Animation and Memory

Animation and Memory looks at the part memory plays in animation and at how the medium can work as a technology of remembering and forgetting. In doing so, it creates a meeting point between two growing fields, animation studies and memory studies.

The essays draw on many kinds of animation, including stop motion, computer animation, cell-animated cartoons and painted animation, and ask how each can work as a representational medium. The book has five parts, each approaching the link between animation and memory through a different lens: materiality, corporeality, animation techniques, the city, and animated documentaries.

Across a variety of case studies and contexts, the contributors take up questions such as how animated films bring forth personal and collective pasts, what role found footage, objects and sound play in the material and affective dimensions of animation, and how animation can serve political ends.

The book is meant for academic readers and for a wider audience interested in animation studies, memory studies, cultural studies, comparative visual arts and media studies. The introductory chapter is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.