Theory, Philosophy and Concepts
Introduction
While animation has never cohered around the pursuit of a single theoretical line of enquiry or a ‘grand theory’, as Husbands and Ruddell explore in the opening chapter of this part, there are nonetheless several theoretical concepts and questions that have emerged as central to understanding animation. These include the fundamental ‘spectacle’ or appeal of animation’s visuality (Gunning), its relationship with reality (Bode and Mihailova) and explorations of animation’s various ‘unique’ capacities in comparison to live-action, in particular its construction of space (Wood) and its relationship with memory (Walden) and performance (Honess Roe). In addition, animation theory has always enjoyed a particularly close and mutually informative relationship with animation practice, as articulated in Paul Ward’s chapter.