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Animation Theatre: Phil Mulloy
1948- Present
Fig 1. Phil Mulloy
Phil Mulloy is a British animator from Merseyside. He has been a writer as well as a director
for life-action and animated films. He studied painting at Ravensbourne College and has won
numerous international awards for his work. There is particularly one thing which categories his
animations… they are definitely not for children!
There is something highly original about Mulloy’s work; it may be his character styling, his
aim to include current issues in his stories, or the fact that there are very few animators who tread
beyond the soft, fairy-tale Disney like appeal and create something so invocative and shocking.
Whichever it is Mulloy makes sure his work isn’t forgotten. It may be viewed that Mulloy has always
created scandalous films like his more famous ones including the ‘Intolerance’ series (2000- 2004)
however, this isn’t so, his 1996 ‘The Winds of Change’ is a biographical take of a co-worker’s life and
instead of being horrifying to watch, it is touching and moving.
Fig 2. The Winds of Change
This work nonetheless is not what Mulloy is characterised and recognised for, it is his far
more disturbing and unsettling animations that have made his name well-known. Mulloy takes
contemporary ideas and beliefs and applies and what if? to them producing what can to some be
highly amusing while to others astonishing that something of this taste exists in the world of
animation. He is undoubtedly a key figure in this take on animation, crafting highly counter typical
animated pieces. ‘The provocative work of multi-award winning animator Phil Mulloy stands as a
model of satiric grotesque unparalleled in British animation. The antidote to all that is kitsch and
sentimental, these direct, witty and acerbic fables, drawn in brush and ink, perceptively comment
of human nature and challenge contemporary values.’ (BFI: Unknown) Just look at Mulloy’s ‘The
History of the World’ (1993-4), it looks at the discovery of natural processes but unlike most Mulloy
refuses to do it discretely and tries to add his usual humorous and disturbing tones such as the
scenes where the men are battling with their manhood over the women and the scene where
censorship of the female starts to take place such as cutting off the hands of a female who is
pleasuring herself.
Fig 3. The History of the World
Phil Mulloy doesn’t seem to fear that he will alienate his audiences and make them turn
away from what unfolds on the screen, perhaps he rather encourages this act as this would be a
great instance of expressing to his audience that contemporary values do not feel comfortable
enough to deal with these natural processes he animates something DVD Talk’s Jeremy Mathews
explores. ‘Phil Mulloy’s work exists somewhere between the realm of the scatological sophomore
and the defiant artist. At any moment, the British animator can be offensive, clever, bizarre,
obvious, muddled, smug, distinct, or any combination of those traits. It would be easy to brand
many of his scenes as pornography if his visuals weren’t so primitive and ugly that they cancel out
any sense of eroticism. He makes sure you always feel uneasy and dirty, never aroused.’
(Mathews: 2009) Mulloy’s ‘Intolerance’ series is a great example of this in that we find it funny how
Mulloy creatively creates the aliens known as the Zog but at the same time are grossed out by how
he uses what would normally be our heads for the usual sexual acts and when he cuts them off and
places them back where we think they should be. It is no way near pornographic because he isn’t
focusing on the sexual act but rather bizarre ideas of what we view as alien in sex and the fear of an
idea taking over as the Zog evidence.
Fig 3. Intolerance Part 1
Mulloy moves his work further away from pornography through his highly original character
design. There is something grotesque about the way he produces his characters, they are really
simple but at the same time very unattractive with what look like peg teeth and gaping mouths. It
wouldn’t be strange to think that Mulloy rushed this aspect of his animations because they are
messy and dirty looking. However, they work perfectly because they match Mulloy’s ideologies well
and make you focus on the shape of the characters rather than detail through the black silhouette
like design, something highly appropriate when you think of Mulloy’s Zogs. But why are they messy
and unattractive characters? It feels suitable to view them as metaphors for the human inside
nature, that being the ugly side of us and if we take this view Mulloy’s characters become beautiful
as they signify this idea adeptly. ‘The paintings themselves are simple and unattractive, but taken
as a whole, create absolutely gorgeous, expressive panoramas, not only that, but the style fits
perfectly with Mulloy’s brazen storytelling, as it’s endlessly and undeniably in your face.’ (Gandert:
2009)
Bibliography
BFI, (Unknown) Phil Mulloy: Extreme Animation http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_48.html
(Accessed 29/03/2012)
Gandert, Sean, (2009) Salute Your Shorts: Phil Mulloy’s Extreme Animation
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/07/salute-your-shorts-phil-mulloys-extreme-
animation.html (Accessed 29/03/2012)
Mathews, Jeremy, (2009) Extreme Animation: Films by Phil Mulloy
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/39395/extreme-animation-films-by-phil-mulloy/ (Accessed
29/03/2012)
List of Illustrations
Fig. 1. Phil Mulloy. [Online image].On hrvatska-animacija.org http://hrvatska-animacija.org/wp-
content/uploads/2010/02/PHIL-MULLOY.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)
Fig. 2. The Winds of Change. [Online image].On cinecouch.com
http://cinecouch.com/image/toplist/wind_of_change.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)
Fig. 3. The History of the World. [Online image].On keyframe1.nava.hu
http://keyframe1.nava.hu/first_pict/kgy2/mw/mw-12080_1.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)
Fig. 4. Intolerance Part 1. [Online image].On imageshack.us
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/94/intolerance1tk0.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)