There’s nothing quite like the human touch.
Technology and an aspiration for realism have robbed animated films of their childlike wonder. In 2004, Disney closed its hand-drawn animation studio for good, and ever since, children everywhere have unknowingly reaped the consequences. The Little Mermaid (1989) was the last traditionally animated film before the studio embarked on its affair with technological advances, marking the end of an era when Disney produced art, not just cartoons.
Disney’s “Golden Age,” constituting of films such as Dumbo (1941), Cinderella (1950), and The Aristocats (1970), share a sense of sincerity and spontaneity that’s missing from contemporary animation. This shift from artful narrative to soulless, computer-generated films was inevitable, yet a painful death for traditional animation.
While hand-drawn animation is expensive and labour-intensive, it creates breathtaking frames unmatched in beauty and craftsmanship. Though animation still relies on human hands today, technology separates the artist from the line, essentially isolating the viewer from the soul of the work.
There’s an ethereality, palpable honesty, and a human touch that modern animation has systematically erased. The birth of the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) in the late ’80s and early ’90s marked the first movement towards this disregard for aesthetic value in storytelling. Traditional animation uses transparent sheets—also known as cels—to superimpose characters onto various backgrounds. CAPS streamlined this process by digitizing the colouring and compositing of animated frames, eliminating the need for hand-painted cels.
While films created with CAPS, like Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994), remain visually striking, the underlying essence, reminiscent of Disney’s magical Golden Age, is missing. These films have a deserving role in our childhood nostalgia, but their uncanny perfection feels rigid compared to their gestural and fluid illustrated predecessors.
There’s beauty in simplicity, but this message was lost somewhere under the stacks of money earned from replacing artists with computers. Disney attempted to win a race with fellow studios Pixar and DreamWorks, who were successful with 3D animation, but it meant chasing a future of computer-generated imagery that wasn’t their own. Disney’s buying of Pixar in 2006 drove the nail into the coffin of traditional animation, once and for all.
Disney’s 2019 remake of The Lion King does little to reignite an appreciation for hand-drawn animation but rather serves as a eulogy that mocks the magic of its original. For a story so saturated with wonder, Disney, at best, mimics the nature channel. It’s an impressive technical feat, but one devoid of the soul and organic warmth that once distinguished Disney.
Disney’s original animation produces a nagging nostalgia in its viewers that transports us back to our six-year-old selves on a Saturday morning, pushing play on the VCR.
Perhaps one day, a new generation of artists will revive traditional animation, but until then, we can only brace ourselves for every disappointing remake. If anything, we can still find magic in the scratchy lines and luminous imperfections of the classics.
Ella is a fourth-year English student and The Journal’s Editorials Illustrator.
Tags
Animation, childhood, children's movies, Disney, nostalgia
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.