He sank back into his black-and-white world, his immobile world of inanimate drawings that had been granted the secret of motion, his death-world with its hidden gift of life. But that life was a deeply ambiguous life, a conjurer's trick, a crafty illusion based on an accidental property of the retina, which retained an image for a fraction of a second after the image was no longer present. On this frail fact was erected the entire structure of the cinema, that colossal confidence game. The animated cartoon was a far more honest expression of the cinematic illusion than the so-called realistic film, because the cartoon reveled in its own illusory nature, exulted in the impossible--indeed it claimed the impossible as its own, exalted it as its own highest end, found in impossibility, in the negation of the actual, its profoundest reason for being. The animated cartoon was nothing but the poetry of the impossible--therein lay its exhilaration and its secret melancholy. For this willful violation of the actual, while it was an intoxicating release from the constriction of things, was at the same time nothing but a delusion, an attempt to outwit mortality. As such it was doomed to failure. And yet it was desperately important to smash through the constriction of the actual, to unhinge the universe and let the impossible stream in, because otherwise--well, otherwise the world was nothing but an editorial cartoon.
accidental ambiguous animated being black black-and-white cartoon cinema confidence constriction death death-world delusion desperately desperation doom doomed draw drawings expression failure fraction frail frailty game gift hidden honest honesty illusion illusory image immobile importance important impossible inanimate intoxicating life melancholy mortality motion nature outwit poetry present property realism realistic reason release secret sink structure trick universe violation white willful world

About This Quote

Themes

  • Death — Contemplations on mortality, loss, and the legacy we leave
  • Life — Reflections on the meaning, challenges, and beauty of life
  • Nature — Appreciation for the natural world and our place within it
  • Poetry — The art of language, rhythm, and emotional expression

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