ecocritical readings of American animated features Murray, Robin L. creator Heumann, Joseph K. text bibliography nbu Lincoln University of Nebraska Press c2011 2011 monographic eng

print

ix, 283 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. "Although some credit the environmental movement of the 1970s, with its profound impact on children's television programs and movies, for paving the way for later eco-films, the history of environmental expression in animated film reaches much further back in American history, as That's All Folks? makes clear. Countering the view that the contemporary environmental movement--and the cartoons it influenced--came to life in the 1960s, Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann reveal how environmentalism was already a growing concern in animated films of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. From Felix the Cat cartoons to Disney's beloved Bambi to Pixar's Wall-E and James Cameron's Avatar, this volume shows how animated features with environmental themes are moneymakers on multiple levels--particularly as broad-based family entertainment and conveyors of consumer products. Only Ralph Bakshi's X-rated Fritz the Cat and R-rated Heavy Traffic and Coonskin, with their violent, dystopic representation of urban environments, avoid this total immersion in an anti-environmental consumer market. Showing us enviro-toons in their cultural and historical contexts, this book offers fresh insights into the changing perceptions of the relationship between humans and the environment and a new understanding of environmental and animated cinema"--Provided by publisher. "Examines animated films in the cultural and historical context of environmental movements"--Provided by publisher. Introduction: A foundation for contemporary enviro-toons -- Bambi and Mr. Bug Goes to Town: nature with or without us -- Animal liberation in the 1940s and 1950s: what Disney does for the animal rights movement -- The UPA and the environment: a modernist look at urban nature -- Animation and live action: a demonstration of interdependence? -- Rankin/Bass Studios, nature, and the supernatural: where technology serves and destroys -- Disney in the 1960s and 1970s: blurring boundaries between human and nonhuman nature -- Dinosaurs return: evolution outplays Disney's binaries -- DreamWorks and human and nonhuman ecology: escape or interdependence in Over the Hedge and Bee Movie -- Pixar and the case of WALL-E: moving between environmental adaptation and sentimental nostalgia -- The Simpsons Movie, Happy Feet, and Avatar: the continuing influence of human, organismic, economic, and chaotic approaches to ecology -- Conclusion: Animation's movement to green? Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann. Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-275), filmography and index. Environmentalism in motion pictures Animated films NC1766.5 .E58M87 2011 9780803235120 (hardback) 0803235127 (hardback) 2011021894 DLC 110523 20170124145112.0 16791008