Contemporary Hollywood Animation: Style, Storytelling, Culture and Ideology Since the 1990s (Traditions in American Cinema)

A cultural history of the contemporary Hollywood animated feature, from Toy Story to The Lego Movie. Examines critically a range of prominent contemporary Hollywood animated features. Reveals the aspects which make these texts attractive to multiple audience sections. Situates the genre in its social, cultural, and industrial contexts. Contributes to current debates on children's media. Until the 1990s, animation occupied a relatively marginal presence in Hollywood. Today, it is at the very heart of both the film industry and contemporary popular culture. Charting the major changes and continuities in Hollywood animation over the past thirty years, this groundbreaking book offers an authoritative history of Hollywood animation since the 1990s. Analysing dozens of key films, including The Lion King, Toy Story, Shrek, Despicable Me, Frozen and Moana, it examines the emergence of new genres and stylistic approaches, as well as the ongoing blurring of boundaries between animation and live-action. Identifying narrative and thematic patterns, and the developments in industry and style, the book explores how animation in the United States both responds to and recapitulates the values, beliefs, hopes and fears of the nation List of Figures and Tables 8 Acknowledgements 10 1. Change and Continuity: The Making of Contemporary Hollywood Animation 12 Production Trends 13 Animation and Hollywood Cinema Since the 1970s 17 Style and Aesthetics 33 Storytelling and Narrative 39 Critical Approach 50 2. Crossing Boundaries: Families, Audiences and the Mainstream Aesthetic 52 The Family Audience 54 Repositioning the Family: The Lion King and Toy Story 58 Family and Kinship 65 Family and Individualism 78 Child–Adult Crossovers 85 3. Hollywood Animation, Late Modernity and Contemporary America 89 Postmodern Irony: DreamWorks and Beyond 90 Social Comment and Contemporary America 103 Conclusion 118 4. Ways of Being: Identity and Hollywood Animation 120 Disney in Transition: Sexual Politics in the Early Films of the ‘Disney Renaissance’ 120 Diversity and Contemporary Disney Films 125 Women and the Contemporary Princess Film 139 Models of Masculinity 148 Conclusion 153 5. On the Borders: Children’s Horror and Indiewood Animation 155 Children’s Horror and Contemporary Hollywood 156 ‘Indiewood’ Animation 172 Hybridisation 182 Conclusion 186 Conclusion 189 Notes 196 Select Filmography 217 Select Bibliography 220 Index 224 Analysing dozens of key animated films, this book examines the emergence of new genres and stylistic approaches, as well as the ongoing blurring of boundaries between animation and live-action and explores how animation in the United States both responds to and recapitulates the values, beliefs, hopes, and fears of the nation Analysing dozens of key animated films, the book examines the emergence of new genres and stylistic approaches, as well as the ongoing blurring of boundaries between animation and live-action and explores how animation in the United States both responds to and recapitulates the values, beliefs, hopes and fears of the nation.