“There were so many things I wanted to say, stream-of-consciousness things, designs and patterns while listening to music. I felt I might be able to say [them] if I had an unending canvas.” — pioneering experimental animator Mary Ellen Bute

Posted on November 21, 2023 by sheila

If ever I was born to write a piece, it’s this one: For Film Comment, I wrote about experimental animator Mary Ellen Bute, and her 1966 adaptation of James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake”. She was a pioneer. Way out in front.

As I wrote, a lot of her work is difficult to see – meaning, not accessible, holed up in archives – so you have to keep your eyes peeled for retrospectives of her work. But some of it is on YouTube, and you can get a sense of what she was about watching these shorts:

Synchromy No. 2 (1936)

Parabola (1937)

Synchromy No. 4 (1938)

Tarantella (1940)

Spook Sport (1940; collab. with Norman McLaren)
This one is funny!

Mary Ellen Bute

This entry was posted in Directors, James Joyce, Movies, On This Day and tagged animation, Finnegans Wake, Ireland, literary adaptation, women directors. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to “There were so many things I wanted to say, stream-of-consciousness things, designs and patterns while listening to music. I felt I might be able to say [them] if I had an unending canvas.” — pioneering experimental animator Mary Ellen Bute

Chris says:

November 28, 2023 at 1:12 am

I can’t believe how early these animation shorts are. Very interesting, as I have never heard of her. Her work must have been an influence on Disney’s Fantasia. Bach’s Toccata in Fugue Minor was even in that movie!

Chris

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