Disney frames man’s reality
A new documentary, screening as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival, explores the power of Disney animation, writes James Croot.
"I wanted to change the way people see people like Owen." Roger Ross Williams
Many a filmmaker has been reduced to tears by Hollywood lawyers. Their hopes of securing the rights to a piece of cinematic footage, or a key, evocative song, dashed by corporate suits who don’t think the director’s ‘‘vision’’ matches their client’s. It was a real fear Roger Ross Williams had when he screened test footage of his new documentary Life, Animated for a group of Disney executives. If they denied him access to clips of The Little
Mermaid, The Lion King and the rest of the Mouse House’s back catalogue, he pretty much had no film. How could he tell the story of how repeatedly watching the animation classics transformed the life of Owen Suskind without them?
‘‘I knew it was pretty much unprecedented that Disney would allow the use of their footage, but I had already taken a leap of faith and started shooting,’’ says Williams, who is currently on a week-long trip to the North Island to accompany the finished product as it debuts at the New Zealand International Film Festival.
‘‘I was very nervous when the lights went down on the ‘visual journey’ that I had created to show them how I envisioned the film. But, by the time the lights went up, I could already hear sniffling in the room. As someone later pointed out – ‘God, you made the lawyers at Disney cry, that’s a feat within itself’.
‘‘I think they were all moved because, while they all know that what they’ve created has made a big impact on the cultural landscape, I don’t think they knew it could change someone’s life. I think that really touched them.’’
Williams says he first came across the Disney-loving Suskind through working with his father Ron.
‘‘We’ve known each other for 15 years and were both journalists at ABC. When Ron was writing his [2014] book Life, Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism about how young Owen [a previously bright boy who fell silent and seemingly withdrew from the world at the age of three] was able to reconnect and make sense of what was going on around him through Disney animation, he came to me and said he thought it would make a really good film and I totally, wholeheartedly agreed.’’
Williams, who became the first Afro-American director to win an Oscar in 2010 for his short film
Music by Prudence, says that just weeks after that conversation, he was already shooting footage.
‘‘The Suskinds had a long conversation with Owen [now 23] about things when they decided to write the book and so he was more than happy to be a part of a documentary because he said people tended to look past him and he wanted people to know who he is. I think so many people turn away from people with autism because it makes them feel uncomfortable.
‘‘I wanted to change the way people see people like Owen – show people that people living with autism have something to offer us as a society. I wanted to bring people into his reality. Owen’s world is such a rich and beautiful world and we’re kind of losing out if we’re looking the other way.’’
Williams believes the power of the classic Disney features comes from their ability to take classic fables and stories and update them to deliver lessons for life’s journey. ‘‘Owen used these lessons, stories to interpret the world. I think it also made him quite wise as to the ways of life.’’
Unlike the current generation of computer animation-loving kids, Suskind feels more closely connected to hand-drawn creations, says Williams. ‘‘He feels it’s more intimate – you can feel the emotions of the artists come through. There are stories about how in the early days of Disney, the artists used to use a mirror on their desk to look at how to draw facial expressions. Owen talks about that mirror having ‘such power’.’’
And while Suskind claims to love all the Disney animated features, the director says the ones he talks about most are the modern ‘‘classics’’ – Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The
Lion King and Aladdin. But he won’t ‘‘stream’’ them, watch them ‘‘on-demand’’, or even flick on a Blu-Ray or DVD copy. No, Suskind is an avowed VHS purist, despite its obvious technological drawbacks.
‘‘He prefers VHS, because he controls it frame-by-frame,’’ says Williams. ‘‘That’s how he taught himself to read – by reading the credits. He studies these films. He knows about any imperfections in the animations or repeated shots. He can sit down with the people who created these films and talk about them for hours in detail.
‘‘He also knows all of the voiceover actors and everyone who worked on the films and their complete resumes – he’s like a walking imdb [the online internet movie database].’’
Touring with Suskind and the rest of his family around the US over the past few months, Williams says he has been amazed at the young man’s ability to quote a Disney voice-actor or crew member’s resume back at them, but has also found there is a downside to Suskind’s obsession.
‘‘Every new place we went to, he would drive everyone crazy until he found a second-hand store. He goes in and buys them out of all their Disney VHS tapes.’’
Recent reports from the US have suggested that despite the lack of new VHS players and the dismissal of them as obsolete technology, people are now asking US$5000 to $10,000 for certain Disney ‘‘classics’’.
That’s news to Williams and something that leaves him shocked.
‘‘That means Owen has a fortune sitting in his living room. Wow, there’s his retirement plan then.’’
But, despite Life, Animated‘ s success, 42-year-old Williams will himself have to keep working for a while yet. Next up is a personal film about mass incarceration with CNN Films and a virtual reality project with Australian artist Oscar Raby called Travelling While Black.
‘‘It will give you a VR experience of what it is like to be an African-American travelling in America, both in the present and the past, so you can see that not much has changed,’’ he says, before adding that it is currently a great time to be away from the Mickey Mouse politicking in his homeland.
‘‘Watching that clown show in Cleveland last week [the Republican National Convention] was both painful and scary for a lot of us.’’
Life, Animated is screening as part of the Christchurch leg of the New Zealand International Film Festival at Hoyts Northlands on August 9 (2pm), August 10 (6.15pm) and August 13 (11am). For more information and ticket pricing, see nziff.co.nz