Directed by Bill Roberts Story by Joe Grant
Dick Huemer | Produced by Walt Disney Voices by Frank Graham | |
Animation by Ollie Johnston
Milt Kahl
Ward Kimball
Fred Moore
Bill Tytla Studio Walt Disney Productions | ||
Reason and Emotion is a propaganda short film by Walt Disney Productions, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1943. Released on 27 August 1943 in the United States, the short is eight minutes long.
Contents
The short has been compared to the 2015 Pixar Animation Studios film Inside Out.
Plot
The short is about how a person adopts their ability to solve problems through logical reasoning (the head) or through emotional passion (the heart). The point is that Adolf Hitler does not have any reasoning and purely relies on emotion, and that "Americans should control the emotion inside our head lest it control us — and make us vulnerable to Hitler’s vile fear mongering." Hitler's speeches and motivational tactics are shown as manipulative.
Production
"Reason and Emotion" was directed by Bill Roberts, while animation was done by Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnson. BlogofDeath explains: "During World War II, [Joe] Grant and animator Dick Huemer created gags and designs for many of Disney’s patriotic-themed cartoons", including this movie.
The short film was released on Disney Treasures: On the Front Lines.
Critical reception
Indiwire wrote "Reason and Emotion is exactly the kind of thing that sticks in your mind because it is strange, a wartime film that used a visual metaphor to make a case about Americans keeping their calm during WWII."