Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1493292
6 KEYFRAME CHUCK JONES' MERRIE MELODIES FEED THE KITTY WOULD MAKE ME CRY WITHOUT FAIL WHEN I WAS A KID. IT WAS THE FIRST CARTOON WHERE I WAS FULLY INVESTED IN A FICTIONAL CHARACTER. I was with Marc Anthony, the bulldog, when he was won over by the painfully adorable kitty Pussyfoot. I could feel his growing love for Pussyfoot and his need to protect her, his panic when he realizes he has lost her, his anguish when he thinks Pussyfoot is being killed, and his relief when he gets her back. It's a rollercoaster of emotions deftly told without dialogue, relying on beautifully emotive animation with perfect comedic timing. That cartoon still makes me tear up! In the right hands, animation can move an audience just as much as any well-told live- action story. Yet with the occasional exception, animation TV shows and feature films don't often get celebrated or honored in the same way. It's been just over 30 years since Beauty and the Beast was nominated for an Academy Award. Not for Best Animated Feature. For Best Picture! It was the first animated film to break into that category and an acknowledgment that animation is not a genre but a medium for cinema. In the years since, only two other animated films have achieved that same distinction: Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010). Recently, the Academy's attitude toward animation has seemingly regressed to viewing animation as a genre for children—as was on full display when last year's Oscar ceremony host, Amy Schumer, and presenters Halle Berry, Lily James, and Naomi Scott made comments like, "I have a toddler, so I just watched Encanto 190 times." Animation may have moved me as a child, but it has grown with me into adulthood. There is room in this medium for a wide variety of stories and genres—for stories as complex and subtle as anything in live action. I have mixed feelings about the Best Animated Feature category. As much as I celebrate when a movie wins, I feel the category gives Academy members a pass on even considering animation for Best Picture. Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio not being nominated for Best Picture is a huge snub. But one thing can't be changed—productions like this one, along with the talents of our members, are pushing the medium forward and showing that more adult, multi-layered stories can be successful in animation. I'm so ready for the world to see where we can take them! In Solidarity, Jeanette Moreno King | President The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839 ANIMATION FOR ONE AND ALL ON THE COVER Keyframe covers and articles capture the talent and imaginative spirit of our members. L E T T E R