About a week ago, I had a chance to talk by phone with Mark Henn. Never heard of him? Not surprising, perhaps, but I’m almost certain you’ve seen his work. Henn is one of the top animators at Walt Disney Studios, working on almost every 2-D American animated movie of consequence for the last 30 years. He’s been the supervising animator behind some of the studio’s most beloved characters, from Ariel in The Little Mermaid to Belle in Beauty and the Beast to Young Simba in The Lion King. In 2009, he served as the supervising animator for Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, and most recently turned his talents to bringing to life to Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin in the recently released film, Winnie the Pooh.
He’s also a Christian—one whose children were raised on a steady diet of Adventures in Odyssey, in fact. And while we were able to air some of Henn’s more Pooh-centric thoughts on the Plugged Inpodcast this week, I also talked to him about what it’s like being a Christian in one of Hollywood’s most influential studios. I thought I’d share a little bit of that interview with you now.
Paul Asay: You’re a part of a studio that, for decades now, has been a reliable source for family entertainment. Obviously, your role there isn’t to evangelize, but do you feel a certain sense of responsibility as a Christian, working as someone who influences literally millions of people?
Mark Henn: You’re right. Disney is not a church. It’s not a Christian organization. But it has, over its entire history, always been dedicated to very family friendly entertainment—whether that’s films or the parks or whatever it does. So I think it’s great to be here, and to be a Christian here I think is a real blessing in that sense. You know, things change. The world is changing and entertainment is changing, and we’re constantly trying to make sure that [what we do] is still valid and [entertaining to today’s audiences], but not to the point where we lose the values that we have here at the studio. And fortunately, most of those values very much kind of line up with a Christian worldview. It’s not always 100%, but God wants us to be in the world and be that salt and light. So it’s—I’m doing the best I can, and trying to be the best animator I can be, and whatever influence I can have, we can try to make that happen.
Asay: You mention influence. What sort of influence do you feel like you make, as a Christian, in the studio?
Henn: I’ve always been a big believer in actions speaking louder than words, and so I’m just trying to be as excellent as I can be at what I do. And I know there are many other Christians here that feel that way, and that we’re just trying to be the very best at whatever it is we’re here doing. So for me it’s animation, and I’m just trying to be the best. And hopefully that by example, we’ll open doors. Somebody can say ‘did you know that some of the top animators at the studio happen to be Christians as well?’ I think that’s really neat.
Asay: Do you think Disney ever feels pressure to become hipper or edgier?
Henn: I would say no, for the most part. But, just like any other studio, they’re looking to see how entertainment is ebbing and flowing, you know. They want to create a product that is profitable. It’s still a business. We always have to remind ourselves of that. It’s that very strange mix. You’ve got artists here who are just passionate about their art, but you’re working for a business—for a company that is saying we make a product that has to make money for us to be in business. Hollywood in general has always had that really strange dynamic.
Henn decided he wanted to become an animator after he saw Disney’s Cinderella as a child. While other kids had dreams of becoming football or baseball players dancing in their brains, he was honing his skills, dreaming of one day working at Disney. Almost everyone he works with has a similar story. They were impacted or touched by a Disney movie in their childhood, and in turn dreamed of having that kind of impact on someone else.
I think that’s kind of cool in a couple of ways.
First, there’s this: We sometimes get on Disney for fostering unrealistic expectations. Disney, after all, thinks every child should dream about fame and fortune—sometimes going so far to suggest that if you dream it, it’s bound to come true. The reality is that not all of us are called to that sort of life. But at the same time, dreaming big is pretty much a prerequisite to achieving big. No one accidentally stumbles into Disney’s offices and becomes an animator. The folks who work there have most often dreamed about it for years … and then worked like crazy to make their dream come true.
And secondly, it shows that entertainment does influence us—and not always for the worse. Sometimes, it can inspire someone to work in some pretty outlandish but deeply rewarding careers, like spending your days breathing life into a bear with very little brain.
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