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A review by elisabethshelby
Ink & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney's Animation by Mindy Johnson
5.0
First off, be warned, this is a coffee table book in size and weight. Don't think you'll be able to easily tote it on mass transit like I did. People will look, and your back will hate you.
Putting that minor gripe aside, though, this book is fantastic from cover to cover. It dives into the history of females who began and ran large parts of the WDS animation team, from the 1920s up to just about modern day. The size of the book is necessary, as there were and are a lot of women who helped make this company what it is today. The details and little stories will suck you in, and I found myself wishing I could meet some of these creative souls.
I feel the book is fairly well balanced between the good and the bad - there is praise for WD being innovative with his hiring of women for positions often claimed by men, but criticism when women were met with glass ceilings in their careers. If you pick this book up thinking it's going to be a love fest for everything Walt did, you will be disappointed. However, for all of his shortcomings as a human, this book does illuminate how much WDS needed women from the very beginning to survive and thrive.
I recommend this book to any Disney lover, feminist, mid-century Americana history nerd, or a combination of any of those. The details is ridiculous, but you'll be glad the time was invested to tell the story - the ENTIRE story - of a much overlooked part of Disney's past.
Putting that minor gripe aside, though, this book is fantastic from cover to cover. It dives into the history of females who began and ran large parts of the WDS animation team, from the 1920s up to just about modern day. The size of the book is necessary, as there were and are a lot of women who helped make this company what it is today. The details and little stories will suck you in, and I found myself wishing I could meet some of these creative souls.
I feel the book is fairly well balanced between the good and the bad - there is praise for WD being innovative with his hiring of women for positions often claimed by men, but criticism when women were met with glass ceilings in their careers. If you pick this book up thinking it's going to be a love fest for everything Walt did, you will be disappointed. However, for all of his shortcomings as a human, this book does illuminate how much WDS needed women from the very beginning to survive and thrive.
I recommend this book to any Disney lover, feminist, mid-century Americana history nerd, or a combination of any of those. The details is ridiculous, but you'll be glad the time was invested to tell the story - the ENTIRE story - of a much overlooked part of Disney's past.