Animated Personalities: Cartoon Characters and Stardom in American Theatrical Shorts
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AlbakiReads Editorial How Animated Characters Became Hollywood Stars
How Animated Characters Became Hollywood Stars
David McGowan examines American theatrical cartoon shorts through the framework of celebrity culture. Using archival research, he traces how studios built public personas for figures including Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, and Felix the Cat—not simply through films, but through publicity, product endorsements, staged “interviews,” and narratives of off-screen life. Spanning silent-era cartoons through later film and television, the book positions animated performers alongside live-action studio stars and considers what their carefully managed celebrity identities reveal about Hollywood’s machinery of stardom. The closing discussion connects this history to questions raised by digitally enhanced filmmaking.
Good fit for readers who enjoy
- Students and scholars of animation, film history, and media studies
- Readers interested in Hollywood publicity and celebrity culture
- Fans curious about the cultural history of classic American cartoon characters
Themes
Animation and stardomHollywood studio publicityCartoon-character personaeAmerican theatrical shortsMedia and celebrity culture
Based on publisher information and book metadata.
Book Overview A CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2019Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Felix the Cat, and other beloved cartoon char...
A CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2019
Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Felix the Cat, and other beloved cartoon characters have entertained media audiences for almost a century, outliving the human stars who were once their contemporaries in studio-era Hollywood. In Animated Personalities, David McGowan asserts that iconic American theatrical short cartoon characters should be legitimately regarded as stars, equal to their live-action counterparts, not only because they have enjoyed long careers, but also because their star personas have been created and marketed in ways also used for cinematic celebrities.
Drawing on detailed archival research, McGowan analyzes how Hollywood studios constructed and manipulated the star personas of the animated characters they owned. He shows how cartoon actors frequently kept pace with their human counterparts, granting "interviews," allowing "candid" photographs, endorsing products, and generally behaving as actual actors did--for example, Donald Duck served his country during World War II, and Mickey Mouse was even embroiled in scandal. Challenging the notion that studios needed actors with physical bodies and real off-screen lives to create stars, McGowan demonstrates that media texts have successfully articulated an off-screen existence for animated characters. Following cartoon stars from silent movies to contemporary film and television, this groundbreaking book broadens the scope of star studies to include animation, concluding with provocative questions about the nature of stardom in an age of digitally enhanced filmmaking technologies.
Book Details Format: Hardcover | Pages: 313 | Language: English | Publisher: UNIV OF TEXAS PR | ISBN: 1477317430
FormatHardcover
Pages313
LanguageEnglish
ISBN1477317430
EAN9781477317433
PublisherUNIV OF TEXAS PR
Publication Date2019-03-01
AccessoriesNo Accessory
ConditionNew
Product TypeHARD COVER BOOKS
Weight1.43 Pounds
Length9.0 Inches
Width6.0 Inches
Height0.88 Inches
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