LCV Winter 2012 - (Page 17)

he also accepts interns from Centenary who get firsthand experience working with animation and film. the staff grew as well, bulking up from two and a half people, to more than 40 Bots now inhabiting the studio, many of them graduates of the ringling school of design or from the school of design and Production at the north Carolina school of the arts. the technology people often come from texas a&m. mostly from the south, the bright and creative team is close, often socializing at pool parties or watching movies together at the studio. INSPIRATION FROM LIFE EXPERIENCES where do the story ideas come from? Joyce claims much of his work is autobiographical. the rolie Polies caricature members of his own family, which he calls “a congenial horde of southern screwballs.” almost everything in A Day with Wilbur Robinson has some basis in truth, he says, even the singing frogs. as a boy Joyce raised frogs from tadpoles, and their trilling sounds filled the summer air. since his family enjoyed listening to Louis armstrong records, Joyce combined the two experiences in Wilbur Robinson by creating animated frogs that sing like Louis armstrong. sometimes the genesis of a story element is less literal. he claims that writing is his way of dealing with both the good and the painful things in his life. in elementary school, for example, he coped with math anxiety by making stories and drawings in which “the vengeful number 5s” did battle with a child who had a giant eraser cannon that would eradicate them. the truth is that Joyce’s ideas can come from anything — an old movie, a song, a random observation. George Shrinks, is based on King Kong — in reverse. where King Kong was too big for everything, George spends his time in a world in which he is too small. whatever their source, the stories are marked by an absence of adult cynicism and the presence of a boisterous imagination. michael Patrick hearn quotes Joyce as saying: “i try to make television that actually stimulates that animation gland and drives [young viewers] almost into an imaginative conniption fit. i want them so jazzed after watching one of my shows that they can hardly stand it, that they have to go out and tell somebody or do something or reenact what they have seen by using imaginative play.” Part of the attraction of william Joyce’s works is that beneath the fantasy and whimsy lie important themes. repeatedly the reader/viewer is confronted with the importance of responsibility, love, friendship, kindness, and curiosity. the characters demonstrate the value of believing in possibilities, experiencing the power of daydreams and practicing basic, everyday goodness. a comment made in E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth’s Core! makes it clear that at the top of the pyramid of good things is the imagination. speaking of a magical book written by Katherine, one of the major characters in E. Aster Bunnymund, the narrator says: “the ink and paper she used were ordinary, but her mind, her imagination, was what gave the words and pictures their great power: the power to connect her to anyone who read her stories.” the observation seems to identify the source of the extraordinary pull of Joyce’s own works as well. the imagination is working overtime at moonbot studios these days, producing an abundance of projects. Chief among them is the “Guardians of Childhood” series, which will appear in picture book, chapter book, and film form. (Rise of the Guardians, the film based on the book series that was released on nov. 21, has already received the hollywood animation award at this year’s 16th-annual hollywood film festival and awards.) the 12 books will be “ F YOU REALLY LOVE TO WRITE,” JOYCE SAYS, “AND YOU REALLY LOVE TO DRAW, YOU JUST HAVE TO KEEP DOING IT NO MATTER WHAT ANYBODY SAYS.” I Novelist Ray Bradbury was the guest of honor at a reception in William Joyce’s home after Bradbury gave a talk at Centenary College in 1995. At one point in the evening, Bradbury wondered if anyone knew of an obscure movie title reference. Joyce recognized it immediately, prompting a very pleased Bradbury to exclaim, “That’s my boy!” Winter 2012-13 • Louisiana CuLturaL Vistas 17 PHOTO BY NEIL JOHNSON 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LCV Winter 2012

LCV Winter 2012

https://www.nxtbook.com/leh/lcvwinter2012/lcvwinter2012
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com