User:Nodeusexmackina/Draft of Black and White (1932)

Black and White (1932) Directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Leonid Amalrik

Themes
A short animated cartoon produced in the Soviet Union that address issues of Racism in the Jim Crow South. Themes of racial injustice, racial violence, working-class solidarity, and Communism dominate the film. Last image of the film is a statue of Lenin.

Aesthetic Approach
Stylistically the animated short, like many other European animated films, places emphasis the communication of ideas and messages; a direct contrast to the style favored by Disney, which sought to "create relatable characters with expressive personalities and attitudes."

Walt Disney's reaction
According to Amid Amid, author of Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation, wrote: Black and White "generated a lot of enthusiasm amongst the studio's graphically oriented artists," however, Walt Disney, upon seeing the film, stated that he was unimpressed.

Possible connections to the Black Left
Mezhrabpom, the company that produced Black and White had worked closely with a group of African American intellectuals, including Langston Hughes, prior to the animated short's release. The film intended by Hughes and company, and the Mezhrabpom studio would have consisted of live actors rather than animation. However, a falling out occurred between the black cast and Mezhrabpom. Jack El-Hai, in "Black and Red and White" summarizes Hughes disappointed with the script: "The morning after he read the script, Hughes returned to the Mezhrabpom officials to tell them that the scenario was absurdly plotted and "so mistakenly conceived that it was beyond revision."" According to "Black and Red and White" the film Black and White was "scrapped." In less than one year after the African American artists, actors, and intellectuals had returned to the United States the animated short, Black and White, was released.