Give Us a Smile (1983) is an animated short film (with some live action elements) made by Leeds Animation Workshop, a West Yorkshire based cooperative of women filmmakers and animators founded in 1978 which continues to operate today, producing and distributing animated films on a number of different social education issues.
Read MoreFrom the multi-sunned vistas of Star Wars VIII: The Rise of Skywalker (J.J. Abrams, 2019) to the Slavic monster-hunting in Netflix’s The Witcher (Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, 2020) there has been an immense rise in fantasy and science fiction fuelled by spectacularly crafted movie magic.
Read MoreThere is no shortage of controversy surrounding Director Todd Phillips’ recent film, Joker (2019). From the release of teaser trailers onwards, critics and fans have posed questions across media platforms about the film’s intent, impact, and timing. During the press tour, Phillips’ own comments regarding the film served only to exacerbate these debates, leading The Washington Post to declare Joker one of the most “divisive movies of the year.”
Read MoreI want to tell you about my favourite personal interest and ruling passion as a scholar, the thing I find it hard to live without; television animation. But you should know something about me first. I was diagnosed very young with Asperger’s Syndrome, which is considered to be on the high end of the Autism spectrum. People with Asperger’s can function well by themselves and amongst friends and family, and work well when given tasks that they can do, but find it very difficult communicating to others if they don’t know how to, or if they have never met or interacted with someone before.
Read MoreA little while ago I did some work on fantasy cinema and, while I’m keen to avoid the slightly unedifying spectacle of trawling through that material again, I would like to spend a little time thinking about a couple of its omissions: animation and violence. One reason for visiting these topics now is that I wonder whether violence in fantasy and/or animation may run the risk of not being taken seriously at all, possibly on grounds of realism. If the violence is so obviously signposted as fictional through its animated or fantastical nature, aren’t we missing the point if we start talking about its meaning and significance?
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