Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Tereza Janáčková Specific Features of Canadian Animated Film Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: doc. PhDr., Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr. 2011 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Tereza Janáčková 2 Acknowledgement I would like to thank doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr. for his encouragement and his helpful advice. I also want to thank to my friends for their patience. 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 6 2. Basic information ................................................................................................... 11 2.1 What is animation? ......................................................................................... 11 2.2 Author animation ............................................................................................ 13 2.3 The status of animated film ............................................................................ 15 2.4 Where does Canadian animation stand in the scope of the world cinema? .... 16 3. NFB ......................................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Pre-NFB era .................................................................................................... 19 3.2 NFB- legislation .............................................................................................. 22 3.3 System of work at the NFB ............................................................................. 30 3.4 Working system in the animation department ................................................ 31 3.5 NFB now ......................................................................................................... 34 4. Case studies ............................................................................................................ 36 4.1 Two Sisters (1991) .......................................................................................... 37 4.1.1 Synopsis ...................................................................................................... 37 4.1.2 Mise-en-scene ............................................................................................. 38 4.1.3 Characters ................................................................................................... 39 4.1.4 Style ............................................................................................................ 41 4.1.5 Genre ........................................................................................................... 43 4.1.6 Technique .................................................................................................... 44 4.2 Mighty River (1993) ....................................................................................... 46 4.2.1 Synopsis ...................................................................................................... 46 4.2.2 Mise- en- scene ........................................................................................... 47 4.2.3 Characters ................................................................................................... 49 4.2.4 Style ............................................................................................................ 52 4.2.5 Genre ........................................................................................................... 55 4.2.6 Technique .................................................................................................... 58 4.3 When the Day Breaks (1999) .......................................................................... 59 4.3.1 Synopsis ...................................................................................................... 60 4.3.2 Mise-en-scene ............................................................................................. 60 4.3.3 Characters ................................................................................................... 62 4 4.3.4 Style ............................................................................................................ 64 4.3.5 Genre ........................................................................................................... 65 4.3.6 Technique .................................................................................................... 67 4.4 The Hat (1999) ................................................................................................ 69 4.4.1 Synopsis ...................................................................................................... 69 4.4.2 Mise-en-scene ............................................................................................. 69 4.4.3 Characters ................................................................................................... 70 4.4.4 Style ............................................................................................................ 72 4.4.5 Genre ........................................................................................................... 74 4.4.6 Technique .................................................................................................... 75 4.5 The Imprints (2004) ........................................................................................ 76 4.5.1 Synopsis ...................................................................................................... 76 4.5.2 Style ............................................................................................................ 77 4.5.3 Genre ........................................................................................................... 79 4.5.4 Technique .................................................................................................... 81 5. Filmic specifics ....................................................................................................... 82 5.1 New techniques ............................................................................................... 83 5.2 Metamorphosis ................................................................................................ 85 5.3 Documentariness ............................................................................................. 89 5.4 Darkness and light .......................................................................................... 93 5.5 ―Ugly‖ characters ............................................................................................ 95 6. Canadian specifics ................................................................................................. 97 6.1 Landscape ....................................................................................................... 98 6.2 Isolation ........................................................................................................ 102 6.3 Non dramatic stories, psychological focus ................................................... 105 6.4 Strong emotions , taboo topics ...................................................................... 106 6.5 Diversity ........................................................................................................ 109 7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 110 8. Works cited and consulted .................................................................................. 114 List of abbreviations AB: Animated Bestiary CGMPB: Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau CPR: Canadian Pacific Railway NFB: National Filmboard of Canada UA: Understanding animation 5 1. Introduction The usual stereotypical image suggests that Canada is the home of ice-hockey, vast northern woodlands and eccentric independent films. Even those who resist stereotypes and take other landmarks of Canada into consideration would not think about Canada in connection with animated films. Yet, Canada has a wide internationally recognized animation platform, which essentially attracts the attention of two groups of people. The first one comprises a relatively limited number of animation professionals and academic scholars and the second one is formed by numerous laic public or simply the fans. Both groups hold different views on Canadian animated films but usually agree on one point: there is ―something‖ intriguing about Canadian animated films. As a fan and at the same time as a cultural studies researcher, I would like explore in this thesis what that ―something‖ is. As animation studies is a relatively new field and most of the scholars come from the US, Canadian animated films are definitely not their chief focal point. There are not many that would deal specifically with Canadian animation, and those that do tend to create either biographies of Norman McLaren, the founder of Canadian animation, or small-scale individual case studies inserted in publications dealing with animation in general. Another type of literature available on Canadian animation lies in annexed chapters shortly touching on animation in studies focused on Canadian feature films. What is missing is a theoretical work that would link the case studies and minute dollops in feature film studies together in an overall picture, explaining where the animated film stands in Canadian culture;