ANIMATION

the art of making inanimate objects appear to move. Animation is an artistic impulse that long predates the movies. History's first recorded animator is Pygmalion of Greek and Roman mythology, a sculptor who created a figure of a woman so perfect that he fell in love with her and begged Venus to bring her to life. Some of the same sense of magic, mystery, and transgression still adheres to contemporary film animation, which has made it a primary vehicle for exploring the overwhelming, often bewildering emotions of childhoodfeelings once dealt with by folktales. Dave Kehr Additional reading Giannalberto Bendazzi, Cartoons (1994); John Halas, Masters of Animation (1987); Jeff Lenburg, The Encyclopdia of Animated Cartoons (1991), and The Great Cartoon Directors (1983); Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and MagicA History of American Animated Cartoons (1980); Charles Solomon, Enchanted DrawingsThe History of Animation (1989). Dave Kehr