The Multiplication of Traces: Xerographic Reproduction and One Hundred and One Dalmatians

The fourth chapter examines the impact that xerography had on both the mode of production and aesthetics of animated cartoons. Introduced as a way to reproduce documents, animators saw the potential for the Xerox’s machine’s ability to reproduce lines. The chapter examines the way that xerography entered the practice of Disney studios, with a focus on One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). Paradoxically, the new technology of reproduction allowed for a greater preservation of the initial sketches of animators, rendering unnecessary the labor of workers who had created the original feel of Disney’s realistic style. One Hundred and One Dalmatians becomes legible as a film at once enabled by and about xerographic reproduction. The chapter uses changes in technology to rethink the role of the line, and of copies, in animation drawing.