ABSTRACT

In the early twentieth century, oil companies transitioned from merchants of light to merchants of movement. A discreet network of pipelines began to crisscross the Australian landscape. By the 1950s, the presence of petroleum was visible everywhere, circulating across a vast cultural infrastructure of sponsored cinema. Oil films extolled fertilisers which turned a wasteland into pasture, fitness programs to train a ‘nation of weaklings’ into a wartime army reserve and the promise of ever-more refined fuels to supercharge a motile world. Companies enlisted cinema to excite emotions and ready the mind to accept prompts for future action. In this article, I explore the emergence of the 1920s Australian animated oil film to trace a new structure of feeling attuned to energetic increase, growth and ease.

摘要

二十世纪初，石油公司从光之商人转变为运动商人。一个谨慎的管道网络开始纵横交错地穿过澳大利亚的土地。到 1950 年代，石油随处可见，在赞助电影院的庞大文化基础设施中流通。油片颂扬化肥将荒地变成牧场，将“弱者之国”训练成战时预备役的健身计划，以及不断精炼的燃料为充满活力的世界提供动力的承诺。公司利用电影来激发情绪，并准备好接受未来行动的提示。在这篇文章中，我探索了 1920 年代澳大利亚动画油画电影的出现，以追溯一种与精力充沛、成长和放松相协调的新感觉结构。