Caroline Baetkey

Writing Sample

Excerpt from an Academic Paper on Walt Disney

One of the greatest influences upon Disney’s work was European art. This is evident in his company’s prolific use of anthropomorphism––the humanization of animals––which was something that began in Europe as a vehicle for comedy (Allan, 20). Artists that worked for Disney drew much of their inspiration for their animal characters from a 19th century French artist, Honore Daumier; he exaggerated human qualities by giving them to animals, something that greatly appealed to the already caricaturistic style of the Disney animators (Allan, 20). Through anthropomorphism, animators were opened to a breadth of comedy and fantastical abilities that appealed to a wide audience, as Winsor McCay had first demonstrated in 1914 with Gertie the Dinosaur (Pallant, 14). The Disney artists’ appreciation of anthropomorphism was even carried into many of the studio’s earliest cartoon series, such as the Alice Comedies (Disney, 1923-1927) and Silly Symphonies (Disney, 1929-1939). The Alice Comedies, which began in 1923, started off with a live-action girl accompanied by a singular animated cat, but, by the end of the series in 1927, contained a plethora of animated anthropomorphic animals (Allan, 20). So, in that series, not only was inspiration taken from the English author Lewis Carroll and his book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but from the European cartoonists who had popularized humanized animals. Silly Symphonies went even further with this, as all episodes were completely animated, and many starred casts of all anthropomorphic creatures. 

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And, the art of Disney’s projects was influenced not only by artists from the previous century, like Daumier, but by European artists who worked at the Disney studios. A prime example of this is Albert Hurter, a Swiss animator, who took the idea of anthropomorphism to the next level. Instead of giving human qualities to just animals, Hurter humanized any and all inanimate objects. According to Disney expert and professor Robin Allan, “flowers, plants, furniture, and utensils took on strange and sometimes alarming life under [Hurter’s] pen” (29). Hurter also had a love of gothic fantasy that was reflected in many of Disney’s earliest works, like the Silly Symphonies. For example, the first installment of the series, entitled “The Skeleton Dance,” not only harkened upon “nineteenth century gothic melodrama” (Allan, 25) in art––which was first showcased by the illustrators of Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe, two English writers––but upon the humanization of lifeless bones, by way of dancing skeletons (Silly Symphonies). In the book Demystifying Disney, by Dr. Chris Pallant, it is also written that “‘The Skeleton Dance’ afforded Disney unanimous critical acceptance,” which, in turn, allowed Disney’s studios to continue producing these Europe-influenced cartoons (21). The continuously reaffirmed success of Disney’s anthropomorphic characters, of course, was also crucial for the longevity of some of his most well-known characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Mickey Mouse first appeared in the 1928 short “Steamboat Willie,” where he engaged in a raucous, music-filled battle against an anthropomorphic cat, Pete (Allan, 24). The short was incredibly successful, and opened the door for Silly Symphonies to enjoy similar fortune. Thus, European styles of art, especially anthropomorphism, have been incredibly important, because they led to the creation of Disney’s iconic animation style and some of his most beloved characters; it also allowed Disney animation to achieve such success that those characters have remained immensely popular since the early 1900s.