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7 Animated comedy

  • John Mundy and Glyn White
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Laughing matters
This chapter is in the book Laughing matters

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with understanding the contribution that animation has made to comedy in film and television since the early twentieth century through an examination of specific cartoons and focuses on American animated comedy. Animated comedy is often targeted at a family audience. This trend has become very evident in contemporary comedy both on television, with series such as The Simpsons, and at the cinema with Toy Story, Shrek and a host of other computer-generated (CGI) films. Toy Story was the culmination of a series of increasingly sophisticated computer-animated shorts produced by Pixar Animation Studios from 1984 onwards, and marked a landmark in the development of animated comedy. The dominance within the American cartoon tradition of Walt Disney and other American studios including Warner Bros and MGM has influenced the aesthetics, technology and commercial production of animation, and the ways in which animation is perceived and viewed.

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with understanding the contribution that animation has made to comedy in film and television since the early twentieth century through an examination of specific cartoons and focuses on American animated comedy. Animated comedy is often targeted at a family audience. This trend has become very evident in contemporary comedy both on television, with series such as The Simpsons, and at the cinema with Toy Story, Shrek and a host of other computer-generated (CGI) films. Toy Story was the culmination of a series of increasingly sophisticated computer-animated shorts produced by Pixar Animation Studios from 1984 onwards, and marked a landmark in the development of animated comedy. The dominance within the American cartoon tradition of Walt Disney and other American studios including Warner Bros and MGM has influenced the aesthetics, technology and commercial production of animation, and the ways in which animation is perceived and viewed.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of illustrations vi
  4. Acknowledgements vii
  5. Dedication viii
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Part I Comedy forms
  8. 1 Silent film comedy 23
  9. 2 Early sound film comedy 45
  10. 3 The romantic comedy film 65
  11. 4 Radio comedy 81
  12. 5 Television comedy 100
  13. 6 Comedy and genre boundaries 130
  14. 7 Animated comedy 149
  15. Part II Themes, effects and impact of comedy
  16. 8 Comedy, gender and sexuality 173
  17. 9 Comedy and cultural value 207
  18. 10 Comedy, race and ethnicity 231
  19. Conclusion 254
  20. Appendix 259
  21. Select bibliography 261
  22. Index 273
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526130525.00014

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of illustrations vi
  4. Acknowledgements vii
  5. Dedication viii
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Part I Comedy forms
  8. 1 Silent film comedy 23
  9. 2 Early sound film comedy 45
  10. 3 The romantic comedy film 65
  11. 4 Radio comedy 81
  12. 5 Television comedy 100
  13. 6 Comedy and genre boundaries 130
  14. 7 Animated comedy 149
  15. Part II Themes, effects and impact of comedy
  16. 8 Comedy, gender and sexuality 173
  17. 9 Comedy and cultural value 207
  18. 10 Comedy, race and ethnicity 231
  19. Conclusion 254
  20. Appendix 259
  21. Select bibliography 261
  22. Index 273
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