While playing and writing on Disney Epic Mickey didn’t yield the most positive of reviews, it has stirred an obsession to revisit some aged animations, the most prehistoric of which being Winsor McCay’s 1914 Gertie the Dinosaur – not the first cartoon ever created, but considered the first featuring a character narrative.
Obviously I can’t place myself among the first audiences to marvel at the sight of imaginary creations given life, but even today the exaggerated movements of Gertie offer a spectacle that finds me stuck on poking comparisons to the first videogames I came into contact with, suddenly offered the chance not only to witness creations given life, but also able to control that movement through a new medium seeking to deepen the connection.
Of course at the time I didn’t realize this would become such an obsession, but here we are. The appreciation I have for Gertie’s every movement reminds me most of the way I felt during the 16-bit console generation, with so many developers exploiting any chance to give their creations more life and my young eyes marveling at the simplest touches.