“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

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 , , , , . 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

  1. Chris says:

    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

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.