Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson

by Tom Sito

Overview

Some of the most beloved characters in film and television inhabit two-dimensional worlds that spring from the fertile imaginations of talented animators. The movements, characterizations, and settings in the best animated films are as vivid as any live action film, and sometimes seem more alive than life itself. In this case, Hollywood's marketing slogans are fitting; animated stories are frequently magical, leaving memories of happy endings in young and old alike. However, the fantasy lands animators create bear little resemblance to the conditions under which these artists work. Anonymous animators routinely toiled in dark, cramped working environments for long hours and low pay, especially at the emergence of the art form early in the twentieth century. In Drawing the Line, veteran animator Tom Sito chronicles the efforts of generations of working men and women artists who have struggled to create a stable standard of living that is as secure as the worlds their characters inhabit. The former president of America's largest animation union, Sito offers a unique insider's account of animators' struggles with legendary studio kingpins such as Jack Warner and Walt Disney, and their more recent battles with Michael Eisner and other Hollywood players. Based on numerous archival documents, personal interviews, and his own experiences, Sito's history of animation unions is both carefully analytical and deeply personal. Drawing the Line stands as a vital corrective to this field of Hollywood history and is an important look at the animation industry's past, present, and future. Like most elements of the modern commercial media system, animation is rapidly being changed by the forces of globalization and technological innovation. Yet even as pixels replace pencils and bytes replace paints, the working relationship between employer and employee essentially remains the same. In Drawing the Line, Sito challenges the next wave of animators to heed the lessons of their predecessors by organizing and acting collectively to fight against the enormous pressures of the marketplace for their class interests—and for the betterment of their art form.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813124070
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	10/06/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	440
Sales rank:	747,789
Product dimensions:	6.13(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Tom Sito is an animator, director, and adjunct professor in the television and cinema departments at the University of Southern California and at the University of California at Los Angeles. His screen credits include Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, and The Lion King. In 1998, Animation Magazine named him as one of the most important people in animation.

Editorial Reviews

Drawing the Line contains the best account yet of the 1941 Walt Disney strike, with documentation of the union side.

London Review of Books

Drawing the Line provides an invaluable point of entry for professional scholars who wish to further investigate the intriguing field of artistic unionism.

Labour/Le Travail - Paul Lawrie

"Sito is at his best sorting through the issues arising from [the arrival of computers] given that in a sense all cinema is animation, the demarcation and jurisdictional lines between special effects, digital artists (no more inkers and painters), various managers and supervisors became very complex indeed."

Screening the Past - Rick Thompson

Here is a unique perspective on the history of American animation, written by an artist and director who's also played a key role in his industry's labor movement. The stories he tells are alternately heartbreaking and hilarious... Anyone with more than a passing interest in the world of animation should consider this book a must-read.

LeonardMaltin.com

Sito's connections allowed him access to data and illustrations hard to come by, and he enriches the book with numerous anecdotes gleaned from conversations with top animators and his own 30-year animation experience. Recommended. All readers; all levels.

Choice

The stories he tells are alternately heartbreaking and hilarious, infused with the irreverence that's always characterized this field. Anyone with more than a passing interest in the world of animation should consider this book a must-read.

Leonard Maltin

Sito... crafts an appealing analysis of the heretofore undocumented tensions resulting from the production process of one of America's most enduring cultural media. Drawing the Line is a fine analysis of an intriguing aspect of the labour history made all the more so by the author's obvious passion for the subject and its actors. Thanks to the nature of the subject matter, the reader is treated to a plethora of rare and humorous cartoons and photos which give the narrative a real human dimension. Drawing the Line provides an invaluable point of entry for professional scholars who wish to further investigate the intriguing field of artistic unionism.

University of Toronto Paul Lawrie

[Sito's] marvelous book... provides a witty, passionate, radical insider's view of the American film industry that is indispensable reading for anyone interested in the cinema.

International Socialism

Sito describes the history and fiery personalities behind the formation of the Screen Cartoonists Union, the strikes and walk-outs, the effects of Hollywood blacklisting, and the battles at the bargaining tables.

Man vs. Art

"Sito's connections allowed him access to data and illustrations hard to come by, and he enriches the book with numerous anecdotes gleaned from conversations with top animators and his own 30-year animation experience. Recommended. All readers; all levels." — Choice

"[Sito's] marvelous book... provides a witty, passionate, radical insider's view of the American film industry that is indispensable reading for anyone interested in the cinema." — International Socialism

"The stories he tells are alternately heartbreaking and hilarious, infused with the irreverence that's always characterized this field. Anyone with more than a passing interest in the world of animation should consider this book a must-read." — Leonard Maltin

"Here is a unique perspective on the history of American animation, written by an artist and director who's also played a key role in his industry's labor movement. The stories he tells are alternately heartbreaking and hilarious... Anyone with more than a passing interest in the world of animation should consider this book a must-read." — LeonardMaltin.com

" Drawing the Line contains the best account yet of the 1941 Walt Disney strike, with documentation of the union side." — London Review of Books

"Contains the best account yet of the 1941 Walt Disney strike, with documentation of the union side." — London Review of Books

"Sito... crafts an appealing analysis of the heretofore undocumented tensions resulting from the production process of one of America's most enduring cultural media. Drawing the Line is a fine analysis of an intriguing aspect of the labour history made all the more so by the author's obvious passion for the subject and its actors. Thanks to the nature of the subject matter, the reader is treated to a plethora of rare and humorous cartoons and photos which give the narrative a real human dimension. Drawing the Line provides an invaluable point of entry for professional scholars who wish to further investigate the intriguing field of artistic unionism." — Paul Lawrie, University of Toronto

"Sito is at his best sorting through the issues arising from [the arrival of computers]… given that in a sense all cinema is animation, the demarcation and jurisdictional lines between special effects, digital artists (no more inkers and painters), various managers and supervisors became very complex indeed." — Rick Thompson, Screening the Past

" Drawing the Line provides an invaluable point of entry for professional scholars who wish to further investigate the intriguing field of artistic unionism." — Paul Lawrie, Labour/Le Travail

From the Publisher