ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the relationship between fantasy fiction and animation in both Wizards and The Lord of the Rings not as in any way antagonistic, but as a productive dialogue between medium and genre. Rather than diminish or muddy Ralph Bakshi's status as an iconoclast, it is in the nuances of the relationship between fantasy and animation that Bakshi's fantasy films speak to similar themes and aesthetic concerns presented in his more explicitly confrontational counter-cultural works. Ralph Bakshi's features made prior to his shift into fantasy fiction were produced within a social climate framed by counter-culturalism and youth radicalism. The chapter examines the interplay between fantasy and animation as a cumulative pairing, one can gain an insight into the creative processes behind Bakshi's works of fantasy that, in turn, helps to further an understanding of the filmmaker within the broader histories of US animation and fantasy.
