Plastic Platitudes

From the collection of

East Anglian Film Archive at the University of East Anglia

The East Anglian Film Archive, the UK's first regional film archive, offers a unique record of the East of England's social and cultural history. As part of the University of East Anglia, we continue to lead moving image heritage research and inspire audience participation through community projects and events. Our collections represent a broad range of amateur and professional creativity, from 1896 to the present day.

Plastic Platitudes

East Anglian Film Archive at the University of East Anglia
1 Jan 1957
Sound
4m

Specially commended by 'Amateur Cine World'. Nineteen fifties claymation by Douglas Butcher offering tongue-in-cheek advice for life.

J.D. Butcher, known by his middle name Douglas, was an accomplished amateur animator and filmmaker from Essex. He made both live action and animated short films and his film, 'Water on the Brain', was the 'first time entrant' winner in the 1955 Competition of the Amateur Cinematographers. In this film, platitudes, those clichéd remarks that we are all guilty of muttering, are here jam-packed into one long clay animated comic monologue.

Butcher's film was produced at the time of a claymation revival; the 1950s saw a growth in clay animation in children's television, and in the movies of the legendary Ray Harryhausen. The film is also clearly a product of its time in terms of race and character stereotyping, despite the disclaimer at the film's beginning.

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From the collection

DIY Animation

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