The different eras in feature animation

[ce1ticmoon]

I thought this was the "Revival Era"?

I hope that name sticks, because nothing about these films are a "Renaissance."

Well, a "Renaissance" is a type of revival... So it actually just feels redundant to me (in addition to just not sounding very good).

Again, I'm whatever about the categories, but I mean, if I were to use them, I wouldn't even lump the post-Lion King 90s films with the what I'd consider to be the actual "Renaissance" films, and I say that as a fan of most of them.

[Tangled]

To be fair, I see Disney's 90s renaissance as a "renaissance" not so much because of the films specifically but rather because they were a part of a larger animation renaissance. The animation industry truly was struggling after Walt passed away, but the "renaissance" marked a creative spark. I have seen people use the term "renaissance" for the 90s not only because of Disney, but also to describe the Don Bluth, Pixar, Dreamworks, Ghibli etc. films of that decade as well as the television cartoons and anime that aired during that time. Disney was only the dominant part of a much larger picture.

Now, they're dominant again, but they're definitely not part of an animation renaissance. Out of all the big American animated studios in the past 5 years (Pixar, Dreamworks, or misc. like Blue Sky or Illumination) Disney has just been the most consistent with pumping out good quality work. They're the dominant part of the picture again, so their 90s success is being revived, but that doesn't mean that Disney is part of a renaissance. Plus, there's also the question of whether or not Disney's recent films will be regarded as classics in the decades to come, like the 90s films are. Frozen will probably be remembered, but I'm not sure if it will be well-liked by the majority of the public. I'm saying this as someone who thinks that Zootopia is one of the best CGI films I've ever seen, but even I'm just not sure if recent Disney films have the staying-power of any of the 90s Disney Animation films or even the older Pixar films that don't have sequels. I mean, I don't see anybody talking about Big Hero 6 anymore despite it only being a year-and-a-half old and winning an Oscar (unless someone is talking about how The Lego Movie/HTTYD2/The Tale of Princess Kaguya/Song of the Sea should have won that award instead).

[Disney's Divinity]

Frozen will probably be remembered, but I'm not sure if it will be well-liked by the majority of the public.

I’m not sure what the basis of that is. True, we’ll have a safer view once the sequel is released and the Broadway show opens (to go by box office gross and ticket sales), but so far everything points to it being very well-liked (soundtrack sales, quickly sold-out merchandise, etc.)…

But I agree that modern films will struggle to have much enduring power across decades. There are so many 3D films coming out every year. It’s hard to see many of them standing out from the crowd to be remembered for long periods of time.

[milojthatch]

I think it's more like this:

A.) The Golden Age
1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
2. Pinocchio
3. Fantasia
4. Dumbo
5. Bambi
6. Saludos Amigos
7. The Three Caballeros
8. Make Mine Music
9. Fun and Fancy Free
10. Melody Time
11. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

B.) The Silver Age
12. Cinderella
13. Alice in Wonderland
14. Peter Pan
15. Lady and the Tramp
16. Sleeping Beauty
17. 101 Dalmatians
18. The Sword in the Stone
19. The Jungle Book

C.) The Dark Age
20. The Aristocats
21. Robin Hood
22. The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh
23. The Rescuers
24. The Fox and the Hound
25. The Black Cauldron
26. The Great Mouse Detective
27. Oliver and Company

D.) The Renaissance Age
28. The Little Mermaid
29. The Rescuers Down Under
30. Beauty and the Beast
31. Aladdin
32. The Lion King
33. Pocahontas
34. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
35. Hercules
36. Mulan
37. Tarzan

E.) The Second Dark Age
38. Fantasia 2000
39. Dinosaur
40. The Emperor's New Groove
41. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
42. Lilo and Stitch
43. Treasure Planet
44. Brother Bear
45. Home on the Range
46. Chicken Little
47. Meet The Robinsons
48. Bolt

F.) The CG Age
49. The Princess and The Frog
50. Tangled
51. Winnie The Pooh
52. Wreck It Ralph
53. Frozen
54. Big Hero 6
55. Zootopia

[milojthatch]

Frozen will probably be remembered, but I'm not sure if it will be well-liked by the majority of the public.

I’m not sure what the basis of that is. True, we’ll have a safer view once the sequel is released and the Broadway show opens (to go by box office gross and ticket sales), but so far everything points to it being very well-liked (soundtrack sales, quickly sold-out merchandise, etc.)…

But I agree that modern films will struggle to have much enduring power across decades. There are so many 3D films coming out every year. It’s hard to see many of them standing out from the crowd to be remembered for long periods of time.

I agree with Tangled, the modern films, including Frozen, will not be as beloved 50 years from now as much as films like Cinderella or The Jungle Book.

[Disney's Divinity]

I agree with Tangled, the modern films, including Frozen, will not be as beloved 50 years from now as much as films like Cinderella or The Jungle Book.

The only thing I disagreed with Tangled about was that Frozen would be remembered, but yet not well-liked... If anything, I agree with you more than Tangled, in that I think it's likely they'll all diminish with time.

[Heil Donald Duck]

milojthatch's list is most sensible I have seen so far in this tread. But I want go one step further and subtract every package film and every CGI film: Which leaves us with 37 feature films. Fun fact Walt's first feature was released in 1937.
I consider the package films of 1940's to have more in common with animated shorts of 1930's and 1940's than with both in structure and narrative than with Snow White, Pinocchio, Aladdin, Lion King etc. I feel the same applies to both Fantasia films, after all the The Sorcerer's Apprentice was originally supposed to be a standalone short. Additionally Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is cheater film, i.e made up form pre-existing shorts. While the CGI films might have similar structure in narrative the production method is fundamentally different form that of Hand drawn animation.

Traditional:
The Walt Disney Era:
1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
2. Pinocchio (1940)
3. Dumbo (1941)
4. Bambi (1942)
5. Cinderella (1950)
6. Alice in Wonderland (1951)
7. Peter Pan (1953)
8. Lady and the Tramp (1955)
9. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
10. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
11. The Sword in the Stone (1963)
12. The Jungle Book (1967)

The Post Walt Disney Era:
13. The Aristocats (P970)
14. Robin Hood (1973)
15. The Rescuers (1977)
16. The Fox and the Hound (1981)
17. The Black Cauldron (1985)
18. The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
19. Oliver & Company (1988)
20. The Little Mermaid (1989)
21. The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
22. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
23. Aladdin (1992)
24. The Lion King (1994)
25. Pocahontas (1995)
26. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
27. Hercules (1997)
28. Mulan (1998)
29. Tarzan (1999)
30. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
31. Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
32. Lilo & Stitch (2002)
33. Treasure Planet (2002)
34. Brother Bear (2003)
35. Home on the Range (2004)
36. The Princess and the Frog (2009)
37. Winnie the Pooh (2011)

[Sotiris]

Yesterday, Disney archivist and historian Dave Smith gave a presentation called "80 Years of Disney Animated Features" during a Tangled screening on the Walt Disney Studios lot that's part of the "Magical Screening Series" for D23 members. I believe this is the first time someone in an official Disney capacity has divided the animation eras and given them titles. This is how they were divided.

1937-1942: The Golden Age
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Pinocchio
Fantasia
Dumbo
Bambi

1943-1949: War and Reinvention
Saludos Amigos
The Three Caballeros
Make Mine Music
Fun and Fancy Free
Melody Time
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

1950-1967: The Silver Age
Cinderella
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
Lady and the Tramp
Sleeping Beauty
101 Dalmatians
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book

1970-1988: The Changing of the Guard
The Aristocats
Robin Hood
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Rescuers
The Fox and the Hound
The Black Cauldron
The Great Mouse Detective
Oliver & Company

1989-1994: The Second Golden Age
The Little Mermaid
The Rescuers Down Under
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King

1995-1999: Renewal & Regeneration
Pocahontas
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Mulan
Tarzan
Fantasia 2000

2000-2004: Explorations
Dinosaur
The Emperor's New Groove
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Lilo & Stitch
Treasure Planet
Brother Bear
Home on the Range

2005-2008: The Computer Age
Chicken Little
Meet the Robinsons
Bolt

2009- : The Present Era
The Princess and the Frog
Tangled
Winnie the Pooh
Wreck-It Ralph
Frozen
Big Hero 6
Zootopia
Moana


Here are a couple of photos from the presentation.


Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BQI-TGblStS/


Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BQI-lfXlacS/

[Disney's Divinity]

I wonder why they distinguished between the "Computer Era" and the present.

[thedisneyspirit]

^They wanna distance themselves from the sour flavor Chicken Little left on everyone.

[Sotiris]

I wonder why they distinguished between the "Computer Era" and the present.

Probably because there are two 2D-animated movies in the Present Era.

[Disney's Divinity]

Probably because there are two 2D-animated movies in the Present Era.

Yeah, but we know they were just a blip on the radar. This is the Computer Era.

^They wanna distance themselves from the sour flavor Chicken Little left on everyone.

This is the only thing I could guess--and Lasseter always tries to wash hands of Bolt and MtR, too. I wonder why he/they didn't just throw those three in with Exploration, since they do fit there.

[Avaitor]

I like seeing the Renaissance divided into separate parts- there was and is a different level of interest and admiration between Aladdin and Hercules, for instance. I've never been too crazy on lumping everything from The Little Mermaid til the end of the 90's as a Renaissance- there was a definite peak before the end.

[DisneyFan09]

I wonder why they distinguished between the "Computer Era" and the present.

Why not labeling it as the Revival era, due to how it's been labeled as so by Disney fans?

It's interesting that Dave Smith lables the films after the Renaissance era as Renewal & Regeneration. Though they're not technically a part of the Renaissance period, there are still many people who perceives them as so.

[D82]

I like seeing the Renaissance divided into separate parts- there was and is a different level of interest and admiration between Aladdin and Hercules, for instance. I've never been too crazy on lumping everything from The Little Mermaid til the end of the 90's as a Renaissance- there was a definite peak before the end.

I like it too. In my opinion, the first films of the renaissance are definitely superior to the latter ones. I more or less agree with this division of the animation eras, except for the computer age with only those three films which seems a bit odd. The present era is actually uncategorized, but that's normal. I think some time has to pass for us to see it with more perspective and give it a proper name.

[Semaj]

The Computer Age is too on the nose. The first three CGI features were still part of Disney's Exploratory phase, for which it took them time before they found their footing again.

The Changing of the Guard gives Disney's 70's - 80's films a more dignified title. Although many non-Disney fans would not remember these films very well, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Resucers, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and The Fox and the Hound were actually more successful at the time than what is acknowledged today.

[milojthatch]

Yesterday, Disney archivist and historian Dave Smith gave a presentation called "80 Years of Disney Animated Features" during a Tangled screening on the Walt Disney Studios lot that's part of the "Magical Screening Series" for D23 members. I believe this is the first time someone in an official Disney capacity has divided the animation eras and given them titles. This is how they were divided.

While it's cute that Disney has finally "officially" divided their animated feature films into eras, I don't think they should get to dictate such things. Historically, I don't remember the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians or any other past group getting to decide how to divide and label their various eras. It should be an independent source rather that decide such things. That said, now that Disney has come out with this, I doubt anyone with much say will go against it becuase A.) Disney has that much power over the animation historian community and B.) few people will actually care.

If you look at some of these era labels, it's clear how Disney is trying to put positive spins on eras that by ans large would not that beloved.

[D82]

The Computer Age is too on the nose. The first three CGI features were still part of Disney's Exploratory phase, for which it took them time before they found their footing again.

The Changing of the Guard gives Disney's 70's - 80's films a more dignified title. Although many non-Disney fans would not remember these films very well, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Rescuers, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and The Fox and the Hound were actually more successful at the time than what is acknowledged today.

I agree on both things. The Computer Age films should've been part of the Exploratory phase, and I also like The Changing of the Guard label. It's more dignified and pretty accurate actually. There are some great films in that era and some of them were quite successful at their time as you said, they were just part of a transition/experimental phase.

While it's cute that Disney has finally "officially" divided their animated feature films into eras, I don't think they should get to dictate such things. Historically, I don't remember the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians or any other past group getting to decide how to divide and label their various eras. It should be an independent source rather that decide such things. That said, now that Disney has come out with this, I doubt anyone with much say will go against it becuase A.) Disney has that much power over the animation historian community and B.) few people will actually care.

If you look at some of these era labels, it's clear how Disney is trying to put positive spins on eras that by ans large would not that beloved.

Yeah, it's obvious they've done that. Disney wouldn't say anything bad about their films. I agree that they shouldn't be the ones to decide things like that, but I don't think that division will prevail, but the public/fans or animation historians' categorization, as it usually happens.

[SWillie!]

Poking my head up from the abyss to say it's irritating that they wouldn't go with the WIDELY agreed-upon "Disney Renaissance" label instead of the "Second Golden Age"

Also, strange that WDAS has clearly included Bolt in pieces of promo material celebrating their current run, but here it's been tossed back in with Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons.

[milojthatch]

Poking my head up from the abyss to say it's irritating that they wouldn't go with the WIDELY agreed-upon "Disney Renaissance" label instead of the "Second Golden Age"

Also, strange that WDAS has clearly included Bolt in pieces of promo material celebrating their current run, but here it's been tossed back in with Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons.

Strange indeed.