Animating Interruptions: Disney, the Mutliplane Camera, and STS

• In Event: Media Studies Interruptions of STS - III

Abstract

This paper focuses specifically on the relationship of STS and animation studies. Animation studies scholars have focused largely on content analysis of specific works for the screen. However, without science and technology, we would not have animation, thus creating a hybrid space where technology, labor, visual aesthetics, and more meet. Because of this meeting, it would seem that bringing STS and media studies together would help understand animation in a more developed way.

This paper takes as its case study the multiplane camera, a device popularized by the Walt Disney Company. Though some scholars, such as J.P. Telotte, have looked at the multiplane camera as a piece of technology, they have often seen it primarily as a means to an end. This paper, however, examines the various discourses and networks involved with the technology itself. The paper examines some of the secondary literature on the apparatus, as well as primary written sources, such as trade publications. Furthermore, this paper features content analysis of marketing materials the company created in the 1930s and 1940s.

However, this paper also looks at how the application and integration of STS methodologies help us create a more well-rounded understanding of the device and its relation to external factors. Ultimately, I explore a synthesis of content analysis and STS methodologies. This mixing of approaches interrupts our analyses and allows us to perceive the hybrid space created by the Disney Company. Furthermore, this will help to reveal the structures governing the company and animation in general in the pre-WW II era.

Author

• Michael J. Meindl, Virginia Tech