Hey, thanks for putting up an ask blog! Don't know if tumblr is the best place to put it for social media engagement, but then again Neil Gaiman seems to be enjoying himself so who am I to judge?
I have a whole bunch of questions, and I'm not sure if it'd be annoying to flood your inbox with them, so feel free to pick and choose any of these to reply.
Questions for Dawn: who would you consider to be the animated 'it' girl right now?
What do you think about the recent trend of 'fleshwashing' that Disney has been pushing when it comes to remakes? Is this part of a bias against toons when it comes to casting?
In your opinion, who do you think is the best 'old-school' toon who still actively performs?
Questions for Doris: Has toontown managed to avoid the plague of gentrification that hit a lot of other older neighborhoods in LA?
Is there a union for animated actors? If there is, how effective is it in your opinion? Have things gotten better or worse for animated actors over the years?
Did you ever get to know your animator? If not, would you have wanted to know them?
We should probably get a reddit at some point. Everyone on tumblr has been amazing though. We do have an instagram, @dawn_doodle and @dorisdoodle_toon.
There's also a fanmade discord! One we need to check on more after we're done...preparing some new things.
Who do I think is the current it girl of animation? It changes so fast, but my vote right now is POMNI! Who doesn't feel like Pomni like daily? Also, indie!
Check back in a month when my answer may change again!
What do we think of all these live action remakes? I still don't mind them too much, but Avatar on netflix might be unnecessary. I'm starting to wear thin. Doris gave a rambling answer on this before and I don't think her opinion has changed.
Best old School toon still in business? I think we actually have an agreement on this one and that's this 2D Girl boss!
Was Toon town able to avoid any gentrification? Here's Doris with a history lesson:
As some people know, ToonTown was left to the toons, and that was great. We could vote for changes in the town and run it ourselves, but that didn't mean we were separate from California and certain laws. So it was devastating when it was decided that the land we lived on wasn't fully ours and the decision to build a freeway system was still being considered. This was in the 50s and I had already moved out of ToonTown, but I heard about the protests and letters written to Earl Warren.
None of it helped, and in 1956, Eisenhower signed the highway act and a freeway was constructed. So the town wasn't as saved as the movie "Who Frames Roger Rabbit" lets you believe.
Since the toons owned ToonTown, they couldn't just completely destroy it. We were just told to move. So the town is split up into districts. There's one near Disneyland, another a few streets from Universal. Always near studios. They like keeping an eye on their assets. So at least we got to keep the town in some way.
Is there a union for toons? There have been attempts. But in the end were considered intellectual property of the studios. fully owned and by contract from the moment the first line is sketched. A lot of older toons have a little more freedom from those contracts. By older, I'm talking Bugs Bunny and the Peanuts kids. That's starting to get harder though as studios are stating to hold a tighter grip on animation. It's less a creative thought process and more business. Doris says it's colder in a behind closed doors way. I say that cold is starting to leak into the outside. So yeah, no union, especially for newly drawn stars, and well...things aren't exactly getting better.
Did we get to know our creators?
Doris did!
We all do I guess while being drawn. but it's not as personal now. I was kinda made through a committee. So there are artists who really care and I would've wanted to get to know them, but there are also execs, studio owners, managers, all hovering around to check on their investment. And once approved, you are under studio control. It's nice if the artists can stick around at the studio, but most times they're laid off once the creation is done and they need to go work at another place. This goes into that whole colder thing. From what Doris has shown me, it was a little more fun before. Animators and toons would just hang out I guess.
They would even have fun with their voice actors.
Today, studios want big celebrities to give us our voices. So they usually come in to lay down the track and then leave with the paycheck. Not all though, I heard Jack Black like to see the characters he's given a voice too. It just doesn't happen often.
Sorry it took a while to get to your question! We're trying to get a few things going right now so our timing is way off.
Also, a list of questions is always good, keep em coming!
It's the 35th anniversary of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Feels like a good day to repost this comic. I'm currently working on making this a graphic novel with redone art and all original characters
i dont play genshin but i do ocasionally read abt the lore on the fandom wiki and i am currently intrigued by fatui harbingers lore so I started reading it a bit (mostly skimming because i dont actually understand some of the terms ahaha im assuming its places and other organizations? idk man.) anyway. i saw someone mention pantalone and economics in the same sentence in a tweet so i decided to look him up and.
Not every toon is given a Donald Duck family tree. So in 1954, Peter Pan along with Annie Warbucks opened a home for Children Drawn without parents. A place to help the abundance of characters being made for cartoons.
The first residents included Tillie Tiger and Elmer Elephant (drawn 1936) the cat's from Mickey's orphans (drawn 1931) and the mice from Giantland (drawn 1933).
Owned: No, library
Page count: 133
My summary: The true-life story of three Indigenous Australian girls who were taken from their families in the 1930s, and made the long walk home along the rabbit-proof fence.
My rating: 4/5
My commentary:
I did not know this was a book. What I mean by this is that I had heard of the film adaptation of this book, and had been meaning to watch it for a while, but I wasn't aware that it was an adaptation of a book until I saw it on the shelves at work. That recognition, as well as an interest in the subject matter at large, led me to pick this up and give it a try. It's an odd little volume, slim and concise in its storytelling, yet portraying a fascinating little glimpse into Australia's indigenous history. This seems to be a rerelease to tie into the film's release, as apparently the original book was called Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence. Trivia fact for you. Anyway, this was an intriguing little book, and I'm very glad I read it.
This book is about the Stolen Generations - in particular, an incident in the lives of the author's mother and aunts (Molly Kelly, Daisy Kadibil, and Gracie Cross) in the 1930s as they were forcibly taken from their families to be educated in white society, trained as a domestic servant. The three girls ran away on their first day, and managed to trek 1600 kilometers back home using the skills they had learned in their home communities. They were Martu indigenous people, the daughters of white men and Aboriginal women, who had lived with their Martu families until the authorities decided to take them. The feat of walking all the way home would be impressive alone, never mind that the girls were 14, 8, and 11 years old at the time. The book is told in a quasi-narrative style, drawn largely from the testimony of Molly and Daisy (Gracie had passed away at this point) as told to Pilkington. There is some outside research to corroborate the facts as-told, including the white officials' hunt for the girls.
As ever with this style of biography, I am leery about the subjects' ability to directly recall direct speech, but this book doesn't annoy me with it - I think because the speech comes off here as more representational of what might have been said than something meant to be 100% factially accurate? Either way. This is a very engaging story. You really feel for the girls and their journey, particularly later in the narrative as we see them struggle to obtain food and suffer from injuries to their legs and feet. Still, their ingenuity and resourcefulness must be credited. They covered their tracks expertly, and the plan to follow the titular rabbit-proof fence was both incredibly smart and serves almost as an apt metaphor for the girls' situation. The fence was erected in an attempt to solve a problem the white settlers had created for themselves - the proliferation of rabbits in Western Australia - but the effort was largely futile. Similarly, the white settlers had created a 'problem' in their blinkered attempts to 'civilise' Aboriginal children, which did not end up completely crushing Aboriginal culture despite their efforts. This book, and this story, and the lives of these girls, are a testament to that.
Next, more facts, as we delve into the lives of women in the American West.
So I was watching The Great Gatsby cuz its one of my favs for studying cinematography (the visuals are always so stunning and aesthetic I swear) and I couldn’t help but notice that the Lana Del Rey song “Young and Beautiful” was kind of perfect for Doris narratively. Then I remembered in Chapter 27 where she revealed a worldbuilding fact for the toons universe, Toons are basically immortal to the humans. They never die. They just keep on living, year after year, seeing everyone forget they ever existed. I thought this song was perfect for our forgotten little Hollywood star! The fact that the message of the song is about questioning someone’s loyalty and unconditional love juxtaposed to Doris who was set to be a star of the animation industry only to be blacklisted and fade into obscurity really intrigued me! So this piece is kind of demonstrating what would happen if Doris did pay the price to become famous?
Doris Doodle belongs to @hasanistories
U can read the actual story on Webtoon https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/doris-doodle/list?title_no=523800
Follow Dawn and Doris on their official tumblr ask-blog @dawnanddorisqna
Follow Dawn on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dawn_doodle/?hl=en
And visit the official website https://www.dorisdoodle.com/
Doris, since you were acting in the Forties, did you ever get to meet Roger Rabbit and Jessica Rabbit? Are they nice people? (Also, in this universe, is "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" considered a biopic based on a true story?)
Thank you for the question Chrysalis,
I've only met them at a promotional event for the film. So I can't say I'm friends with them, but there were very nice, and very close to each other. I've heard Roger has been trying to get his career going again and I hope he does. Jessica shows up at show events like concerts for Lizzo and big premieres. She's still a big name.
They were handing out photos and I managed to get one of each. Baby Herman was escorted out early so I missed him.
The events in Who framed Roger Rabbit are based on true events, but like every film biopic, the story has a sweeter ending on screen. ToonTown was left to the toons, and that was great. We could vote for changes in the town and run it ourselves, but that didn't mean we were separate from California and certain laws. So it was devastating when it was decided that the land we lived on wasn't fully ours and the decision to build a freeway system was still being considered. This was in the 50s and I had already moved out of ToonTown, but I heard about the protests and letters written to Earl Warren.
None of it helped, and in 1956, Eisenhower signed the highway act and a freeway was constructed. So the town wasn't as saved as the movie lets you believe.
Since the toons owned ToonTown, they couldn't just completely destroy it. We were just told to move. So the town is split up into districts. There's one near Disneyland, another a few streets from Universal. Always near studios. They like keeping an eye on their assets. So at least we got to keep the town in some way.
I think I asked for people to share Doris's story a week ago and now the page has gained over 1000 new views!! Thank you everyone!! Please keep getting the word out on Doris and Dawn and I'll keep pushing for some kind of adaptation...fingers crossed!