He was a young artist employed by the Disney studio, but tasked with the entry-level job of finishing off the work of the animators and crafting the “in-between” animations that completed the characters’ movements. Wong had learned that studio executives were creating a film from the new novel, Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Felix Salten. Tom says the young artist read the book and without consulting his supervisor, “took the script and painted some visual concepts to set the mood, color and the design.”
His sketches recalled the lush mountain and forest scenes of Sung dynasty landscape paintings. His initiative paid off. Walt Disney, who was looking for something new for the film, was captivated and personally directed that Wong be promoted. Today, top animators and illustrators revere Wong’s work. Children today are as enchanted by the misty, lyrical brushstrokes of Wong’s colorful nature scenes, inspired by his training at Otis College of Art and self-study of Sung Dynasty art
THIS GUY HELPED MAKE THE FILM THAT MADE ME WANT TO BE A FILMMAKER AND *HE IS STILL ALIVE*
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH
I met him at a gallery event a number of years ago and, UGH HE IS SO TALENTED AND SO KIND AND ENCOURAGING THERE IS A REASON WE ALL LOVE HIM. Also, my alma.
GUYS WTF IS THIS CRAZY TALENTED GUY- HE MAKES KITES TO WOW JUST WOW
I always find it so funny when people bitch about ‘forced diversity’.
because, like, once you work retail you start to see just how different everybody is.
for example, the other day I greeted a woman I was ringing up and started asking her the usual questions we’re supposed to ask (if they have a rewards card, etc) and she made a gesture pointing to her ear and mouthed ‘I’m deaf’.
and I was just like ‘Oh’, and so I skipped over the questions and just gave her a nice smile instead of the usual schpiel we’re supposed to give. she thanked me in sign language and smiled back before walking away.
and that’s just one tiny example. she was just one customer of hundreds that shift. that’s not even mentioning all the other types of people I ring in a day, of all ages, body sizes, races/skin colors, and gender expression.
it’s like…that’s how the world is.
when people say having diversity in a fictional universe seems ‘false’ or ‘forced’, that says to me that they must exist in a very homogenous, sheltered environment. because even working for a company that has a rather disproportionately-high white middle-class customer demographic, I still see more diversity on any given day than I tend to ever see in books and movies and TV shows.
it’s just kind of laughable to me when people say a movie/book/franchise has “too much” diversity. because there’s no such thing.
When they say diversity is being ‘forced’ they are saying “It’s bad enough I have to tolerate your existence here in this world. I don’t want to have to ever think about you in a fictional one.”
my family watched the early release screening of Crazy Rich Asians tonight and my 40+ year old first gen Chinese American dad literally lasted 10 minutes before he started crying. After the movie he was talking about how he didn’t think the movie would affect him, now that he’s a grown up with a family, but he hadn’t realized how formative growing up without representation was. Everyone who looked like him as a sidekick, or had to know some martial art to train the white lead. Seeing someone who looked like him being seen as unquestionably handsome, desirable, as a rom-com lead made him realize that for his whole life, he felt invisible.
Representation is so important. It’s so insidious what media does to us— if you’re not represented, or if you’re represented poorly, that seeps into you and affects your self-image without you realizing.
Even “imperfect” representation, things people think “perpetuate Asian stereotypes” or are inaccurate, can make people feel SEEN. Maybe some things weren’t perfect, but I saw so much honesty in it, and I saw so much of my family in it.
Please watch Crazy Rich Asians. Please. It’s so important.
Stressed, Depressed, and Story Obsessed 