The spectacular animated world of U.S. filmmaker Don Bluth is the focus of Episode 82, with Chris and Alex journeying to the Great Valley for this discussion of The Land Before Time (Don Bluth, 1988). Joining them is Dr Mark Witton, vertebrate palaeontologist and palaeoartist (based at the University of Portsmouth), who is best known for his scientific research and illustrations around the habits and behaviors of pterosaurs, as well as his consultancy work with museums and on the BBC television series Walking with Dinosaurs (1999) and Planet Dinosaur (2011). Listen as they discuss the importance of Bluth to the landscape of 1980s animation, including his work as a stylistic and ideological forbearer to the Disney Renaissance; The Land Before Time as a collision between mid-/late-twentieth century dinosaur science; the long history of ‘marketing’ dinosaurs that first began in the 1850s within a number of cultural institution and museum exhibits (especially in London and, later, across the U.S.); the storytelling structures and segmentation of the film’s framing journey narrative; Bluth’s tone and characterisation of the dinosaurs that falls back on the physicality and physiology of modern dinosaur images, including discourses of ‘monsterisation’ that have marked several media depictions; the problems of animating science and the artists’ creative latitude in constructing dinosaur performances; and why so many filmmakers across animation history have been continually drawn to the figure of the dinosaur as a creature of fascination.
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)
Coco (2017) (with Eavesdropping at the Movies)
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