Sign in or register
for additional privileges

Birth of An Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation

Nicholas Sammond, Author

You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser.

Performance, Page 84

Animation piecework was an exhausting job, and by the end of the 1930s, the animators completing the actual labor of animation organized unions, seeking labor reforms within the industry. One complaint was a lack of credit. While their producers and directors were often named in credit sequence, animators were left to do the grunt work in anonymity—like the brooms in the famous Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence from Fantasia (1940).

From its inception, American commercial animation self-reflexively performed its own labor. The Van Beuren short Makin 'Em Move (1931) is a good example, bringing the fantastic body of the cartoon minstrel together with a fantasy of cartoons produced by cartoons for cartoons. Here, the minstrel as the fantastic embodiment of labor is made literal in the comic performance of what appears to be sweatshop working conditions. Note that the cartoon animators produce degraded versions of themselves, mere stick figures who perform a tired melodrama.
Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Performance, Page 84"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Performance, page 25 of 25 Path end, continue

Related:  Labor, Page 98Introduction, Page 29Space, Page 177Conclusion, Page 298Space, Page 172Race, Page 251Race, Page 213Introduction, Page 6Race, Page 224Race, Page 258Space, Page 143Space, Page 183Space, Page 178Introduction, Page 21Space, Page 193Race, Page 206Conclusion, Page 304Race, Page 220Conclusion, Page 303Race, Page 229Space, Page 184Space, Page 188Labor, Page 122Space, Page 175Labor, Page 123Labor, Page 113Race, Page 253Labor, Page 132Space, Page 190Labor, Page 131Space, Page 181Performance, Page 50Performance, Page 47Race, Page 231Space, Page 187Race, Page 261Performance, Page 45Labor, Page 88Performance, Page 70Race, Page 232Race, Page 204Labor, Page 109Conclusion, Page 289Space, Page 163Conclusion, Page 286Space, Page 146Performance, Page 44Introduction, Page 2Space, Page 170Race, Page 252Space, Page 194Labor, Page 128Race, Page 221Conclusion, Page 278Space, Page 150Race, Page 247Space, Page 191Race, Page 248Labor, Page 110Space, Page 162Conclusion, Page 273Race, Page 235Space, Page 152Performance, Page 41Space, Page 165Performance, Page 35Race, Page 225Introduction, Page 1Performance, Page 82Conclusion, Page 291Conclusion, Page 284Performance, Page 72Race, Page 239Space, Page 155Space, Page 141Labor, Page 129Space, Page 195Introduction, Page 23Performance, Page 43Race, Page 219Labor, Page 119Race, Page 230Performance, Page 42Space, Page 148Conclusion, Page 302Race, Page 254Introduction, Page 14Labor, Page 133Space, Page 197Conclusion, Page 300Performance, Page 74Conclusion, Page 296Performance, Page 46Space, Page 182Performance, Page 52Performance, Page 34Conclusion, Page 290Performance, Page 54Performance, Page 60Introduction, Page 30Conclusion, Page 292Performance, Page 77Labor, Page 112Space, Page 189Labor, Page 101Introduction, Page 4Space, Page 138Space, Page 137Conclusion, Page 275Space, Page 171