Animation Theatre: Phil Mulloy

1948- Present

Fig 1. Phil Mulloy

Phil Mulloy is a British animator from Merseyside. He has been a writer as well as a director

for life-action and animated films. He studied painting at Ravensbourne College and has won

numerous international awards for his work. There is particularly one thing which categories his

animations… they are definitely not for children!

There is something highly original about Mulloy’s work; it may be his character styling, his

aim to include current issues in his stories, or the fact that there are very few animators who tread

beyond the soft, fairy-tale Disney like appeal and create something so invocative and shocking.

Whichever it is Mulloy makes sure his work isn’t forgotten. It may be viewed that Mulloy has always

created scandalous films like his more famous ones including the ‘Intolerance’ series (2000- 2004)

however, this isn’t so, his 1996 ‘The Winds of Change’ is a biographical take of a co-worker’s life and

instead of being horrifying to watch, it is touching and moving.

Fig 2. The Winds of Change

This work nonetheless is not what Mulloy is characterised and recognised for, it is his far

more disturbing and unsettling animations that have made his name well-known. Mulloy takes

contemporary ideas and beliefs and applies and what if? to them producing what can to some be

highly amusing while to others astonishing that something of this taste exists in the world of

animation. He is undoubtedly a key figure in this take on animation, crafting highly counter typical

animated pieces. ‘The provocative work of multi-award winning animator Phil Mulloy stands as a

model of satiric grotesque unparalleled in British animation. The antidote to all that is kitsch and

sentimental, these direct, witty and acerbic fables, drawn in brush and ink, perceptively comment

of human nature and challenge contemporary values.’ (BFI: Unknown) Just look at Mulloy’s ‘The

History of the World’ (1993-4), it looks at the discovery of natural processes but unlike most Mulloy

refuses to do it discretely and tries to add his usual humorous and disturbing tones such as the

scenes where the men are battling with their manhood over the women and the scene where

censorship of the female starts to take place such as cutting off the hands of a female who is

pleasuring herself.

Fig 3. The History of the World

Phil Mulloy doesn’t seem to fear that he will alienate his audiences and make them turn

away from what unfolds on the screen, perhaps he rather encourages this act as this would be a

great instance of expressing to his audience that contemporary values do not feel comfortable

enough to deal with these natural processes he animates something DVD Talk’s Jeremy Mathews

explores. ‘Phil Mulloy’s work exists somewhere between the realm of the scatological sophomore

and the defiant artist. At any moment, the British animator can be offensive, clever, bizarre,

obvious, muddled, smug, distinct, or any combination of those traits. It would be easy to brand

many of his scenes as pornography if his visuals weren’t so primitive and ugly that they cancel out

any sense of eroticism. He makes sure you always feel uneasy and dirty, never aroused.’

(Mathews: 2009) Mulloy’s ‘Intolerance’ series is a great example of this in that we find it funny how

Mulloy creatively creates the aliens known as the Zog but at the same time are grossed out by how

he uses what would normally be our heads for the usual sexual acts and when he cuts them off and

places them back where we think they should be. It is no way near pornographic because he isn’t

focusing on the sexual act but rather bizarre ideas of what we view as alien in sex and the fear of an

idea taking over as the Zog evidence.

Fig 3. Intolerance Part 1

Mulloy moves his work further away from pornography through his highly original character

design. There is something grotesque about the way he produces his characters, they are really

simple but at the same time very unattractive with what look like peg teeth and gaping mouths. It

wouldn’t be strange to think that Mulloy rushed this aspect of his animations because they are

messy and dirty looking. However, they work perfectly because they match Mulloy’s ideologies well

and make you focus on the shape of the characters rather than detail through the black silhouette

like design, something highly appropriate when you think of Mulloy’s Zogs. But why are they messy

and unattractive characters? It feels suitable to view them as metaphors for the human inside

nature, that being the ugly side of us and if we take this view Mulloy’s characters become beautiful

as they signify this idea adeptly. ‘The paintings themselves are simple and unattractive, but taken

as a whole, create absolutely gorgeous, expressive panoramas, not only that, but the style fits

perfectly with Mulloy’s brazen storytelling, as it’s endlessly and undeniably in your face.’ (Gandert:

2009)

Bibliography

BFI, (Unknown) Phil Mulloy: Extreme Animation http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_48.html

(Accessed 29/03/2012)

Gandert, Sean, (2009) Salute Your Shorts: Phil Mulloy’s Extreme Animation

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/07/salute-your-shorts-phil-mulloys-extreme-

animation.html (Accessed 29/03/2012)

Mathews, Jeremy, (2009) Extreme Animation: Films by Phil Mulloy

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/39395/extreme-animation-films-by-phil-mulloy/ (Accessed

29/03/2012)

List of Illustrations

Fig. 1. Phil Mulloy. [Online image].On hrvatska-animacija.org http://hrvatska-animacija.org/wp-

content/uploads/2010/02/PHIL-MULLOY.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)

Fig. 2. The Winds of Change. [Online image].On cinecouch.com

http://cinecouch.com/image/toplist/wind_of_change.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)

Fig. 3. The History of the World. [Online image].On keyframe1.nava.hu

http://keyframe1.nava.hu/first_pict/kgy2/mw/mw-12080_1.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)

Fig. 4. Intolerance Part 1. [Online image].On imageshack.us

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/94/intolerance1tk0.jpg (Accessed 29/03/2012)