Winsor McCay, a pioneering American cartoonist and animator, left an indelible mark on the early development of animation, yet his career was often characterized by a struggle between his artistic vision and the commercial demands of the burgeoning industry. His 1918 film, "The Sinking of the Lusitania," stands as a testament to his dedication, innovation, and personal conviction, created largely outside the confines of his demanding day job. McCay envisioned
animation as a profound art form, a perspective that often put him at odds with the evolving, more commercially driven practices of his time, ultimately leading to a sense of dissatisfaction with the industry he helped create.
The Labor of a Visionary Animator
McCay's approach to animation was intensely personal and incredibly laborious, reflecting his commitment to artistic quality over speed or commercial expediency. For "The Sinking of the Lusitania," he spent twenty-two months on production, working on the film in his off-hours at home, after fulfilling his daily obligations of providing illustrations for William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. He also self-financed the project, underscoring his deep personal investment in its creation. This dedication was typical of McCay's methods; for his earlier film, "Gertie the Dinosaur," an assistant painstakingly traced and retraced backgrounds thousands of times, a process that highlighted the immense effort involved in his animation.
Even with the adoption of cel technology for "The Sinking of the Lusitania," which was designed to reduce workload, McCay's process remained demanding. While cels allowed dynamic drawings to be layered over static backgrounds, saving considerable drawing time, the cels themselves were thick and had a rough surface that could hold various drawing materials. The amount of rendering required caused these cels to buckle, necessitating a modified loose-leaf binder by his assistant, John Fitzsimmons, to keep them aligned for photographing. McCay himself stated that it took him about eight weeks to produce just eight seconds' worth of film, illustrating the meticulous and time-consuming nature of his artistic pursuit.
Conflict with Commercialism and Hearst's Influence
McCay's artistic independence and his commitment to animation as an art form often clashed with the commercial realities and the directives of his employer, William Randolph Hearst. Hearst, who was opposed to the U.S. joining World War I, initially required McCay to produce anti-war and anti-British editorial cartoons. McCay's decision to create "The Sinking of the Lusitania" as a patriotic, anti-German film was a direct rebellion against Hearst's stance, undertaken on his own time and with his own money. This act of defiance highlighted the tension between McCay's personal beliefs and his professional obligations.
The commercial pressures on McCay's animation career intensified over time. While "The Sinking of the Lusitania" was admired by his animation contemporaries and recognized as a "monumental work," it did not achieve significant commercial success compared to his earlier, more popular films like "Little Nemo" or "Gertie the Dinosaur." After 1921, Hearst, upon learning that McCay was devoting more time to animation than to his newspaper illustrations, required him to give up animation altogether. This directive effectively curtailed McCay's animation output, leading to several planned projects, such as a collaboration with "Jungle Imps" author George Randolph Chester, a musical film called "The Barnyard Band," and a film about Americans' role in World War I, never coming to fruition.
A Vision Ahead of Its Time and Lasting Legacy
Later in his life, Winsor McCay publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the direction the animation industry had taken. He lamented how animation, which he envisioned as a profound art, had largely devolved into a trade focused on mass production and comedic shorts, often serving merely as support for feature films. His skills and artistic vision were, in many ways, ahead of his time. Animation biographer John Canemaker noted that McCay's techniques and artistic ambition were beyond what most animators of his era could follow or replicate, which meant his groundbreaking work did not immediately revolutionize the industry's standard practices.
It was not until the feature films produced by Disney in the 1930s, according to Canemaker, that the animation industry truly began to catch up with McCay's level of technique and artistic sophistication. Despite the commercial struggles and the curtailment of his animation career, McCay's legacy as a visionary artist remains strong. "The Sinking of the Lusitania" is preserved in the National Film Registry, a testament to its enduring importance. His pioneering efforts in realism, narrative depth, and the use of animation for serious subject matter laid foundational groundwork, proving that animation could be a powerful and respected art form, even if the industry itself took decades to fully embrace his artistic ideals.
