>>94418088I don't think it's even that really. A fair bit of the "timeline" aspect of Disney animation correlates to changes in the company and external factors.
The golden era was when they were new and had everyone's attention. The whole company was focused on making these films, and making them as good as humanly possible.
Wartime is obvious.
The silver era was them with their animation and story departments at the top of their game.
The transition from silver to bronze started with xeroxing cels instead of painting them. Big cost and time savings, but a poorer looking result. The original animators were now literal gods, but story department was struggling. Old animation and story guys were dying or retiring and things were declining.
Renaissance is where the talent in the new crew came out, along with new tech. The Little Mermaid used both, new director risen from the animation department and the first use of new techniques like CGI and FX, but also a return to old school work on the cels. A new generation of audience fucking loved it.
Post-renaissance was them struggling against the rapid shift to full CGI and competition who didn't seem to give a shit about the fundamentals of animation that had been established over 90 years. Competitiors movies looked like arse, but still made money. Disney corporate made some dumb moves. Disney people left and did better work at the new, quality competitor.
The revival was the realisation that good movies could still be made using the new methods, and that story was still massively important. Key people returning and then the merge with Pixar.
