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Category Archives: Animation

The Brotherhood of Man (1946)

10:36; U.S.

Director: Robert Cannon

Synopsis: An animated short film sponsored by the United Autoworkers which breaks down various racist ideas of difference among peoples.  In some ways the presentation will seem awkward to a modern audience, but considering when it was made and the intended audience (rank-and-file white workers), it is an impressive document.

 

The Story of Stuff (2000)

20m; U.S

Director: Louis Fox

Synopsis (IMDB): For most of the world, consumption has been the unquestioned duty of every individual. Then garbage activist Annie Leonard brought her two-hour lecture to Free Range who helped her turn it into a 20-minute animated revolution. Shown in thousands of classrooms, endlessly blasted by Fox News, viewed more than 10 million times, The Store of Stuff finally opens the door to a serious cultural dialog about the costs of consumption.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Animation, Consumerism

 

Mouseland (1962?)

Available on YouTube
7:43m (includes intro by Kiefer Sutherland, Tommy Douglas’ grandson)

The Story of Mouseland was a story told first by Clarence Gillis, and later and most famously by Tommy Douglas, leader of the Saskatchewan Co-operative mouselandCommonwealth Federation and, later, the New Democratic Party of Canada, both social democraticparties. It was a political fable expressing the CCF’s view that the Canadian political system was flawed in offering voters a false dilemma: the choice of two parties, neither of which represented their interests.

The mice voted in black cats, which represented the Progressive Conservative Party, and then they found out how hard life was. Then they voted in the white cats, which symbolized the Liberal Party. The story goes on, and a mouse gets an idea that mice should run their government, not the cats. This mouse was accused of being a Bolshevik, and imprisoned. However, the speech concludes by saying you can lock up a mouse or a person, but you cannot lock up an idea.

 

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Chicken Run (2000)

84M; U.S.         

Director: Peter Lord/Nick Park        

Cast: Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha and Phil Daniel

Synopsis (IMDB): Having been hopelessly repressed and facing eventual certain death at the chicken farm where they are held, Rocky the rooster and Ginger the chicken decide to rebel against the evil Mr. and Ms. Tweedy, the farm’s owners. Rocky and Ginger lead their fellow chickens in a great escape from the murderous farmers and their farm of doom.

Trailer