Serious Business: The Art And Commerce Of Animation In America From Betty Boop To Toy Story (Paperback)

by Stefan Kanfer (Author) "The attempt to make drawings appear to move is almost as old as language..." (more)
Key Phrases: animated shorts, live footage, New York, Walt Disney, Warner Bros (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The business behind creating and producing comics, cartoons, or, specifically, animation is nothing short of fascinating. More than a "behind the scenes" book or a "tell all" expose, Serious Business is a great find for this reason: it places an emphasis on the creative people in the industry. To quote the dust cover: "The history of animation is the story of its geniuses. Serious Business disperses the clouds created by decades of received wisdom, bogus myth-making, and corporate propaganda to reveal a cast of characters whose entertainment value exceeds that of their creations." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
How American cartoons reflect American culture and vice versa is the subject of an entertaining and informative study by former Time staffer Kanfer. Although the sections on recent cartoon history (covering slick studio fare like Toy Story as well as MTV stars Beavis and Butt-head) are less colorful than the history of the early years, Kanfer's tone is steady throughout. From the beginning, animated shorts utilized painful stereotypes: the first real animated motion picture, Humorous Phases of a Funny Face, ends as "[t]he words Coon and Cohen become caricatures of an African American and a Jew." This tradition continued as animators struggled to find a more appropriate application for their art, with many of them switching from human subjects to animals or objects in order to spotlight special effects. Kanfer gives brief, helpful background on Walt Disney and weighs how the early efforts of Mickey Mouse's creator differed from the popular cartoons of the day, including Disney's predilection for rural farm settings while most others set their work in cities. Disney was no stranger to the use of damaging racial and ethnic caricatures, however. In "The Three Little Pigs" the wolf wore rabbinical dress and spoke with a heavy Yiddish accent. The births of many popular characters provide amusing anecdotes: Daffy Duck, for example, was given his characteristic sputtering voice as a dig at a Warner Brothers executive who conducted impromptu inspections of the animators' workplace and suffered from a terrible speech impediment, and Chuck Jones credited some of Mark Twain's writing with providing the inspiration for Wile E. Coyote. Even though Kanfer's story slows a little at the end, it is thoroughly engaging throughout.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306809184
• ISBN-13: 978-0306809187
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #753,490 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book, but not a great one., September 5, 1997

By	T. Dahm "burgeltz" (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: SERIOUS BUSINESS: The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy Story (Hardcover)

A good read, but not the great book it could have been. It could easily have been twice as long. Early chapters are strongest. Strong on Disney. Would like to have seen more on Looney Tunes

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great intro to American animation history!, July 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: SERIOUS BUSINESS: The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy Story (Hardcover)

Well written, concise survey of American animation history. The only slights are that he doesn't have much to say on non-Disney animated efforts of the past decade, especially television animation, and that too many pages praise the horrendous UPA 'toons. Otherwise, this is a great intro to a neglected sector of American culture. If you want to learn about cartoons without buying a separate book on each major company, this should be your choice

3.0 out of 5 stars No Betty-Boop, February 2, 2006

By	Frederick J. Conwell "Fred Conwell" - See all my reviews

Amazon search indicated this was all Betty Boop so I bought this especially for a Betty Boop nut. Betty Boop was on the cover but nowhere in the index! So now I am reading it to see if I wasted my money.