The "Post-Disney" Cartoon

The "Post-Disney" Cartoon

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The Disney studio continues to make cartoons in the naturalistic style. But the influence of UPA (United Productions of America) can be seen even in some Disney cartoons, such as the Oscar-winning, Toot, Whistle, Plunck and Boom (Disney, 1953).
    It's the UPA style that has had world-wide influence, not only for its artistic design but also because it requires less technological investment.
    The UPA style is evident in Rooty Toot Toot, Gerald McBoing-Boing, Munro, and The Tell-Tale Heart. The goal of the UPA style was to return to animation basics. This meant a flat background, selective movement, flat plane layouts instead of three dimensions, solid instead of shaded colors, a reflexive style (calling attention to the cartoon, as in Duck Amuck [not a UPA cartoon]), pastel colors, and socially relevant stories, such as warlike human nature (Neighbours), bureaucracy (Munro), pathology (The Tell-Tale Heart), and the attack on the legal system (Rooty Toot Toot).
    Chuck Jones was not an independent and was not associated with the UPA style. But his and other Warner Brothers cartoons ("Looney Toons") rank among the most innovative and enduring cartoons outside the Disney studio.
    Duck Amuck deconstructs the cartoon genre, with Bugs Bunny taking the place of Chuck Jones.
    Fast and Furry-ous and other Road Runner cartoons set new standards for art design with its spare geometric shapes. The characters were pared down types, with the Road Runner as the tragic hero doomed by his mad passion for the Coyote as well as by his confidence in scientific knowledge. The Road Runner's pride deludes him into thinking he can capture the Coyote if only he invents another scheme. He not only fails, but the scheme always hurts him instead of his intended victim, the Coyote.
    Neighbours is not a UPA film and, strictly speaking, not a cartoon, since it uses live action. But most of the action is pixillated. Pixillation is a style of animation using live action shot in stop-motion photography, making it look animated.
    Selective animation, also called limited animation, means shooting less movement change per second, making the movement more jumpy. This was originally an artistic decision, to insure a stylized (non-naturalistic) design. Soon, however, it was used as a cost reduction method, especially for television.

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Fast and Furry-ous (Warner Brothers, 1949)
Gerald McBoing-Boing (UPA, 1950; Oscar)
Rooty Toot Toot (UPA, 1951)
Duck Amuck (Warner Brothers, 1953)
The Tell-Tale Heart (UPA, 1953)
Neighbours (Norman McLaren, 1955; Oscar)
Munro (Gene Deitch, 1960; Oscar)

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