Dreaming with Winsor McCay

I just found a veritable treasure on OnDemand: "The Cartoons of Winsor McCay" for Turner Classic Movies.

Winsor McCay was a prolific creator, producing significant works on paper and on screen. In the TCM film, his friends would challenge him to do the impossible and he would always deliver!

Other works included How the Mosquito Operates (1912), The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918 - his cartoon is the only recording of one of the worst disasters in recent memory -- after the Titanic) Bug Vaudeville (1921) Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (1921) and more. 

More famously known for Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) and Little Nemo In Slumberland (1911 - he penned both comic strip & cartoon), McCay's works were so innovative and revolutionary that his contemporaries, other animators of the day, could not replicate what he did.

While working on a project, McCay would experiment and invent techniques to maximize the beauty of his drawings and enhance the storytelling. He literally was 'making it up as he went along'! 

Unlike the animation of the early 1900s, 1910s, and the 1920s, McCay's cartoons were naturalistic and his ink work smooth. 

I thought Disney's "Fantasia", which helped to cement my love of centaurs, was a pioneering piece, and it was. But among completed works and fragments, McCay had made a 'centaur story' BEFORE Disney, called, what else? Centaurs!

Upon viewing the films, Winsor McCay's stories are whimsical and dreamlike, while being rooted in the modern world. 

In the Rarebit Fiend, while both in bed, a husband is admonished by his wife for eating the cooked rabbit meal so close to bedtime. The wife tells him, 'you get such queer [strange] dreams!' To which he replies, 'But I can't help myself! I just love rarebit when it's cooked so well!'

The story that follows 'Rarebit Fiend' shows the wife's dreams this time. The husband has made their house flying-ready, with the help of an engine in its attic, wings on both sides, and a propeller through the front door. The house then flies about the city, causing mischief, even dumping the local water tower's water on a temperance meeting [please look that up]. 

In Bug Vaudeville, after receiving a hand-out from someone in the neighborhood, a hobo [homeless man] decides to take a nap under a tree that's beside a lake, and starts dreaming about dancing insects.

In The Pet, a stray puppy is taken in, until it starts to grow so fast, that it devours furniture, the family parrot, and even outgrows the neighborhood once ingesting rat poison bought by the husband from the local druggist [that's pharmacy to us].

Dreams and dream haze play prominent in McCay's storytelling, but he doesn't sacrifice concrete details for the sake of whimsy.

In How the Mosquito Operates, a mosquito --incorrectly made male by its Stetson hat, jacket and briefcase --goes to 'work' on a hapless sleeping man. McCay shows the man to have wrinkles, sagging jowls and fat rolls at his head and neck, such attention to reality in such an absurd story! 

Winsor McCay-biographer, John Canemaker, is an authority on animation and films as well as a lecturer at New York University. He is also a watercolor artist.

During the airing of "The Cartoons of Winsor McCay" he co-host the feature with Robert Osborne, host of the TCM channel.

McCay would continue to push the envelope in animation and be its pioneer. That is, until a certain young man known as Walt Disney came along...

I watched "Frozen"!

[SPOILER-FREE "FROZEN" REVIEW] 
Ok, so Mom and I finally saw "Frozen" over the weekend. We also plan to see Mr. Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises", but that later.

First, if you're like me, Disney had begun to get on my nerves for several reasons: their lack of diverse character ethnicity, stereotypical ideas of gender roles, annoying sidekicks that you wanted to choke, and the nauseating musical scores that seemed to pop up at the most inopportune times.

For those that may not be in the know, "Frozen" is a loosely-based adaptation of Mr. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" for a contemporary audience.

"Frozen" is the story of two sisters in Norway, Elsa (the Queen) and younger Anna (the princess). There are the prerequisite dire circumstances that bring about dire consequences, but, Disney has arrived, mature, sophisticated and worldly.

The characters act as real sisters: one was beautiful, demure, insecure and reserved, while the other was cute, socially awkward, self-deprecating and hyperactive. Yet, they resembled physically enough to look like siblings and had similar interests though they came about those interests in unique ways.

The songs were not the mind-numbing, noise pollution of old, the bane of many musical animations.
Each song in "Frozen" rose organically. "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" is the song that not only shows the emotional dynamics between the sisters, but, sets them up for a fall later.

Next are the men, Hans and Kristoff. Hans is a prince and the most well-developed character that no one expects in a Disney film.
Kristoff is an everyman, with his prerequisite animal companion, a reindeer named Sven (I don't think many of Disney's animals constitute as 'pets'. They've moved beyond to an almost symbiotic bond with their human counterparts).
Wait for the inside-joke Kristoff says when he introduces his reindeer companion.

Olaf is a snowman and the required 'Disney Sidekick' or 'schtick'. Don't hate him. Don't judge him. He is adorable, and amiable enough to the other characters, and Disney gave him the showmanship of the actors of old (Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland) and other stars from the 30s-50s. 
He sings and dances as if in a famous MGM Musical during that studio's golden age. The animators even make his lips quiver as he belts out part of his songs! Olaf wasn't annoying, he didn't screw up any plans, but was actually of help and meaning to all the cast. In his naivete', he still possessed wisdom.

"Frozen" is also PRETTY. It's just enough to make one reach towards the screen to touch someone's cheek. The snowscape becomes its own character in the film. The level of detail makes "Avatar" look like a 2-D animation. Sorry, this film was just pure SUGAR COATED EYE CANDY, and for Disney animators to have used such a limited palate of cool colors (blues, greens, whites, grays), this was an impressive feat of design indeed.

Also, I had mentioned on YT that there were so many references I picked up on, and I know it will be like reading a book again: you will see more that you missed the previous times.

Wait for Olaf's singing "In Summer". There is a reference to the "Coppertone" ads and the more obvious MGM musical feats.
Lastly is Anna singing "For the First Time In Forever", there are Disney versions of actual paintings in the palace ballroom. As an Art Major, I recognized a few. See if you can spot them.

And, did I mention the humor? The humor was mature and worldly. Wait for Kristoff's take on life and how he interacts with Sven. Wait for Anna's self-deprecation. Wait for Olaf. No juvenile fart-jokes to be heard here. Disney animations have FINALLY grown up. And they still retain their child-like qualities to be fun for everyone. Bravo Disney. Bravo "Frozen". You've restored my faith in your studio.

Oh, how can I NOT mention the pre-feature? Adorable. Cute! Also, please wait until the credits to see a little surprise at the end.

Inspiration in strange places

A B-movie fantasy watched in 1980s.
A first and second title from an author that becomes one's favorite.
An early obsession with Greek myth.
An early obsession with Sword and Sorcery ephemera.
A fantasy novel read in junior high.
Another epic fantasy series that blew the mind in high school.
These are just what is remembered that served for inspiration to the series worked on now.

"Firestarter" in 1983

When I saw the movie, "Firestarter", in 1983, it influenced me to the fact that little girls don't have to be portrayed as powerless in modern entertainment.
This movie changed me forever to portray sweet, innocent girls as some of the most powerful beings in my future writings and stories.

Walter Mosley - Writer Extraordinaire

Writer Walter Mosley, whose name, as in the words from 'Flower Drum Song', has 'rumbled in my ears like thunder for years', explained, during an interview in The Writer Magazine that, often, writers aren't truthful when asked about their influences.
He was unapologetic to say that movies and comic books have been the media that drove him to writing. In his interview, he explained writers will bring up classic works (they may not have read or feel this will bring more credibility to their writing) to say they were their biggest influences.

"Walter Mosley" (c) CNN.com

For more on this amazing author and the interview in his own words, refer to The Writer Magazine Nov. 2011 issue, Pg. 22 "Late bloomer, EARLY RISER".