This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 17 December 2016.
WALT DISNEY: Saturday, BBC Two
TIME COMMANDERS: Monday, BBC Four
If
we know one thing about Walt Disney it’s that he wasn’t, despite urban mythology,
cryogenically frozen following his death in 1966.
According to the solidly
revealing documentary, WALT DISNEY,
he also wasn’t the bigoted right-wing tyrant that some biographers would have
you believe.
Instead,
I was left with the impression of an essentially decent if politically naïve
man whose tireless, even reckless, drive towards perfection could sometimes spill
over into ruthlessness.
Episode
one of this two-part profile (it concludes on 17 December) examined how, from
humble beginnings, he eventually built one of the most powerful entertainment
empires on the planet.
A
hugely ambitious idealist, he saw the potential of movie animation when the
industry was still in its infancy. Like so many early Hollywood legends, this
was the story of a talented, enterprising visionary who created a form of art
and entertainment that simply didn’t exist before.
The
only animator and film producer to become as internationally famous as his
creations, Uncle Walt – he insisted that his often long-suffering employees
always referred to him as Walt - was a jovial extrovert who loved being the
centre of attention. With his slick coiffeur, pencil-moustache and appealing
smile, he even looked like a film star.
Yet
despite his self-made image as a humble purveyor of populist family
entertainment, in private Disney craved acceptance as a serious artist.
Considering the incredible technical innovations he and his profoundly talented
team devised, no wonder he felt snubbed when masterpieces such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – the
first animated feature-length film - were only awarded with condescending
‘special’ Oscars.
It’s
also unsurprising that he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1931. He expected his
staff to work as hard as he did, which was into the ground. Their painstaking
efforts reaped phenomenal results via expert in-house lectures on cubism, impressionism
and expressionism. He even encouraged
them to take acting classes, so they could study their own faces and movements
in pursuit of realism.
The
result was animation of unprecedented emotional richness and visual depth. When
the audience cried at Snow White’s death during the film’s premiere, Disney knew
he’d succeeded in creating a whole new art-form.
Obsessive
innovator, dubious taskmaster, romantic ideologue, soft conservative, Walt
Disney was above all else a genius.
The
distant past came alive via computer animation in TIME COMMANDERS, a game show in which members of the public
commandeer legendary battles from history.
Inexplicably
hosted by MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace,
the latest series began in 202 BCE, as a trio of wrestlers from Glasgow
re-enacted Ancient Rome vs Hannibal’s Carthaginians with three board game
enthusiasts from somewhere unimaginably twee and middle-class.
The
fun derives from watching the teams becoming swept up in whatever the hell is
going on – it’s never quite clear - especially when they start bickering among
themselves. Meanwhile, Wallace reiterates his unique talent for shouting
over-excitedly – “You are getting mullered in the middle there!” – as a phalanx
of experts offer urgent commentary.
Unless
he was employed as a human cannonball fired at ferocious velocity, he’s
literally the last man you’d want by your side in the heat of battle.
The
splendidly named combat historian Mike Loades, a man so bellicose he makes
Wallace sound like an ailing dormouse, was overshadowed by white-jeaned, pony-tailed
action specialist Gordon Summers, who risked death by choking on his own
swaggering self-regard. Make no mistake, this is a man who chose this line of
work purely to buckle his swash while avoiding arrest.
I
bet he uses his collection of Carthaginian javelins as a chat-up line.
Mildly
educational and fairly entertaining, Time
Commanders is a charmingly ridiculous distillation of the BBC’s core
values.
Even
Lord Reith, who knew the Carthaginians personally, would grudgingly approve.
No comments:
Post a Comment