Class Note 1997
Issue
July-August 2022
Phil Lord and Chris Miller recently published an opinion piece in Variety criticizing how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences handles animated film categories, especially noticeable when Encanto won the Best Animated Feature award. The award presenters, who all have played Disney princesses, noted, “So many kids watch these movies over and over…and over and over and over….I think some parents out there know exactly what we’re talking about.”
“Framing the five Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Feature as a corporate product for kids that parents must begrudgingly endure could be dismissed as simply careless,” Phil and Chris wrote, but “that carelessness has become routine.”
They recalled how a studio executive once told a group of animators they might one day “graduate to live-action.” Another executive commented one of the duo’s animated movies “was so enjoyable it reminded them of a ‘real movie.’ ”
Phil and Chris noted that animated films “routinely demonstrate excellence in photography, design, costumes, and performance” and that 25 percent of the 50 highest-grossing films are animated. They called on the academy to invite a respected filmmaker to present the award and “frame animation as cinema.” “Surely no one set out to diminish animated films, but it’s high time we set out to elevate them.”
Read the piece online and look up #NewDeal4Animation to learn more about Phil’s and Chris’s efforts to negotiate with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to get studios to pay animation workers fairly.
On April 26, in “A Conversation with Kristi Clemens About Gender Equity and Sexual Respect,” Michele Lamberti interviewed by Zoom the College’s assistant vice president for equity and compliance and Title IX coordinator. In an engaging hour, Clemens discussed her role, the significance and implications of Title IX, and how that plays out on campus every day.
Look for lots of news next time from our 25th reunion in Hanover!
—Jason Casell, 10106 Balmforth Lane, Houston, TX 77096; jhcasell@gmail.com
“Framing the five Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Feature as a corporate product for kids that parents must begrudgingly endure could be dismissed as simply careless,” Phil and Chris wrote, but “that carelessness has become routine.”
They recalled how a studio executive once told a group of animators they might one day “graduate to live-action.” Another executive commented one of the duo’s animated movies “was so enjoyable it reminded them of a ‘real movie.’ ”
Phil and Chris noted that animated films “routinely demonstrate excellence in photography, design, costumes, and performance” and that 25 percent of the 50 highest-grossing films are animated. They called on the academy to invite a respected filmmaker to present the award and “frame animation as cinema.” “Surely no one set out to diminish animated films, but it’s high time we set out to elevate them.”
Read the piece online and look up #NewDeal4Animation to learn more about Phil’s and Chris’s efforts to negotiate with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to get studios to pay animation workers fairly.
On April 26, in “A Conversation with Kristi Clemens About Gender Equity and Sexual Respect,” Michele Lamberti interviewed by Zoom the College’s assistant vice president for equity and compliance and Title IX coordinator. In an engaging hour, Clemens discussed her role, the significance and implications of Title IX, and how that plays out on campus every day.
Look for lots of news next time from our 25th reunion in Hanover!
—Jason Casell, 10106 Balmforth Lane, Houston, TX 77096; jhcasell@gmail.com