The Golden Age...

...Of animation.We have had a few great classes discussing the Golden Age of Hollywood. A subject I loved because like most people, it is one of my favorite periods of film history. Everything just seemed to click into place, there was the right scripts, the right mood in society and the right audiences. I loved the films from this time and I recently finished a book from the RSAMD library called 'Talking Pictures' by film critic Barry Norman. This book was a fascinating incite into Hollywood at the time and was a good companion read along with our classes as it discusses all the same points but in much greater detail. I also found Norman's writing style to be conversational and witty making it a very easy read.I hadn't thought about the Golden Age of Animation...but know that I have stumbled across it there definitely was one! When you ask anyone to name four of their favorite animated characters you are likely to get at least one Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Tom & Jerry or Betty Boop. I think it says a lot considering how long ago these characters where created and brought to the screen, most remain the most popular animated characters ever. I think it's amazing that they are just as popular today with a modern audience, they haven't aged at all other than perhaps the animating technique becoming more sophisticated. The characters are still the same as they always were, similar to the popularity of the Golden Age of Hollywood films, which can still be enjoyed and admired by a modern audience.


Tex Avery was an animator, director, cartoonist and voice actor who worked for MGM and Warner bros during The Golden Age of Animation. It really is thanks to him that we have so many wondeful animated characters that are still enjoyed today.
His famous line "In a cartoon you can do anything,"really sums up his work ethos. It was because of him that we get the kind of humour we expect from animations these days, like characters coming out of their film strip and other breaks in reality that I have noticed mirrored may times on more recent cartoons such as The Simpsons. We have come to accept this tradition in animation.One of the most successful early animated feature with syncronised sound was Disney's Steamboat Willie starring Mickey Mouse in 1928. It appears from research that the revolution in sound is what let the animation take off. I notice that in many of these animations, such as Tom & Jerry, the main characters don't ever speak. Occassional background characters do, but not the main ones. Its their expressions and action which primarily tell us the stories. This shows the importance of making these animated chacters appear real. One reason this was the Golden Age of Animation is because of the care taken with the characters. They appear to be extremely real and have very defined personalities allowing the audience to empathise with them.
 It's this character definition that allows us to guess what they're thinking because we feel like we know them. No to mention there is also an abundance of sound effects and music which also aid the story along, again showing the importance of sound. They also seem to carry on the love for slapstick comedy at the time. Especially in Tom & Jerry where most of the comedy comes from the chases and the fighting.
I watched an old episode of Tom and Jerry and I really noticed how everything comes together to tell these animated stories at the time. The sound design and music are so crucial to the audience knowing something is coming or that a character is in distress. When I turned the sound off it was amazing how much of the feeling and story was lost. I think for sound these old animated shorts are quite an interesting resource to look at, especially at our basic level as it is perhaps sound design at its most simplest form.
There is a wonderful looking hardback book called 'Tex Avery : The MGM years 1942-1955' it's full of copies of Avery's original illustrations.