Tom Kemper - Toy Story: A Critical Reading

BFI Film Classics

The BFI Film Classics is a series of books that introduces, interprets and celebrates landmarks of world cinema. Each volume offers an argument for the films classic status, together with discussion of its production and reception history, its place within a genre or national cinema, an account of its technical and aesthetic importance, and in many cases, the authors personal response to the film.

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Laura Mulvey, Birkbeck College, University of London

Alastair Phillips, University of Warwick

Dana Polan, New York University

B. Ruby Rich, University of California, Santa Cruz

Amy Villarejo, Cornell University

Toy Story

a critical reading

Tom Kemper

For Dash and Jack

Tom Kemper 2015

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2015 by

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on behalf of the

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Cover image: Cartoon Cloudscape/Colonel/Getty Images

Series cover design: Ashley Western

Series text design: ketchup/SE14

Images from Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995), Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar; Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter, 1999), Disney Enterprises/Pixar; 100 Cans, Andy Warhol, 1962; Woman with Flowered Hat, Roy Lichtenstein, 1963; Northwest Hounded Police (Tex Avery, 1946), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Newsweek, 27 June 1988; Aladdin (John Musker/Ron Clements, 1992), The Walt Disney Company; Disney promotional film (1957), The Walt Disney Company; Duck Amuck (Chuck Jones, 1953), Warner Bros.; Rabbit Seasoning (Chuck Jones, 1952), Warner Bros.; Wackiki Wabbit (Chuck Jones, 1943), Warner Bros.; Porky in Wackyland (Robert Clampett, 1938), Vitaphone Corporation/Warner Bros.; Bicycle Wheel, Marcel Duchamp, 1913; Talking Tina/Living Doll, The Twilight Zone (Richard C. Sarafian, 1963), Cayuga Productions/CBS.

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This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN 9781844576678

Acknowledgments

I have to thank Dana Polan for supporting an earlier proposal for the series, and the BFI Film Classics Editorial Board for suggesting this title to me as well as for their enthusiasm for my work. An anonymous reader for the press offered an incredibly gracious and constructive response to the first draft. I was very moved by the readers generosity and the final version gained immeasurably from the readers suggestions. Ellen Seiter invited me to speak on my work to her seminar on toys and media, and I thank her and her students for availing me of the opportunity to air some of the ideas here as well as for their feedback. An invited talk at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia offered another opportunity to fine-tune my perspective on the film and I thank the faculty there for an engaging and stimulating conversation. Alison Trope, Paul Leslie, Dana and Ellen read portions and offered important support. Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen shared their early screenplay drafts, production notes and memos, as well as memories of the films initial writing and development process. Jenna Steventon, Sophia Contento and Lucinda Knight guided me through publication with patience and enthusiasm.

Finally, my sons Dash and Jack provided, as always, robust and energetic partners in play, discerning companions in watching hundreds of cartoons (research!), and, with their most wonderful mother, my constant inspiration.

Power Pop

Pixar Studios 1995 film Toy Story, like many great works of popular culture, sustains a dynamic vitality, at times even vulgar and anarchic. It proved instantly appealing to audiences, who continue to find the film engrossing and invigorating. Through its wild innovations and surprising story, the film engages a utopian spirit of freedom and imagination, suspending us from our conventional expectations by celebrating our capacity to dream (toys springing to life). The film galvanises our facility to envision alternative realities and different perspectives, seeing the world afresh from another scale and conjuring up our own memories and spirit of childhood play.

It became the top earning film of 1995 and racked up three Academy Award nominations, including one in the Best Original Screenplay category, a first for an animated feature. The films commercial and artistic success launched computer animation as an exciting new medium, creating a successful alternative to Disney that inspired more companies to invest in animated features, thereby contributing to what many considered a new golden age of animation.

Toy Storys two sequels distinguished themselves no less than the original, as the central themes of the first film gained even greater emotional depth in each iteration. The second film demonstrated a capacity to combine surprising and enticing action while remaining faithful to the originals expressive currents. The third film developed the original movies theme of loss into a stirring exploration of maturity and closure.