
08:49better but still not great.
After a falling out over money, Harman and
08:53Ising left Schlesinger, taking Bosko with
them.
08:55It wouldn’t be until 1935 that animator
Friz Freleng gave Warner their first true
08:59star in Porky Pig. Porky premiered alongside
several others in Freleng’s I Haven’t
09:04Got a Hat. While Bosko and his short lived
replacement Buddy had uttered the phase, it
09:08was Porky who immortalized the classic send
off:
09:13Warner cartoons were known for their zaniness
and Porky was the perfect straight man to
09:17play off of. In what is perhaps his most famous
cartoon, Porky visits Wackyland, a hallucinatory
09:22dreamscape created by Bob Clampett.
While popular, Porky would eventually be eclipsed
09:27by Daffy Duck, who made his debut in Tex Avery’s
Porky’s Duck Hunt. Daffy would in turn be
09:31eclipsed by a bunny that would become Warner’s
signature mascot and rival Mickey Mouse for
09:35the title of top cartoon.
Bugs Bunny was formally introduced to the
09:38world in 1940’s A Wild Hare.
09:41He starred in several iconic shorts but in
the hands of Chuck Jones, Bugs reached the
09:44pinnacle of his career, and maybe even the
medium, in 1957.
09:48What’s Opera, Doc? lampoons the music of
German composer Richard Wagner, with Bugs
09:51and Elmer Fudd assuming the roles of Brunnhilde
and Siegfried. The two follow their usual
09:55routine of Elmer hunting Bugs through stylized
set pieces and parody.
09:59Working with just six minutes, Jones manages
to encapsulate Wagner’s work as well as
10:02stage a ballet, with plenty of time left over
for gags, in what has repeatedly been ranked
10:06as the greatest cartoon of all time.
The advent of television effectively rendered
10:10theatrical animation obsolete. However, Many
shorts found a second life in early children’s
10:15programming before fading in favour of new,
original characters.
10:22So why do cartoons make effective propaganda?
10:25The most obvious answer is the perception
that they are geared towards children. Indoctrination,
10:29you know, get them while they’re young.
However, like cartoons, not all propaganda
10:34No, I believe cartoons are effective propaganda
because both are distorted and conceived realities.
10:40Each gives its creator the ability to manufacture
and present their vision of the world.
10:44Where propaganda manipulates facts, cartoons
are able to express them in a way that’s
10:48exaggerated or absurd.
10:50Together they can bring a soldier to a battlefield
and show them the enemy they want them to
10:54see. Or, they can anthropomorphize and portray
them with the characteristics of animals,
10:58literally, less than human.
11:00Certain characters have broken through to
our world, look at the star power of Felix,
11:03in his time, or Bugs or Mickey, but still
their is a disconnect between them and reality.
11:08This disconnect is a valuable tool for propagandists.
The delivery of a message is softened when
11:12it comes from the mouth of a bunny rather
than someone who looks like you, your neighbour.
11:15We treat them differently and more importantly
we trust them differently.
11:16With cartoons, propagandists are given complete
control of how their message is conveyed,
11:20by using and manipulating characters with
which you have a developed a bond, perhaps
11:24even a sentimental one.
11:25In our next video, we look at how this partnership
has been used in America’s War of Drugs.
11:30Like propaganda, this subject is huge and
this was not meant to be an exhaustive history.
11:35I’m sure I missed some things so feel free
to comment or even correct down below. We
11:40will be exploring this more in a process video
over on Patreon, patreon.com/picsnportraits.
11:44You can support us there. I will post links
to relevant material in the description below.
11:49If you enjoyed this video, give us a thumbs
up, subscribe if you haven’t and be sure
11:53to check out part 1.
11:55As always, thank you so much your interest
in this channel and thank you so much for
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