From Dogpower to Ratropolis: London in Animated Film

Abstract

Despite London’s popularity as a setting for films across many genres, academic writing rarely touches upon re-imaginings of London in animated film. This chapter demonstrates the creative vitality of the animated tradition’s engagement with London through an exemplary analysis of three fully animated, feature-length films set in the metropolis: 101 Dalmatians (1961), The Great Mouse Detective (1986), and Flushed Away (2006). These mainstream films all feature anthropomorphic creatures as protagonists, structuring their narratives as comic melodramas, whose conflictual elements play off cultural anxieties, as well as broad stereotypes. All these films embrace a relatively realistic aesthetic. However, the authors argue that the characteristic licence of the animated form to develop central themes through gags and fantasy devices, combined with the capacity of animal protagonists to render conventional viewpoints strange, enable the films to explore aspects of London in playful and distinctive ways. Moreover, the setting of each film in a different period (mid-twentieth century, fin-de-siècle and twenty-first century respectively) constructs a layered historical imaginary. This is particularly evident in the way their respective narratives respond to changing economic pressures and the development of consumer culture. In this respect, especially, the films’ creative re-envisaging of London landmarks, caricatured stereotypes and pastiche embody conflictual elements that are only partially resolved in the films’ closures. The stereotypes of romanticised London are re-shaped in ways that provide a reflection and (to some extent) interrogation of emergent social and cultural anxieties of the time.