The Idea of Nature in Animation

Kimberly Zebrowski

Intro Nature in Art History

Garden of Eden The “Real World”

Disney Animated Films Reality Vs. Fantasy

Nature documentaries: So dramatic Watership Down (1978) The Last Unicorn (1982) Conclusion

Question Has our progression as a

society over time changed our idealistic aspect of nature or do we still fall back into old ideals?

Bosch’s Garden of Earthly

Delights

Disney Animated Films

Snow White (1937) Sleeping Beauty (1959) The Little Mermaid (1989) Beauty and the Beast (1991) Pocahontas (1995) Various mentions of other movies and

characters

Snow White (1937)

Forest Friends Animal helpers act as guides Magical aids Heart of the film Representation of the protagonist’s purity

and innocents

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

The Little Mermaid (1989)

“Under the Sea, Under the Sea – darling it’s better, down where it’s wetter – take it from me! Up on the shore they work all day, out in the sun they slave away”

Sea creatures giving jobs that parallel human job positions

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Negative Towards Nature

Gaston and Masculinity The safety of the castle Winter – the dead months Don’t leave the safety of the castle. Those

wolves are still hungry RIOT

Pocahontas (1995)

Nature takes a serious role from the very beginning

Animals are given personalities that are less like humans and more like animals (still some human characteristics)

Humans and nature = Property and wealth

Hayao Miyazaki

Watership Down (1978)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZcHLpjiEdw

Rabbits with a culture – poetry, language, and gods

Blood and violence

The Last Unicorn (1982)The Harpy

Real Nature, Still Dramatized

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxxloZSInCg

Conclusion Yes, through the progression and study

thoughts of realistic representations, environmental awareness, masculinity ideas, feminism – nature is thought to be more as a harsh reality rather than an Eden.

In the age of technology, we are becoming less and less about the outdoors.

Nature is becoming more real