'Wild Minds' Traces The Origins Of Animation — From Blackton And McCay To Disney

Everything I needed to know for Junior High School I learned from cartoons.

Twice a day, before and after school, my local TV station delivered three Warner Brothers Looney Tunes shorts. There, Bugs Bunny gave me master classes in the Brooklyn-accented snark and wise-cracking I aspired to. While my teachers might not have appreciated what I was learning, those dazzling 10-minute comedy masterpieces were also my introduction to what happens at the intersection of animation and excellence.

While my 12-year-old self came for the antics of Bugs, Daffy Duck and the rest, even then I could sense that something else, something very adult, was happening in those cartoons. That's why I've as in the timeless achievement of Disney's . It is also the reason for my delight with the new history of animation by Reid Mitenbuler.