Hi all,
This seminar may be of interest. Apologies for cross posting...

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Screen Media Research Seminar

Breaking the Glass Frame: Women in Animation

Dr Bella Honess Roe (University of Surrey) & Dr Caroline Ruddell (Brunel University London)

Wednesday 6 December 2017, 2-4pm, GASK 012 (Gaskell Building), Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge

The history of animation is often understood, and therefore taught, as a history of 'great men'. From Walt Disney to John Lasseter, animation's history is one that is commonly understood as being driven by the creative genius and business acumen of significant, and significantly, male figures. Women's contributions are often characterised as individual, artisanal and standing apart from the industry and thus, the mainstream thrust of the development of animation as an art form and a business practice. This seminar will question this common understanding of the history of animation via current research into the history of women in animation through looking at case studies of individual animators and animation producers as well as more broadly at the historiography of women in animation. Ultimately, the speakers are asking 'how much do we know about women's historical contribution to animation?' and 'how can that contribution be researched?'

Dr Honess Roe will look at a variety of case studies with the aim of exploring the historiography of women in animation. That is, how have female animators been written about (and thus taught and perpetuated) in animation and film history? Through an examination of a variety of texts, Honess Roe will suggest that women are commonly understood to occupy one of two positions in the history of animation: the artisanal outsider or the industry supporter. Other women animators, many of whom remain anonymous such as the Disney 'ink and paint girls', are relegated to support roles that facilitate the 'great men' of animation as they forge its history.

Dr Ruddell will examine Lotte Reiniger, who can be considered an artisanal outsider, as a key case study; how has she been positioned historically and what kind of language is used to describe her and her scissor cut-out silhouette films? Her method is usually considered as 'craft'; she is a 'goddess of the scissors' (Palfreyman, 2011, p. 16) producing 'pretty pretty cut outs' (Financial Times, 1936). We will scrutinise the (gendered) language used to describe Reiniger's work and consider how a filmmaker such as Reiniger has been placed historically, both within industry and within academia.

All welcome!



Dr Caroline Ruddell
Senior Lecturer in Film and TV Studies
Department of Arts and Humanities
College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences
Brunel University London

Associate Editor Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal

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animation: an Interdisciplinary journal is the first cohesive international refereed publishing platform for animation that unites contributions from a wide range of research agendas and creative practice.
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