For this brief survey of the politics and pleasures of Czech animation, Alex and Chris are joined by special guest Dr Adam Whybray, who lectures in Film Studies at the University of Suffolk and who is also the author of The Art of Czech Animation: A History of Political Dissent and Allegory (London: Bloomsbury, 2020). Listen as the trio discuss a number of canonical and controversial examples from the recent history of Czech animation, featuring Vzpoura hraček/Revolution in Toyland (František Sádek and Hermína Týrlová, 1947), Ruka/The Hand (Jiří Trnka, 1965), Žvahlav aneb šatičky slaměného Huberta/Jabberwocky (Jan Švankmajer, 1971), Balada o zeleném drevu/A Ballad About Green Wood (Jiří Barta, 1983), and A King Had a Horse (Aleš Pachner, 2011). Topics for Episode 113 include the styles and rhythms of Czech animation and its particular use of stop-motion and puppet forms; avant-gardism and specific Czech traditions of surrealism; the utilisation of worn and imperfect everyday objects to reflect the resistance and retaliation to power, as well as themes of agency and control; fantasies of craft, creativity, and labour; and how the many allegories of Czech animation offer spectators a reflexive animated space that plays with variant notions of humanity.
**Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo**
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) (with Meredith Braun)
Mary Poppins Returns (2018) (with Christian Kaestner and Frederikke Glick)
Ex Machina (2014) (with Andrew Whitehurst)
The Valley of Gwangi (1969) (with Astrid Goldsmith)
Corpse Bride (2005) (with Emily Mantell)
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012) (with Richard Haynes)
Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) (with Robert Maslen)
Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) (with Stuart Messinger)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) (with Simran Hans)
King Kong (2005) (with Barry J.C. Purves)
The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (with Shaun Gunner)
Waltz with Bashir (2008) (with Bella Honess Roe)
Gulliver’s Travels (1939)
Pogles’ Wood (1965-1967) (with Simon Costin)
Aladdin (1992) (with Steve Henderson)
Peppa Pig (2004-) (with Richard Dyer)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2019 (Part 2)
Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2019 (Part 1)
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