Animation Theatre: Phil Mulloy

1948- Present

Fig 1. Phil Mulloy

Phil Mulloy is a British animator from Merseyside. He has been a writer as well as a director for life-action and animated films. He studied painting at Ravensbourne College and has won numerous international awards for his work. There is particularly one thing which categories his animations they are definitely not for children! There is something highly original about Mulloys work; it may be his character styling, his aim to include current issues in his stories, or the fact that there are very few animators who tread beyond the soft, fairy-tale Disney like appeal and create something so invocative and shocking. Whichever it is Mulloy makes sure his work isnt forgotten. It may be viewed that Mulloy has always created scandalous films like his more famous ones including the Intolerance series (2000- 2004) however, this isnt so, his 1996 The Winds of Change is a biographical take of a co-workers life and instead of being horrifying to watch, it is touching and moving.

Fig 2. The Winds of Change

This work nonetheless is not what Mulloy is characterised and recognised for, it is his far more disturbing and unsettling animations that have made his name well-known. Mulloy takes contemporary ideas and beliefs and applies and what if? to them producing what can to some be highly amusing while to others astonishing that something of this taste exists in the world of animation. He is undoubtedly a key figure in this take on animation, crafting highly counter typical animated pieces. The provocative work of multi-award winning animator Phil Mulloy stands as a model of satiric grotesque unparalleled in British animation. The antidote to all that is kitsch and sentimental, these direct, witty and acerbic fables, drawn in brush and ink, perceptively comment of human nature and challenge contemporary values. (BFI: Unknown) Just look at Mulloys The History of the World (1993-4), it looks at the discovery of natural processes but unlike most Mulloy refuses to do it discretely and tries to add his usual humorous and disturbing tones such as the scenes where the men are battling with their manhood over the women and the scene where censorship of the female starts to take place such as cutting off the hands of a female who is pleasuring herself.

Fig 3. The History of the World

Phil Mulloy doesnt seem to fear that he will alienate his audiences and make them turn away from what unfolds on the screen, perhaps he rather encourages this act as this would be a great instance of expressing to his audience that contemporary values do not feel comfortable enough to deal with these natural processes he animates something DVD Talks Jeremy Mathews explores. Phil Mulloys work exists somewhere between the realm of the scatological sophomore and the defiant artist. At any moment, the British animator can be offensive, clever, bizarre, obvious, muddled, smug, distinct, or any combination of those traits. It would be easy to brand many of his scenes as pornography if his visuals werent so primitive and ugly that they cancel out any sense of eroticism. He makes sure you always feel uneasy and dirty, never aroused. (Mathews: 2009) Mulloys Intolerance series is a great example of this in that we find it funny how Mulloy creatively creates the aliens known as the Zog but at the same time are grossed out by how he uses what would normally be our heads for the usual sexual acts and when he cuts them off and places them back where we think they should be. It is no way near pornographic because he isnt focusing on the sexual act but rather bizarre ideas of what we view as alien in sex and the fear of an idea taking over as the Zog evidence.

Fig 3. Intolerance Part 1

Mulloy moves his work further away from pornography through his highly original character design. There is something grotesque about the way he produces his characters, they are really simple but at the same time very unattractive with what look like peg teeth and gaping mouths. It wouldnt be strange to think that Mulloy rushed this aspect of his animations because they are messy and dirty looking. However, they work perfectly because they match Mulloys ideologies well and make you focus on the shape of the characters rather than detail through the black silhouette like design, something highly appropriate when you think of Mulloys Zogs. But why are they messy and unattractive characters? It feels suitable to view them as metaphors for the human inside nature, that being the ugly side of us and if we take this view Mulloys characters become beautiful as they signify this idea adeptly. The paintings themselves are simple and unattractive, but taken as a whole, create absolutely gorgeous, expressive panoramas, not only that, but the style fits perfectly with Mulloys brazen storytelling, as its endlessly and undeniably in your face. (Gandert: 2009)

Bibliography
BFI, (Unknown) Phil Mulloy: Extreme Animation http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_48.html (Accessed 29/03/2012) Gandert, Sean, (2009) Salute Your Shorts: Phil Mulloys Extreme Animation http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/07/salute-your-shorts-phil-mulloys-extremeanimation.html (Accessed 29/03/2012) Mathews, Jeremy, (2009) Extreme Animation: Films by Phil Mulloy http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/39395/extreme-animation-films-by-phil-mulloy/ (Accessed 29/03/2012)

List of Illustrations
Fig. 1. Phil Mulloy. [Online image].On hrvatska-animacija.org http://hrvatska-animacija.org/wpcontent/uploads/2010/02/PHIL-MULLOY.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012) Fig. 2. The Winds of Change. [Online image].On cinecouch.com http://cinecouch.com/image/toplist/wind_of_change.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)

Fig. 3. The History of the World. [Online image].On keyframe1.nava.hu http://keyframe1.nava.hu/first_pict/kgy2/mw/mw-12080_1.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012) Fig. 4. Intolerance Part 1. [Online image].On imageshack.us http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/94/intolerance1tk0.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)