Creativity meets expertise in Mindy Johnson: an award winning author, historian, musician, playwright, and professor based in the Los Angeles area. Johnson has produced several books on early film and animation, and conducted astounding works of research in regards to women’s role throughout the history of cinema. Her newest book, Ink and Paint- The Women of Walt Disney’s Animation, is a groundbreaking and detailed account of the ladies hired to work with Disney over the course of the 20th century. Ink and Paint- The Women of Walt Disney’s Animation.

Today’s youth may register the importance of such a book, but would they understand why? I asked Ms. Johnson herself for her thoughts on this matter. “They don’t have an understanding of history, or aren’t thinking back that far… or aren’t as sensitive to it… so I think it’s important to kind of contextualize. Women did not have the right to vote until the 1920s… until 1920. And for people of your generation to understand that, it’s, you know, for me to explain that, it’s three years before Walt Disney started his studio… Ah! That changes things. “

Johnson’s book includes thorough information on important dates for each decade, and makes the connection between the current events of the past and the Disney studio. Having an understanding of what was happening in the world during the time a certain film was released can put things in a new and sharper perspective. “Having a good sense of history is pretty important,” says Johnson. “Even today’s history. Today’s world. To have a sense of, ‘how am I going to write about this?’ so that the reader fully understands.”

How can someone truly be a film expert? Familiarity with all kinds of history can change everything about what you think you know about film and animation. Johnson would suggest that taking “as many history classes as you can get your hands on (is) important, not even film-history, but history-history.”

Mindy Johnson

“Start compiling your research. Start doing the research… Taking a well rounded approach to whatever it is you’re researching is probably the best thing you can do. Get a sense of film history, where and what. Get to screenings and things that are happening around town. And understand the creative process. I think it’s deeply important to understand what it takes, to understand the animation process or the digital process, and you have to keep in mind that where we are today in animation is gonna be dated at one point. That’s equally important, preserving and restoring what’s going on today in terms of animation.”

If you are hoping to produce a film or animation history book of your own someday, she’d advise you to embrace a “well rounded” state of mind when conducting research. From this clarity comes her incredible new book on women’s role in Disney’s animation – a topic that needed exploration, and will undoubtedly ignite further research. Perhaps more will be uncovered on this topic and others, and hopefully it will come with the same level of integrity and commitment that is exemplified by Mindy Johnson.

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Lauren Ashton

Lauren Ashton is a Los Angeles-based writer. She has also taught stop-motion animation and film history since 2020, and holds a BFA in Acting from The California Institute of the Arts. Lauren has previously worked with Walt Disney Imagineering, and since graduating from CalArts, she has worked at Spellbound Inc. (a YouTube Production Company), Gnomon School of Animation, and written plays and sketch comedy for various theaters.

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