Animation in a changing environment: How Animation Adapts to Find its Place in Mainstream Mediums
Felicity Dobson - Animations 3FS100
A brief history of animation
Definition:
Animation: Comes from the Latin verb ‘animare’ meaning ‘to give life to’ (Wells, 1998)
Animation has been a part of various mediums for decades and a dialogue between animation and live-action has always existed. Animation appears to constantly react to the work of live-action, whether it is to challenge pre-existing stereotypes and provide deep moral messages or to simply parody the world and society around the creators.
‘If it is the live-action film’s job to present physical reality, animated film is concerned with metaphysical reality – not how things look, but what they mean.’
(Wells, 1998)
Animation has developed at an alarming rate over the years and has also adapted to different platforms, from the cinema, to television and then more recently to the Internet. Carol Stabile breaks down this idea into stages in her book Prime Time Animation: Television Animation and American Culture. She describes the history of animation under three eras: cinematic, televisual and digital (Stabile, 2013). The cinematic era of animation refers to cartoon shorts and occasionally full-length animated films that were shown in cinemas before the main live-action production in the 1930s and 1940s (Wells, 1998). They were viewed as supporting the more ‘prestigious production from Hollywood’ (Wells, 1998) meaning there was an air of the animated piece not being taken seriously. Eventually animated features were taken more seriously and recognised by the television medium. Early television animations were shorts that were created for cinema showings, but they quickly found an audience on the small screen. Early animation drew from the success of ‘chalk-talks’ in Vaudeville times (Stabile, 2013). These were caricatures that performers in Vaudeville would draw over the course of a monologue (Stabile, 2013). As time progressed, animation developed and formed successful television series such as The Flintstones and The Simpsons. These television series’ started to compete with live-action mainstream television, challenging familial stereotypes and pushing boundaries of the animated format.
With the rise in popularity of animated series’ such as The Simpsons and Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the 1980s, television animation thrived (Cavalier, 2011). As technology evolved and progressed, the arrival of the Internet provided new distribution opportunities (Cavalier, 2011). With the rise in technology, big, expensive production houses were compacted into independent, more personal means of production, as computers were able to complete the tasks with new software resources such as Flash (Cavalier, 2011). The new technology also bought the ability for animators to not only recreate reality, such as Disney productions, but also to create new universes and worlds, such as several DreamWorks productions (Cavalier, 2011). The ‘new media world’ also gave creation abilities to virtually any person with affordable animation production software and free distribution sites such as YouTube (Cavalier, 2011). Alongside the technology, the link between consumer and creator changed with the introduction of merchandising. Alongside the animations themselves, creators were now able to sell items alongside their productions for all ages. Many studios, most notably Disney, make large amounts of revenue from their merchandise.
“Art itself is really a form of exaggeration” - Oscar Wilde -
The family image in animation Many examples of animation are influenced by previous live-action productions on television or film. One of the key areas of interest is how the family image in mid1900s mainstream television translated to late-1900s to present animation. During the 50’s shows such as Father Knows Best depicted a post-war, gendered image of the family structure. The family roles were clearly depicted in not only the show’s title but also its content. The father character was clearly the breadwinner while the mother was portrayed as sociable, attractive and supportive of her husband. The children were quiet, studious and well behaved (Tueth, 2013). Michael Tueth, in his research describes how programs such as Father Knows Best were almost instructive in nature and contained moral lessons within the writing that were intended to be subconsciously taken in by the audience (Tueth, 2013). By the 1980s and 1990s however, the way the family image was being portrayed in television media began to change. In particular television series’ such as Roxanne began to depict a more dysfunctional family image (Tueth, 2013). Steven Stark discusses how in one episode of Roxanne the mother ‘jokingly offers to trade one of her offspring for a dishwasher’ (quoted in Tueth, 2013). This new depiction was successful due to the fact it felt more realistic to the viewer, it was a parody of the wartime family roles. This idea of depicting an image of family on screen soon crossed into animation, creating an animated sitcom style. Animation allowed the image of family to become more slapstick and comedic due to the rapid dialogue and physical comedy (Tueth, 2013). One of the most successful animated comedies was the huge prime time television series The Simpsons. Tueth explains that the animation presented a ‘dysfunctional-but-happy family life’ (Tueth, 2013). The show offered up its own version of the nuclear family image (Henry, 2012). At the time, programming was making a shift to more non-traditional images of family, for example, single parent households and non-nuclear families (Henry, 2012). The Simpsons built on this with the way it challenged the pre-existing family values. The father figure appears to be the character that most goes against the traditional image of other prime time television shows of the time (Ott & Mack, 2010). He is drawn as an overweight, bald man who is lazy and unintelligent man who devotes his spare time to drinking beer and eating donuts. Homer typically appears to be good-hearted, but always ends up in some sort of a predicament. In one episode he misses out on a Christmas bonus at work and decides to take a job dressing up as Santa in a shopping mall to earn the extra money for Christmas presents (‘Simpsons roasting on an open fire’, 1989). However, he ends up getting fired from the job and gambles the paycheck at a dog track (‘Simpsons roasting on an open fire’, 1989). Despite everything, Homer manages to get a puppy in the process and gives that to the family for Christmas (‘Simpsons roasting on an open fire’, 1989).
Homer is portrayed more as an underdog that ends up in trouble but it always resolves by the end of the episode. This is not the typical image of the strong, reliable and hard-working male that was typically portrayed in media of the time. The creators of The Simpsons wanted to focus on the role of the father to change, cleverly setting their show in the town Springfield, which was the same name as the town in Father Knows Best (Booker, 2006). The children are interestingly portrayed as particularly different to mid-1900s children. Bart is underachieving but proud of it as well as being witty and loud which contradicts the traditional image of quiet, well-behaved children in earlier family portrayals (Tueth, 2013). Lisa is portrayed as overly clever, in many instances more intelligent than her father, which again is not typical of the family dynamic of earlier live-action television. The character of the mother Marge is perhaps a fairly similar character to that of the 1900s typical housewife depiction. She does take on various jobs throughout the series, for example actress and pretzel-maker, however these jobs typically only last the duration of one episode (Ott & Mack, 2010). For the majority of the time, Marge is portrayed as staying at home, looking after her children and husband and completing domestic responsibilities. There is an element to the show that portrays how important a figure the mother is in the household. For example, in one episode Marge decides to take a holiday to relieve herself of some of the pressures of the household responsibilities (‘Homer Alone’, 1992). While she is absent, the household is at a loss and breaks down with Homer losing Maggie (‘Homer Alone’, 1992). When she returns, Homer and the children beg her to never leave again (‘Homer Alone’, 1992). Although The Simpsons challenges the image of masculinity within the family and the portrayal of children in prime time television, some of the imagery remains close to the traditional family values, as seen here in the character of the mother.
Click on photo above to watch episode mentioned in text on Box of Broadcasts. (Image Credit: ‘Homer Alone’, 1992)
The Family Sit Com Formula This page displays some examples of the animated family sit com. Click on the pictures to view clips from the series’.
The Simpsons The Simpsons was revolutionary at the time of its release due to its design and content. The style of animation was not heavily an area of success in prime time television, but The Simpsons helped to shape a space for an animated series that wasn’t just for children in the mainstream. The show became the first successful animated comedy series since The Flintstones in the 1960s (Tueth, 2013). The idea of an animated sitcom based around a dysfunctional family continues to be built on in new releases. In particular shows such as Family Guy echo the family structure with the father figure, Peter Griffin, who shares similarities with Homer as he is portrayed as ‘overweight, lazy and irresponsible’ (Tueth, 2013). Tueth explains how shows imitating what The Simpsons began lead the format to shift from innovative to formulaic (Tueth, 2013). This could be seen as a negative as shows such as Family Guy and American Dad play on the same structure as The Simpsons and therefore could become monotonous in nature. However, with the constant shift in societies image of the family household, there is space for another revolutionary movement in animated sitcoms.
Year of original release: 1989 Image Credit: http://www.digitalspy. com/tv/the-simpsons/news/a809106/ the-simpsons-predicted-a-celebrity-death-in-eerie-new-episode/
Family Guy Year of original release: 1999 Image Credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ newsbeat/article/32016449/familyguy-is-moving-home-from-bbc-threeto-itv2
American Dad Year of original release: 2005 Image Credit: http://www.hollywoodspectator.com/2013/07/american-dadmoves-to-tbs-for-2014-season/
case study: it’s all in the silhouette The mark of a classic cartoon character is that they can so easily be recognised even when seen as just a silhouette (Cavalier, 2011). Disney, in particular, capitalised on this idea. The original designers believed that the audience should be able to recognise the character from just their silhouette and the silhouette should give the audience an idea about the overall mood of the character (Deja, 2015). The creators of The Simpsons also designed their characters around this traditional idea so that the Simpson family would all be easily recognisable as a silhouette. See examples of character design ideas that come through in their silhouette design below.
Image Credit (below): http://www.imagenesydibujosparaimprimir.com/2015/08/silueta-de-mickey-mouse-para-imprimir.html
Image Credit (below): http://www.ugg. com/disney/
Image Credit (above): https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/343962490267566727/
Image Credit: http://austinkleon.com/2007/08/28/silhouettes-and-profiles/
Cartoonland meets the real world: animation and reality
Image Credit: http://www. indiewire.com/2013/03/5things-you-might-notknow-about-who-framedroger-rabbit-100740/
Advancements in technology caused the production of animation to change drastically. With the CGI boom, came animation that resembled reality and sought to replicate real-life images (Cavalier, 2011). Walt Disney Productions adopted this principle as a key visual element in their animation and the animation powerhouse still favours realism in their creations today. One of Disney’s first full-length creations was Who Framed Roger Rabbit (depicted in image above) where an animated character interacted with a real-life world. The film was released in 1988 and was a huge commercial success, becoming the most successful film in the 1988 box office records (Cavalier, 2011). The first version of Alice in Wonderland had similar affects, with a live-action actress appearing in an animated world, as Image Credit: http://barrybradford.com/walt-disney-firstmovie-star-before-the-mouse-virginia-davis-and-julius/ shown in the picture to the right. As technology advanced, Disney’s animation grew and moved from animation and live-action crossovers to full-length animated features. The character design in Disney features is particularly interesting as Disney designers sought to have their characters as close to real life as possible, which is still a heavy element to the design today. Disney studios wanted their characters to move in the same way as a human would and have plausibly human goals and motivations (Wells, 1998). Disney ‘sought verisimilitude in his characters, contexts and narratives’ (Wells, 1998) which expanded and continued the early CGI obsession with recreating reality. However, many animators strayed to creating new worlds outside of reality because animation allowed them too in ways that were previously not possible (Cavalier, 2011).
It appears that Disney largely created the criteria for defining realist animation. Paul Wells in his book Understanding Animation, comments how in order for an animation to be defined as ‘abstract’ or ‘non-realist’ depends on how much it strays from the Disney hyper-realism ‘norm’ (Wells, 1998). Perhaps one of the most competing studios to Disney is Warner Bros Pictures. Warner Bros first created Looney Tunes in 1930 in reaction to the success of Walt Disney (Ray, 2014). Although, Looney Tunes was created in response to Disney, Wells discusses a few differences between the two animation styles. One of the major differences Wells notes is the style of dialogue. In Disney productions, such as the Mickey Mouse animations, the creators mainly use sound affects accompanied with dialogue to ‘initiate action’ (Wells, 1998). Wells explains that dialogue in Disney films is used ‘in moments of admonishment or conflict’ (Wells, 1998). In keeping with Disney’s goal of realism, as Mickey Mouse is more of less the ‘human’ in the animation, he is the only one who talks. (Click image below to view clip)
Warner Bros use of dialogue is more joke-orientated (Wells, 1998), instead featuring catchphrases and funny voices for the characters, for example Bugs Bunny’s infamous “What’s Up Doc?” and Daffy Duck’s lisp. Looney Tunes also slightly deviates from reality with its animal characters talking as well as the human character. The design of the characters is dissimilar to Disney, as it does not correlate with reality, for example, the proportions and sizes of the characters. In the scene below it is obvious that the sizing is unrealistic as Bugs Bunny is taller than the human character, Elmer Fudd. Also in the character design of Looney Tunes, Tweety has an exaggerated, large head.
Image Credit: http://www.wbkidsgo.com/ en-gb/looneytunes/tweety
Disney used human models to create realistic animation in features such as Snow White (Tueth, 2013). The exaggerated features may take away from the realism of the animation but they typically add to the comedic affect. Animation also allows creators to display material that would be disturbing in live-action, for example deaths or intense accidents. Material that would appear to be offensive or harrowing just appear ludicrous when exaggerated in animation (Tueth, 2013). This can be seen in many common animation storylines, such as Looney Tunes’ Will E. Coyote who often gets injured (click image below to watch video) while chasing Road Runner, for example, in this clip, he is run over which would be life-threatening in real-life, however, it is used for comic purposes in animation.
Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6J1fQ1h4Qs&index=1&list=PLji4grucbeL-d6CdDncXviNCX8lBKW_0c&t=15s
Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd_41tM6H2Y&index=7&list=PLji4grucbeL-d6CdDncXviNCX8lBKW_0c&t=115s
Animation not only struggles with creating believable, realistic looking human characters but it is the motivations and connotations of the characters that also correlate to realism. Popeye first appeared in comic strip form in 1929 (Wells, 1998). He famously eats spinach, which transforms him into a bigger, stronger man in order to defeat his enemies. The character represented the common man and displayed messages about masculinity and morality. Popeye’s representation of manliness came from the idea that he was indestructible, on several occasions appearing bulletproof (Wells, 1998). His main nemesis, Bluto, appears bigger and stronger than him but is always defeated by Popeye (Wells, 1998). Arising during the Depression era, Popeye exuded manliness during a time when the idea of manhood was threatened (Honeyman, 2013). Susan Honeyman in her book Consuming Agency in Fairy Tales, Childlore and Folkliterature, comments how Popeye is ‘both everyman and superman at once’ (Honeyman, 2013). It was this balance, in particular his ‘scrappiness’ and contempt for social conventions such as correct speech, demonstrated in the clip below, that made him a success with Depression-era audiences (Honeyman, 2013). When the character was first transformed into an animated cartoon, there were concerns over Popeye’s behaviour. As the basic plot of the episodes was Popeye physically fighting and defeating an opponent, many worried about the message it was displaying to children who were watching. Newspaper proprietor, William Randolph Hearst ordered Popeye’s creators, King Pictures, to monitor the character’s behaviour so that it was kept suitable for a young audience (Wells, 1998). Due to this the character’s motives were changed and Popeye then only fought as a last resort and only for the right cause (Wells, 1998). At the time this issue of Popeye’s behaviour was the first stage in monitoring cartoons for a child audience. However, with the style of animation, many liberties can be taken due to the fact it is not live-action. Most animation contains adult humour, but it is mostly hidden in clever dialogue so that the jokes ‘go over children’s heads’ but adults will understand them (Wells, 1998). The need to include morals and lessons in animation links back to a certain desired audience of younger generations. Popeye was written to include lines such as “I never hits a man as hard as I can on account of it ain’t right to kill peoples” (Wells, 1998).
There is an element of self-consciousness that runs through many animations, a sense of awareness that although it is a cartoon, it’s still necessary to mention that it’s not real sometimes. In the case of the series Beavis and Butt-Head despite the content being quite adult in nature most of the time, the creators still issued a warning during one episode. The warning was displayed after the characters swallowed condoms that were filled with drugs in order to smuggle them over the border. As shown below a warning flashed on screen to semi-jokingly remind people that they shouldn’t copy what happens in animation.
Image Credit: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=bNONG0-cewg&t=414s&list=PLji4grucbeL-d6CdDncXviNCX8lBKW_0c&index=5
The area that seemed to not be that key a requirement for change for a younger audience was realism. Animation is perfect for a child’s imagination because in the same way as a child can believe in virtually anything they are able to imagine, animators are not limited ‘by what can physically be staged in the real world’ (Dickens, No Date). It doesn’t matter if what is happening the animation can not actual happen in real life due to the fact that the characters are not live-action. Similar to the exaggerated proportions of the Looney Tunes, Popeye’s exaggerated muscles are not realistic but for the animation purposes it works. Wells discusses that cartoon conventions are also not questioned in animation. He comments that animation allows the viewer to forget to question things that wouldn’t make sense in the real world. For example, the series Beavis and Butt-Head follows two young friends who never appear to have any parents around, but we don’t question this issue as much as perhaps we would if the show was live-action (Tueth, 2013).
‘If anyone could eat spinach, one might ask, why didn’t the vengeful Bluto keep a supply on hand and why did Popeye always wait until the last minute before he ate it?’ (quoted in Wells, 1998) Image Credit: http://www.indiewire. com/2015/03/popeye-lives-rumors-of-feature-cancellation-not-true-123511/
‘We know that they are...drawings, and not living beings. We know that they are projections of drawings on a screen. We know that they are...’miracles’ and tricks of technology, that such things don’t really exist. But at the same time: We sense them as alive. We sense them as moving. We sense them as existing and even thinking.’
the Baby jessica case: Click the picture below is a clip of some of the broadcast of Baby Jessica’s rescue on CBS.
(Quoted in Wells, 1998)
The animated series Beavis and Butt-Head first hit screens in 1993 and aired on MTV with a simple, yet effective concept. It contained immature and crass humour designed for an older, teenage audience. Stabile notes how the show was largely a commentary on real world media itself and the effects it had within 20th century US society (Stabile, 2013). Not only in the layout of the cartoon, with the characters mostly sat in front of a television reacting and commenting on various real-life, live-action music videos from the time, but also in the subtext of the writing and major plots. One episode in particular which crosses over to comment sub textually on real-life media is an episode entitled The Pipe of Doom (See video below). In the episode, Beavis gets stuck in a drainage conduit (‘The Pipe of Doom’, 1994). Television media get a hold of the story and proceed to broadcast images of Beavis stuck all around the world (‘The Pipe of Doom’, 1994). When he is eventually rescued, he is carted away by the media and doctors and his friend, Butt-Head, is left behind alone. Jealous of the attention his friend received, Butt-Head proceeds to purposefully get his head stuck in the drainage conduit too (‘The Pipe of Doom’, 1994). As well as being particularly relevant in the discussion of Internet fame in today’s 21st century world, the episode was written to respond to a real-life event that happened seven years prior to the airdate. In 1987, in Midland, Texas an 18-month-old baby named Jessica fell down a well shaft and got stuck (Hart and Maier, 1987). During the following 58 hours that a team attempted to rescue Jessica, television media proceeded to broadcast live from the scene as can be seen in the clip on the next page (Stabile, 2013). The episode of Beavis and Butt-Head showed how animation linked and directly responded and challenged the traditional forms of media. After the ordeal, Jessica’s story became famous and she is still talked about and interviewed to this day. Animation has been used in parody for years, and this episode parodied the obsession with live-streaming a rescue of a young child. Beavis and Butt-Head wasn’t the only show to react to the case; The Simpsons also had a similar parody of the story with the episode Radio Bart in 1992. This episode sees troublemaker Bart pretending to fall down a well in order for the entire town to try and rescue him (‘Radio Bart’, 1992). This conversation between animated formats and the traditional media outlets further justify animation as a style that reaches a wide audience, and not just designed with a child audience in mind.
Click on the picture to watch the Beavis and Butt-Head episode ‘The Pipe of Doom’.
Click the picture below to watch the Simpsons episode ‘Radio Bart’ on Box of Broadcasts.
case study: the art of the chase scene One of the most memorable and iconic elements to traditional animations such as Looney Tunes and Mickey Mouse is the iconic chase scenes. These are overly exaggerated sequences where a character chases another character, which are filled with slapstick comedy. This type of scene could only happen in animation due to what animation allows a creator to do; there aren’t the same restrictions as with live-action. Notable elements are the visible movement lines around characters’ limbs and the blur of fast moving bodies, particularly characters such as Road Runner (Wells, 1998). The sound conventions are particularly important within these scenes, as there is rarely a lot of dialogue; instead the animation relies on sound effects and physical comedy to tell the story. Sound conventions such as ‘boing’ and ‘crash’ noises are commonly used as well as ascending and descending scales, which create the iconic ‘falling noise’ (Wells, 1998). There are many cinematic conventions that add to the chase sequences as well, for example cuts, dissolves or ellipsis between scenes can add to the comedy or suspense (Wells, 1998). Click on the images below to watch a few clips from different animated cartoons, which practice these techniques.
Is animation selling out?: animation and the merchandising phenomenon One of the areas that make the most revenue, besides the sales of tickets of the actual production, is merchandise. Arguably, the leading force in merchandising is Disney; however, the notion of making extra money from the characters of animation came before Disney’s productions hit out screens. Back in 1915, Pat Sullivan Studios released Felix the Cat, which was one of the first features to fully incorporate selling merchandise along with the release of the feature (Stabile, 2013). (examples shown in image on left) Image Credit: https://danidurkin.wordpress. com/2013/07/19/felix-the-cat/
The style of animation lent itself to being merchandised due to the fact that animated characters are extremely adaptable for transformation into merchandise such as toys or printed on t-shirts (Bryman, 2004).
Image Credit: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=ljVDfgbSybA
Image Credit: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=LHeyR2_gfGQ
One of the more unusual results of the relationship between production and consumer was in the case of Popeye. In the cartoon, Popeye famously ingests spinach, which makes him strong enough to defeat anyone who has wronged him. The creator of Popeye, Elzie Segar, chose spinach due to the fact that health care professionals promoted it at the time (Wells, 1998). Despite not being an actual element to a particular merchandising campaign, the sales of spinach rose by 33% between the years of 1931 and 1936 (Wells, 1998). Although at the time Popeye was not as heavily merchandised as productions such as Felix the Cat, it showed just how large an influence an animation could have on the public. Despite the success of the merchandising of the feature, the creators of Felix the Cat, Pat Sullivan Studios failed to achieve another animation success quite like Felix. This was the case with many production studios, where one or two features were successful, but the rest didn’t quite make it. Disney however, seemed to crack the formula for creating a success feature while consecutively achieving incredible revenue in their advertising endeavours. One of the most successful early Disney merchandising campaigns was the huge box office success The Lion King. In the Christmas of 1994, the year of the films release, Disney sold $214 million worth of Lion King merchandise alone (Bryman, 2004). When Disney first gained success and popularity the relationship between viewer and studio changed. Instead of merely watching the productions, the audience were now interacting with the characters on a new level, in the physical world, by purchasing recreations and reproductions of images of animated characters.
Animation: the evolving art form In most business models, in order for a product to be successful, there must be a market that is interested in the product; with animation it is no different. Therefore the reason behind the success of the Disney brand and The Lion King merchandising is due to the fact that Disney created a new target market range. Rebecca Farley in her writing From Fred and Wilma to Ren and Stimpy: What Makes a Cartoon “Prime Time”, comments that the company is generally credited with creating the idea of ‘the family market’ (Farley, 2013). The very structure of the typical Disney feature, clean dialogue with musical numbers and happy endings, were originally targeted towards a market of children, with adults merely accompanying them, as secondary spectators (Farley, 2013). However, over time, Disney, started to create a formula that worked for older generations too so that adults could also enjoy the production as primary spectators (Farley, 2013). One of the key examples of this balance Disney have created in their target market is Disneyland. Disneyland is sold as ‘a place for parents and children to share pleasant times in one another’s company’ (quoted in Farley, 2013) however Disney has also cleverly appealed to both older and younger generations in its structure. During the day there is entertainment for children in form of screenings and rides, but Disney also cater for the adult audience with late-night entertainment for older generations to enjoy (Farley, 2013). This structure means that a large age range is catered for, Disney has therefore cleverly created a diverse target audience, resulting in success for all their avenues.
Although animation is not a particularly recent mechanism, it has evolved and changed to suit its environment over time. Animation has adapted to technological advancements and changes in the consumer environment to remain one of the pivotal platforms in the cinema and television industries. It has been utilised as a tool of propaganda, parody and education throughout many decades. Animated features have managed to remain a massive driving force in the success of studios such as Warner Bros and Disney and in many instances out selling their live-action counterparts. Through the advent of the merchandising phenomenon, animation took on a whole new audience and diversity, bringing drawings to life for adults and children alike. However despite the massive commercial aspect behind the features, studios such as Disney still remain ever focused on the production first and foremost. This can be seen in this diagram (below) included in a 1958 article in the Wall Street Journal, despite Disney’s many avenues surrounding features, their focus always surrounds the original production film, which is still traditionally animation (Bryman, 2004). Animation is an art form that has constantly evolved so it is no surprise that new movements in consumer and technological advancement appear to just fuel the success of animated pictures. Elements such as theme parks and mass merchandising campaigns should be seen as extensions to the animation rather than a distraction from the art form.
Image Credit: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/family-friends/ Image Credit: http://www.dix-project.net/item/2017/the-wall-street-journal-issue-58-24-walt-s-profit-formula
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Image Credit: http://barrybradford.com/walt-disney-firstmovie-star-before-the-mouse-virginia-davis-and-julius/
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Video References:
Television References:
Familyguybelgium (2012) Family Guy Seizoen 9 Clip – Stew Roids [YouTube] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbCyNY4ktP0&index=11&list=PLji4grucbeL-d6CdDncXviNCX8lBKW_0c [Date Accessed: 14th December 2016]
Homer Alone (1992) The Simpsons [Internet]. United States, Fox, 6th February.
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