In his writing Michael North discusses the work of many arts academics including Crafton, Adorno, Bergson and Benjamin. North compares varying scholarship and presents his own ideas on ‘Machine-Age Comedy.’ Modernity and the Comic form is explored by Michael North through cinema, with a closer look at the film style of animation.
A franchise that perfectly encapsulates many of the comments made by North is Aardman’s iconic duo Wallace & Gromit. North discusses ‘stop action routines’ and ‘animations of this kind, which depend so obviously on the mechanics of film.’ First release in 1989 the slapstick comedic family film series Wallace & Gromit is created using stop-motion animation and clay figurines. Despite using the same stop-motion techniques that were present at the dawn of animation, Aardman’s animations are still hugely popular and award winning. A large part of their success is due to the fact the audience is enthralled by the ‘mechanics’ of the film. Just like original cinema audiences these films are ‘exciting for the blindly simple reason that [the creators] made things move.’ The studio is able to take this ‘inanimate’ world and bring it ‘to life.’ This process can then by enjoyed by all members of the audience. The idea of machines and technology is present throughout North’s writing and is a key focus of Wallace & Gromit. These films ‘spread the message of technology’ with the mad old man and resourceful dog’s constant inventing and building of crazy machinery. The most recent film, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, Uk, 2024) even showed the ‘realties of modern life by comically educated audiences about the possibilities and dangers of AI. The audience saw the impact of Wallace’s state-of the art smart gnome, Norbot. By giving movement to these clay objects the creators show the rapid development of technology which never remains ‘fixed in place.’ These films show how the basis of animated comedy and ‘the humour inherent in film movement itself’ has remained ‘unchanging’, even down to the ‘obligatory high speed chase’ as the duo endeavour (twice) to catch the dubious Feather McGraw.
https://youtu.be/jrmZIgVoQw4?si=DU60w27QRI4b2FmE
https://youtu.be/xSfzttsLSmc?si=Dt86PgWlBbNsw2yq
Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out (Nick Park, UK, 1989)
Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (Nick Park, UK, 1993)
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, UK, 2024)
Michael North, Machine-Age Comedy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 3-23, 201-203.