Contemporary Disney Animation by Benhamou Eve;

Author:Benhamou, Eve;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

FROM LIVE-ACTION TO ANIMATION MILIEUS: PLAYFULLY TRANSPOSING THE DAZZLING DIGITAL SPECTACLE OF ACTION ADVENTURE

Bolt, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6 and Moana reproduce the dazzling digital spectacle of action adventure by relying on Pixar’s state-of-the-art technological tools and aesthetic. At the same time, they foreground a particularly humorous approach towards the excesses, thrills and photorealistic impulses of the digital action spectacle. They build on and develop a sense of knowingness already at the core of some action-adventure films. The playful approach of Bolt, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6 and Moana is also based on elements typically associated with Disney and its aesthetic style. As live-action action-adventure films rely more and more on computer-generated imaging, and computer-animated action-adventure films are multiplying, Disney’s challenge is to preserve its singularity as an iconic animation studio, while relying on the same digital tools and generic framework.

In live-action cinema, digital imaging is mainly used to render ‘impossible vistas and impossible bodies’ onscreen, elements that would not have been convincing with analogue technology in earlier decades (Purse 2013: 25). Even when action adventure borrows from fantasy, protagonists’ exploits are depicted in a photorealistic way, as if they had occurred in front of the camera (ibid.: 6–7). This implies credibility and seamlessness in the inclusion of visual effects (Halfyard 2013: 184). Such an effort to erase any trace of digital intervention is consistent with the style of mainstream live-action cinema. Lev Manovich observes that the latter ‘pretends to be a simple recording of an already existing reality’ while hiding the artifices of its construction (2001: 298–9). In this context, digital characters perceived as unbelievable may compromise the level of photorealism established within the rest of the film (Purse 2013: 60). For example, Lisa Purse explains that the negative reception surrounding early digital superheroes such as Spider-Man (Sam Raimi, 2002) and the Hulk (Ang Lee, 2003) came from their inconsistent depiction, which clashed with their readily recognisable urban setting (Purse 2013: 60). Incoherent character stretching and an unconvincing sense of body mass led some reviewers to describe the Hulk as an overly cartoonish character (ibid.: 58–61). The transition from the live-action actor to their digital alter ego was perceived as ‘the central problem’ of the genre for Scott Bukatman, as it severed the connection between the two and undermined the aesthetic fluidity of the film (2011: 121).

Computer-animated films, in which ‘everything belongs to a shared level of reality’ (Bukatman 2009: 116), provide an interesting contrast to live-action films which only partially rely on the digital. Unlike mainstream live-action cinema, animation principally foregrounds its artificial character: Manovich notes that ‘its visual language is more aligned to the graphic than to the photographic’ (2001: 29). Both depending on exaggeration and caricature, and building on the dazzling potentials of the digital, computer animation is particularly suited to adapt the larger-than-life spectacle of action-adventure, as exemplified by Pixar’s computer-animated films. For example, Toy Story’s (John Lasseter, 1995) images and visual effects imitate the photorealism of live-action cinema: the toys’ bodies and actions function ‘plausibly’ within a recognisable and familiar environment (Telotte 2008: 165).

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