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Contemporary Hollywood Animation
Style, Storytelling, Culture and Ideology Since the 1990s
by Noel Brown
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Book Presentation:
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 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.
About the Author:
Noel Brown is Associate Professor in Film at Liverpool Hope University, UK. He has written several books on aspects of children’s film, family entertainment and animation, including Contemporary Hollywood Animation (2021), The Children’s Film (2017), British Children’s Cinema (2016) and The Hollywood Family Film (2012). He is also editor of The Oxford Handbook of Children’s Film (2022), and series editor of ‘Children’s Film and Television’ for Edinburgh University Press.
Press Reviews:
Written with clarity and insight, Contemporary Hollywood Animation is a welcome addition to the recent literature of animation film, media industry, and world culture.– Fouad Mami, Universite Ahmed Draia, Journal of Popular Culture
Contemporary Hollywood Animation is a valuable contribution to the field of animation studies. It succeeds in examining key developments following the Disney Renaissance and the introduction of feature-length computer animation in the 1990s, discussing, major changes and continuities in style and aesthetics, narrative and story structure, and industry contexts. This makes the book both a rich contribution to the field of film and animation studies and an intriguing read for animation enthusiasts. It is also ideally suited for teaching, since the individual chapters can be read and discussed independently in courses focusing on aspects of contemporary cinema, media culture, or animation.– Jannik Müller, MEDIENwissenschaft
Masterfully combines textual, industrial, and cultural analyses [...] Anyone who is wanting to learn more about American animation since the 1990s cannot find any better book to serve as introduction.– Rebecca Rowe, The Lion and the Unicorn
Overturning prejudices that have often marginalised the study of mainstream animation, Brown provides a compelling overview of post-1990s Hollywood animation. Detailing the contributions of Disney, DreamWorks, LAIKA and Pixar, amongst others, Brown establishes a nuanced history that promotes a rich understanding of computer-based, hand-drawn, and stop-motion animation in equal measure.– Chris Pallant, Canterbury Christ Church University
Masterfully handling vast amounts of sources, this engagingly written book combines concise film analyses with the discussion of relevant film industrial and cultural contexts. It focuses on the contemporary period but also covers key developments in feature animation in the United States since the 1930s. This is essential reading for anyone interested in American animation or, more generally, in American cinema and culture.– Peter Krämer, Leicester Media School at De Montfort University
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
> From the same author:
The Children's Film (2017)
Genre, Nation, and Narrative
by Noel Brown
Subject: On Films > Film selections
> On a related topic:
Yellow Crocodiles and Blue Oranges (2005)
Russian Animated Film since World War II
Subject: Countries > Russia / USSR
Hollywood's Imperial Wars (2024)
The Vietnam Generation and the American Myth of Heroic Continuity
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