Moving Pictures

"Darl Larsen's Moving Pictures is a captivating exploration of American animation. With meticulous research and insightful storytelling, Larsen brings to life the visionaries and innovations that changed animation forever. A must-read for all animation lovers. --Jared Hess, writer and director, ""Napoleon Dynamite"" (feature film and animated series) and Oscar-nominated animated short ""Ninety-Five Senses"" Moving Pictures energetically weaves animation's legal, economic, and aesthetic histories together into a revelatory new study of the competing forces that have shaped the growth and institutionalization of the art form. Larsen's insightful, multi-faceted account widens the cast of players ordinarily found in animation's historical canon, and reveals the intricate interplay of business acumen, skill, and creativity that gave rise to and continue to sustain animation as a vibrant and essential dimension of American cinematic culture. Throughout, Larsen's rich engagement with primary sources brings the story and stakeholders of American theatrical animation to life as vividly as the characters on screen. --Meredith A. Bak, Rutgers University-Camden In Darl Larsen's gripping account, over a century of American animation flickers before our eyes in a lively ensemble including the usual suspects--Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, Bambi--alongside such less familiar but still fascinating characters as the Dover Boys, Private Snafu, Colonel Heeza Liar, and Little Nemo (not the clownfish). Lively and compelling, Moving Pictures explores the industry and studios, the audiences, the technologies, the animators and their aesthetics, the characters and narratives that underlie the delightful art and craft of animation. I wouldn't have thought I could enjoy cartoons even more than I already do, but Larsen's big-picture exploration opens up their richly illustrious role in American culture. --Randy Malamud, Regents' Professor of English, Georgia State University and author of ""Reading Zoos"", ""The Importance of Elsewhere"", and ""Strange Bright Blooms"""