Between Books - Disney Maps: A Magical Atlas of the Movies We Know and Love

 

Disney Maps: A Magical Atlas of the Movies We Know and Love is a book I struggled to match an audience with.  The book is fairly simple.  The book highlights 24 movies from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Coco.  For each movie featured is a two-page fun map with landmarks and geography from the movie.  There is a page of movie highlights and facts.  And there is a page of characters.  The book also contains a forward by Pete Docter discussing the importance of geography in telling stories.

So who is the audience.  The most basic answer is kids.  The maps and images are fun.  And the facts are fairly simple, like Wikipedia simple.  But the price point of the book at around $20 is really not something that screams buy this for the kids.  The audience is not the adult Disney fan.  The art is cute and interesting, but it is not art of historical significance or produced by Disney legends.  It is just cute and sometimes interesting art.  An adult reader like me might get lost in the art trying to make sense of it at times, I mean Radiator Springs is perfect but the scale is fantastical for The Incredibles.  So maybe one should not take it so serious.  I also attempted to play Where’s Waldo with some of the character pages collating them with the map.  But honestly they were mostly way to easy to find.  To me the audience fit at the moment are adults buying a gift for a child under five and want to give a handsome looking volume with engaging images. 

In the end, as an adult Disney fan, this was cute but did not provide history or insight for me.  And for kids, the price point is a little too high.  Perhaps a cheaper soft cover would make this title find its true audience a little easier.  And also that could get more adults to buy this volume as a gift.  

 

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Between Books – 2020 Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual

 

As someone who has a history degree and been part of history associations, I have some pretty high standards for what content should be from these professional groups.  Then tie in Disney and the contributors who are participating in the Hyperion Historical Alliance, well a fairly high bar is set.  With the “2019Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual”, I found a concern or two.  Would the Alliance’s second annual correct the concerns I had?

In his introduction, Hyperion Historical Alliance President Didier Ghez notes that the first Annual appeared to really focus on production and artists.  And for this volume they attempted to provide a wider array of topics.  I am not sure that they fully hit with this stated goal as five of the six essays are really based on filmed productions and only one theme park based article.  However, I never really noticed the focus on production.  Instead I found myself caught up on an unintentional theme, Disney female pioneers.  Of the six articles, three have a focus on female contributions in Disney history and unearthed to me some unknown interesting Disney figures.  And Ghez’ article on Mickey Mouse productions also adds additional female contributions.  And on a whole I found these articles interesting and engaging. 

The “2020 Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual” consists of six articles.  The first two highlight the contributions of two female creators in the 1930s and 1940s giving an overview of the careers of Betty Smith-Totten and Grace Huntington.  Both articles make it clear these women were trailblazers in numerous areas of their lives and the impact of women at Disney.  “A Preview of Disney’s World” chronicles the Walt Disney World Preview Center, with a focus on staffing and the Center’s impact on promoting the future theme park.  “Wise Dwarfs and Thrifty Pigs” outlines the use of Disney animation to promote Canadian War Bonds during World War II, which really shows the innovative ways Disney reused animation for new purposes.  And finally, “Mickey’s Revivals” discusses the attempts to get Mickey back on the big screen from the 1970s to the recent past. 

One of my complaints of the earlier volume was adapted work that I had seen elsewhere and in multiple forms.  To me these articles were all fresh and new research.  The one that likely worked the least for me was the Mickey article, as it felt like it was the one which could have been written without special access to unpublished documents or interviews.  And it just reminded me that I wish the Hyperion Historical Alliance was less exclusive and a path for those who are interested in Disney history to have more active participation.

And I can guarantee, I will purchase next year’s annual especially after the quality of the articles in the 2020 edition. 

Between Books - It's a Crazy Business

It's a Crazy Business: The Goofy Life of a Disney Legend by Pinto Colvig and edited by Todd James Pierce recalls memories of the Disney studio from over 70 years ago.  Colvig, a Disney Legend perhaps not familiar to many of us, worked as a story artist along with being the voice of Pluto.  Colvig in fact made a career for himself as a sound man, voicing not just Pluto but providing a variety of sound effects on radio and theatrical releases. 

Colvig's memoir written in the 1940s recalls a number of Disney and non-Disney events.  He discusses how he came to Hollywood after being a second, or third rate, member of a traveling band.  Colvig actually started as an animator, experimenting with his craft in live-action and even running his own studio briefly.  And he details how he discovered some of the sounds he used in productions and how they were delivered in radio.  Colvig examines the Disney operation from his days including discussions of Disney story meetings and the voice actors that he worked with at the studio.  He finishes with a very personal look into his life, a nervous breakdown that he suffered while working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, providing the voices of Grumpy, Sleepy and more.  His description of the incident includes him acting out in the office and follows with a detailed discussion of his days in a sanitarium.  

It's a Crazy Business feels very homespun.  Colvig's style is to write to the reader as if a conversation is occurring.  So one feels like you are sitting at times in an intimate room as he tells you about that one time, or let me tell you about this gal I worked with.  It is intimate, friendly, honest and folksy.  And when we say honest, this includes his experiences with visions while coalescing in the sanitarium.  He really pulls nothing back as he tells his story.  It is quirky and funny.  His closing chapters do demonstrate how stressful it was for even animation veterans when making Disney's first feature length cartoon.  Additionally, Colvig does give one a flavor of the Disney studio during the 1930s including the people who worked with him.  

It's a Crazy Business introduces Disney fans to Pinto Colvig, a legend that you likely you did not know beyond trivia.  Nobility and statesman visited the Disney studio just to hear him bark, as Pluto.  And some hoped to be like him, making noises with his half of a trombone.  But in the end Colvig proves himself to be an original that others cannot copy with both his personality and ingenuity.  

Review Copy Provided by Theme Park Press

Between Books - The CG Story: Computer Generated Animation and Special Effects

The CG Story: Computer Generated Animation and Special Effects by animation historian Christopher Finch is a comprehensive history of computer generated animation that presents the history of this now common application of computer technology from it's origins to its maturity today.  Finch documents early attempts by computer pioneers to use their computing power to create images.  He then outlines how these early images lead to very early computer animation by pioneers like Ed Catmull which would eventually lead to a dream to create an entire animated feature with computing power.  The author outlines the evolution of that dream within Pixar which eventually lead to the creation of Toy Story.  This is followed by a discussion of computer animated features and how they evolved the art and the growing use of computer generated special effects in live action films.  Finch's words are illustrated by 350 images, primarily showing the results that programmers and artists generated.

The CG Story is a big big book.  It is over-sized, and though I tried, it is not really a book you snuggle to in bed.  The size allows the illustrations to be gorgeously displayed.  There is no squinting for a reader in reviewing and appreciating the images.  My only real complaint of the book is some images are turned on their side, and the size and weight of the book really does not allow a quick orientation change.  But honestly that is a very small complaint.

Finch's text is well researched and has clarity.  Especially in the early portions of the book there are a lot of technical concepts and words that could intimidate a non-specialist if handled incorrectly.  However, I was able to keep pace with the text and never felt like I was missing out on content.  If asked for a history of computer generated animation, that went beyond Pixar, I could see myself recommending this text in a heartbeat.

For me the real star of The CG Story was the discussions of character animation.  And Finch gave me much to think about.  His comparison of Toy Story to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs helped me see Pixar's new film in a new way.  Finch notes how for both the Disney and Pixar animators working on their first full-length project they were pioneers into a unknown world.  And I enjoyed the use of Glen Keane's comparison between Disney (Once upon a time) and Pixar (Wouldn't it be cool if) story approaches.  That small included quote really made me see the two studios in a different way, and I wonder how those approaches will continue to bleed into each other with movies like Brave and Wreck-It-Ralph.  Finch's discussion of animated features includes nearly every important feature including key international releases.  Though Mars Needs Moms did not make the cut.  Of course that is really not a bad thing!

As a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I was excited to see the inclusion of special effects.  Though I was shocked to find out that Hellicarriers were not real, I loved a peak into these computer generated specials effects along with an understanding of their costs.  I did not fully grasp the complicated system of computer generated special effects, with most movies contracting to numerous houses and even having competitors work on effects for the same frame.  And I appreciated Finch's discussion between directors who rely heavily on computer generated effects and those that prefer the "weight" of a practical effect. 

The CG Story by Christopher Finch details the evolution of the idea of using computer generated images in theatrical releases.  The text outlines key moments, like the growth of Pixar, in both character animation and live action special effects.  And that history is punctuated by the gorgeous color images used extensively in the book!



Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Walt's Windows - C.S. Lewis on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

C.S. Lewis


In a January 11, 1939, letter to friend Alfred Kenneth Hamilton Jenkins, Lewis shares his critical thoughts of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:

But what about Snow-White.  Leaving out the tiresome question of whether it is suitable for children (which I don't know and don't care) I thought it almost inconceivable good and bad - I mean, I don't know one human being could be so good and bad.  The worst thing of all was the vulgarity of the winking dove at the beginning, and the next worst the faces of the dwarfs.  Dwarfs ought to be ugly of course, but not in that way.  And the dwarfs' jazz party was pretty bad.  I supposed it never occurred to the poor boob that you could give them any other kind of music.  But all the terrifying bits were good, and the animals really most moving: the use of shadows (of dwarfs and vultures) was real genius.  What might not have come of it if this man had been educated - or even brought up in a decent society(Lewis, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis: Books, Broadcasts, and the War 1931-1939, 242)?

Lewis found both aspects to admire and abhor in Disney's first animated feature.  The Dwarfs seemed to catch Lewis' special interest.

Not happy with  fun loving dwarfs.  Lewis used dwarfs within his own writings.  Most prominently in the Chronicles of Narnia series.  In 1950's The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis introduces the first dwarf character in his series, Ginarrbrik the servant of the White Witch.  Ginarrbrik is introduced to the story accompanying the White Witch on her sledge,

On the sledge, driving the reindeer, sat a fat dwarf who would have been about three free high if he had been standing.  He was dressed in polar bear's fur and on his head he wore a red hood with a long gold tassel hanging down from its point; his huge beard covered his knees and served him instead of a rug (Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, 123).

Ginarrbrik is not depicted smiling and happy, but at the same time he is not described as ugly or dark.  His overweight appearance and beard could easily have appeared amongst the seven dwarfs.

Ginarrbrik, The Original Grumpy?

Dwarfs also play prominently in 1951's Prince Caspian.  The most prominent Dwarf character who aids the stories heroes is Trumpkin.  Lewis brings Trumpkin into the story in a scene in which he, another Dwarf and a talking badger capture Prince Caspian,

The dwarf who had wanted to kill Caspian was a sour Black Dwarf (that is , his hair and beard were black and and thick and hard like horsehair).  His name was Nikabrik.  The other Dwarf was a Red Dwarf with hair rather like a Fox's and he was called Trumpkin (Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, 346).

Again, neither of these Dwarfs matches the description of Dopey or Doc.  I guess in the end, the desire to murder the title character is probably something that never crossed Happy's or Sneezy's mind.  

Trumpkin

In the end, Lewis' Dwarfs and Disney's may have had a lot in common.  First, both were extremely loyal, standing by their friends through adversity.  Second, both prominently featured beards.  And finally, both sets were extremely capable; be it be mining or hand-to-hand combat. And the children in both stories, be it Snow or Lucy, are extremely kind and loving.  

Lewis' assessment of Disney as a man who needed an education was both spot on and somewhat unfair.  Compared to Lewis, the educated Oxford professor, Disney would have been lacking not even having his high school diploma.  But Lewis failed to see the genus of Walt Disney, a man who took a traditional story Lewis would have been familiar with and repackaging it for audiences to enjoy for generations.    

Ironically, the Lewis and Disney legacies would collide in 2005 with the release of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe co-produced by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures.  It was followed in 2008 with The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.  But this time it was the Disney legacy that was disappointed by the earnings of the franchise and abandoned their support of the Narnia films.  A 2010 followup, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, moved forward without Disney support.