Type Learner,
Will you do us the honor of settle foring our holiday invitation?
Carve 5 minutes out of your holiday schedule to spend time celebrating The Bugs’ Christmas, above.
In addition to supplying temporary respite from the chaos of consumerism and modern expectations, this simple stop-motion story from 1913 is surprisingly effective at chasing away holiday blues.
Not dangerous for a brief with a supporting solid of lifeless bugs.
Animator Ladislas Starevich started his cinematic manipulations of insect automotivecasses early within the twentieth century whereas serving as Director of Kaunas, Lithuania’s Museum of Natural History. He continued the experiment after moving to Moscow, the place he added such titles as Bugs’ Aviation Week, Amusing Scenes from the Lifetime of Bugs and well-knownly, The Cameraman’s Revenge, a racy story of passion and infidelity within the insect world.
The Bugs’ Christmas is much gentler.
Assume Froggy Went a Courtin’, or Miss Spider’s Wedding with an old-time Christmas spin.
Shades too of Johnny Gruelle’s Raggedy Ann and other stories the placein toys wait for his or her human personalers to retire, so they could spring to life—although Starevich’s sleepy doll appears to have extra in common with the Christmas tree’s absent personalers than the tiny Father Christmas ornament who clamors all the way down to party al fresco with the bugs.
Contemporary composer Tom Peters underneathscores the entiresome vintage motion—snowboarding, skating, squabbling over a Christmas cracker—with a mixture of traditional automotiveols and original music perfashioned on ukulele, drum, and a six-string electric bass with a 5‑octave range.
And the second when Father Christmas conjures festive decorations for a Charlie Brown-ish tree is truly magazineical. See in case your littlest Hayao Miyazaki fan doesn’t agree.
Get pleasure from extra of Ladislas Starevich’s stop-motion ouevre on YouTube.
Related Content:
The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912): The Truly Weird Origin of Modern Stop-Motion Animation
The History of Stop-Motion Films: 39 Films, Spanning 116 Years, Revisited in a 3‑Minute Video
Ayun Halliday is an creator, illustrator, theater maker and Chief Primatologist of the East Village Inky zine.