The Power of the Line

Just recently, thanks to Netflix, Corrie and I got to see the Disney animated film The Princess and the Frog, the "traditionally" animated feature.

The story, set in the teens and twenties New Orleans and rural bayou Louisiana, is lightweight but fun. The prejudice at the time is there, but not directly spoken too.

The animation is spectacular, and the music...well, it was the first time for me since the South Park that I honestly didn't wince when characters began singing. Uhh, I mean I liked it, which I really had given up on, liking music in musicals I mean.

The animation though, the colors, the design, the look of the bayou and the Crescent City, are inspired. One aspect of the animation was the inspiration of the name of this post.

Computer animation is the vogue of this day, and why argue really, when Pixar makes such incredible art and is the cream of the crop of that industry. They, as well as the other groups, pull feeling and conflict and drama out of the volume created by the animation style, similar to claymation.

A character in The Princess and the Frog named Louis, a trumpet playing alligator, exquisitely shows off the power of the line (versus volume). Louis is a talented fraidy-cat, which contrasts with his rotund body. Watching him dance and move and walk, you get the sense of how different the character would look if it were animated with computers and had that volume.

A similar notion/moment can be seen in a Halloween episode of The Simpsons, when both Homer and Bart cross over into the 3rd dimension fans get to see something inherently "wrong"; the stark difference between the styles is made plain and obvious.

What The Princess and the Frog has done (besides make it possible for Disney to continue traditionally animated features (one every two years)) is remind us what the line can do, how powerful it can still be.