Animating Culture: Hollywood Cartoons from the Sound Era

In the last ten years the amount of investigation dedicated to theatrical animation has increased vastly. Since the publication of the seminal works of Leonard Maltin and Michael Barrier, the field of animation research has also now been focused to a wide number of topics: from racism and cultural impact of animation, to the relation of ideology and political control with american cartoons. In that aspect, this book writen by Eric Smoodin covers a lot of this controversial themes, that most of the time are neglected while reconstructing the history of animation in the States. Smoodin covers popular cartoon shorts of the Sound Era, from Disney, to Warner Brothers and Fleischer, widening its implications and cultural impact trough legal and ideological analysis. So, as you may think, the reading can be difficult and demanding. Smooding does his analysis on a typical academic style, so although it may not be a "fun read", the amount of research and material covered is still pretty interesting. From legal documents, to posters and other publicity documents, Smoodin tries as hard as it can to prove that his views are objective. The book includes about thirty black and white images, which albeit useless most of the time, helps to make the reading a little more enoyable. I wouldn't recommend this book to newcomers of animation research, since its complexity can be frustrating at times. It is however, a great investigation that avoids most of the traps of ideological analysis, which in turn, most of the times, can end up becoming paranoic and highly subjetive. Smoodin, at the very least, avoids this trap and it shows, through his perspective and passionate writing, that is still someone with a great respect and love for the work of those great animators of the past.