Sir John Lubbock's Pet Wasp
- Submitting institution
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Middlesex University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 1698
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- -
- Month
- November
- Year
- 2018
- URL
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http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/32297/
- Supplementary information
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-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- ‘Sir John Lubbock’s Pet Wasp’ is a two-minute animated mixed media film that was commissioned by Anim18 and Animate Projects, as part of the Untold Tales project (2018). Co-directed by Osbert Parker and Laurie Hill, and produced by Abigail Addison and Parker, the film was originally commissioned to premiere on Instagram as part of a series of animated films.
The work is a classic tale of English eccentricity, conceptually inspired by Victorian scientific experiments and British banker, politician, and scientist Sir John Lubbock’s life and research, specifically his book ‘Ants, Bees and Wasps’ (1882). The animated film focuses on Lubbock’s relationship with one specific wasp (polistes gallica), which he found in the Pyrenées and transported back to London. Lubbock trained the wasp to eat off his hand and subjected it to scientific experiments to observe its behaviour. The film emphasises the wasp’s taming and adaptation process, showing the wasp learning how to read, paint, play music and drink tea from a cup and saucer.
Evoking the world of Victorian curiosities, ‘Sir John Lubbock’s Pet Wasp’ creates a fresh style by using animated mixed media techniques including stop motion, 2D cut-outs and digital animation. It disseminates a dual message: besides representing a ‘classic British’ story, the film suggests additional readings that situate the work in relation to British imperialism and its colonial history. Thus, for Parker and Hill the wasp becomes a metaphor for Britain’s colonial subjects being brought to the ‘mother country,’ where they need to learn and adapt to its cultural and civilisational idiosyncrasies. Although Lubbock’s pet wasp is a true story, its themes remain relevant today and resonate with contemporary debates about migration, cultural displacement and the mixed welcome Britain gives to immigrants.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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