ACROSS
1 Test
6 Law degs.
9 While-__: repair
shop sign words
14 Art critic’s
phrase, literally
15 Calendar pg.
16 NBA’s Jackson
et al.
18 “10” co-star
19 Send out
20 Pamplona’s
municipality
22 Big stain
24 Israeli border
lake
28 “Doubt it”
29 Theme park
near Dallas,
literally
30 “Conan” channel
33 Dayan of Israel
35 Giants manager
before Bochy
37 Like non-oyster
months,
traditionally
39 Ration (out)
40 Changes one’s
ways, literally
42 “The Deep”
director Peter
44 Bottom line
46 Closing
sequence
48 They’re often
numbered
49 Bench
warmers?
53 Loss of speech
55 Drive-__
56 Before, in Brest
59 Tumbles out of
control, literally
61 “In the
Bedroom” Oscar
nominee
62 Passé
63 “Surprise
Symphony”
composer
64 Big tees
65 Matrix, e.g.

DOWN
1 Some jennies
2 Baffle

3 Prophetess
4 Longtime
Dodger
manager
5 Still
6 Whale of a guy?
7 Half of MCDX
8 Most constant
9 Kite aid
10 Cajoled
11 Whistle blower?
12 Key for Fauré?
13 “For shame!”
17 Run at the end
21 “Toy Story”
dinosaur
23 Highland lid
25 Ancient
Germanic
invader
26 Even, in Évian
27 Valuable team
member
29 Field unit
30 Byes
31 Not sharp
32 More ticked
34 Cunning
36 Still breast-
feeding
38 __ orientation

41 Ignored the
alarm
43 Civil war site
since 2011:
Abbr.
45 E. African land
47 Dulcimer kin
49 Crushes an altar
ego?
50 Utter
51 Part of a
skipping refrain

52 Like some
heads
54 King anointed
by Samuel
56 Sports fig.
57 U.S. govt.
broadcaster
58 Acker of
“Person of
Interest”
60 Doo-wop
syllable

By Peter Koetters
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
12/02/16

12/02/16

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Friday, December 2, 2016

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

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6 — Friday, December 2, 2016
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The latest feature from Walt 

Disney Animation Studios was 
born out of the rich oral traditions 
of Oceania. For centuries, the 
people of Oceania were sailors and 
navigated the waters of the Pacific. 
But, for reasons unknown to 
historical scholars, their voyages 
stopped around the year 1000 B.C., 
and they stayed put for almost a 
millennium. “Moana” aims to, at 
least partially, answer the question 
of why these voyages stopped 
by following Moana, a teenage 
princess, as she sets sail beyond 
her island shore for the first time 
in hundreds of years.

Amy Smeed, the head animator 

for the film, came to the University 
of Michigan earlier this month 
to talk to Screen Arts & Cultures 
and Art & Design students about 
the creation of the film. Smeed 
oversaw the animation for many 
of the human characters, but was 
particularly fond of the heroine, 
Moana.

“She’s very courageous and 

fearless, and I love that about her,” 
Smeed said in an interview, “And 
she’s very athletic … The scenes 
that I got to animate, I picked 
Moana.”

Smeed said Auli’i Cravalho, the 

young actress who voices Moana, 
landed her the role alongside 
seasoned actors like Dwayne 
Johnson and Temuera Morrison 

because of her tenacity and 
spirit. Having her on set helped 
Smeed and her team of animators 
visualize Moana’s energy.

“As animators, when we’re out 

in the world, we’re constantly 
observing — watching movements 
and mannerisms of teenagers and 
what that energy is,” Smeed said.

Smeed began her career as a 

painter. She attended art school 
at Western Michigan University 
but transferred to School of the 
Art Institute of Chicago after 
she was sent a disc advertising 
their animation program. After 
discovering 
animation 
and 

finishing 
her 
studies, 
Smeed 

went on to become an animator 
at Disney, working on animation 
for projects from “Meet the 
Robinsons” 
to 
“Frozen.” 
For 

“Moana,” Smeed served as the 
head animator. 

“When I was living here in 

Michigan, I loved painting, and I 
wasn’t really sure what to do with 
it as an actual career,” Smeed said. 
“For me it was always trying to 
figure out, within art, what can 
I do with that? So when I found 
animation, I really do feel lucky.”

Even though Smeed doesn’t 

spend much of her time painting 
and drawing anymore, she stressed 
the importance for young artists 
and aspiring animators to keep 
pursuing art in a more traditional, 
pen-and-paper kind of way.

“I think sometimes there’s 

a misconception that now that 
everything is in the computers, 

you just do it in the computer,” she 
said, “But there’s so much drawing 
that actually takes place, even in a 
computer animation film. “

Smeed has found tremendous 

success working at Disney, but 
noted that animation, like many 
other fields, can be a little bit of a 
boy’s club.

“I don’t know why that is. I’m 

trying to figure that out, and that’s 
one of the reasons I love coming 
to talk to students, because I’m 
hoping that it will inspire other 
women … to know they can do this 
career,” she said. “When I was in 
art school, there weren’t many 
women in our classes, so it made 
sense to me. But now there are. I 
see a lot of women in the classes.”

The content of the studio’s 

most recent films, she said, 
reflects the increased, albeit still 
slight, role of female leadership 
and involvement. Storylines are 
moving away from traditional love 
stories and are focusing instead on 
strong, independent female leads. 
That trend continues in “Moana.” 
Moana and Maui traverse the 
ocean and fight magical creatures 
without the slightest hint of 
romance. 

“It’s great to see the two of them 

together and how they interact 
with each other. But I love that … 
she’s not in love with him, he’s not 
in love with her,” Smeed said.

“Moana” hit theaters right 

in time to relieve Thanksgiving 
tables of tension and political 
debate. 

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

You say Mo-anna, I say Mo-ahna.

MADELEINE GAUDIN

Daily Arts Writer

‘Moana’ animator talks 
film, female leadership

FILM INTERVIEW

Anywhere that you tell me 

to. Through Rory dropping out 
of Yale and the big fight with 
Lorelai. Through the season 
four finale. Through the Luke 
and 
Lorelai 
will-they-won’t-

they mess. Through any episode 
with April. Through the last 
ten, Gilmore-less, years. And 
now, all the way to Netflix. This 
Thanksgiving between turkey 
and debates over deflategate 
(yep, mine is still having those) 
I found time to watch — and 
rewatch — the “Gilmore Girls” 
revival.

I was excited, and a little 

terrified, to watch the show 
when it dropped on Netflix last 
Friday. I’m a fan. But I’m one 
of those second wave fans that 
found Gilmore Girls after the 
show stopped airing on TV. 
Even before the days of Netflix, 
I had the box-set of Gilmore 
Girls DVDs and watched and 
rewatched them a hundred 
times. I was scared that the 
revival would fall into “Fuller 
House” territory, that it would 
feel false and gimmicky. But it 

wasn’t. It was flawed, but it was 
pretty wonderful.

Part of that comes from the 

fact that creators Amy Sherman-
Palladino and her husband Dan 
knew exactly the audience they 
were writing for. They were 
writing for their fan base. They 
were writing for people who 
were going to watch the revival 
no matter what.

The queen of the revival 

was Emily, which is surprising 
given the show’s primary focus 
on the relationship between 
Rory and Lorelai. But here, it’s 
Emily who undergoes the most 
interesting character change. 
Lorelai is pretty much the same 
(Lauren Graham has not aged a 
day; it’s remarkable), Rory is a 
mess, but I’ll get into that later. 
When the revival begins, Emily 
is floundering after the death 
of her husband, Richard. She 
sells all her belongings, tries 
going to therapy, fights with 
her daughter and ultimately 
decides to move to Nantucket 
and start fresh. She takes on an 
unexpected role as the voice of 
reason across the four episodes 
and demonstrates the most 
strength and resilience.

The oddest part of the revival 

is how little it lets its women 
grow. The original series was 
full of strong young women with 
ambition and passion — women, 
like Rory or Paris and to a lesser 
extent Laine, who were smart 
and set on cutting their way to 
the top of a world that valued 
their male classmates above 
them. But now, in the revival, 
all three women — especially 
Rory and Paris — seem less 
mature and more aimless than 
ever. Rory is adrift, riding on 
a trust fund and a couple New 
Yorker bylines. She gives off 
the illusion of drive with her 
“business” trips to London, but 
even those seem more focused 
on seeing Logan than advancing 
her career. Paris has set up a 
multimillion-dollar 
company 

but melts at the sight of her 
high 
school 
crush, 
Tristan 

(who isn’t even played by Chad 
Michael 
Murray 
anymore!). 

It’s 
disappointing, 
although 

not wholly surprising, that the 
show prioritized an avenue to a 
neat Stars Hollow reunion over 
the success and passion of its 
female leads.

I’ve 
been 
waiting 
so 

impatiently for those last four 
words. I thought that maybe 
they were going to be the key 
to redemption and progress for 
our stunted heroine. Besides 
“the zombies are here,” there 
wasn’t much that I’d ruled 
out, so I can’t say I was totally 
surprised by the four that were 
chosen. I did have to rewind the 
last minute a few times to make 

sure I heard it right.

Rory’s pregnant — that makes 

sense, it keeps with the trend 
of 
coming 
full-circle 
that’s 

especially 
apparent 
in 
the 

“Fall” installment. Lorelai has 
to make a bargain with Emily 
in exchange for a loan, Rory 
is writing a story — probably 
the story we just spent seven 
years and six hours watching. 
Everything seems to be ending 
where it began. Rory, now 32, 
is now the same age Lorelai 
was when the series began. It’s 
spooky how well all the timing 
worked out.

It seems pretty clear to me 

now 
that 
the 
Rory/Lorelai 

parallels go further than that. 
Logan seems to be the most 
obvious contender for the baby’s 
father. He takes on the role of 
Christopher — wealthy, absent 
but well intentioned — while the 
path has been cleared for Jess to 
step into the role of Luke. The 
look he gives Rory through the 
window late in the final episode 
confirms what viewers have 
been suspecting and hoping for 
— he’s still in love with Rory.

But is Rory ready for a guy 

like Jess? As of the end of the 
original series, I would say no. 
And at the end of the revival 
I would still say no. While 
Jess has matured into a mildly 
successful 
writer/publisher, 

Rory is still directionless. She’s 
emotionally stunted — making 
many of the same mistakes she 
made at 22, the last time we 
saw her. Even at 32, Rory has 
a lot of growing up to do. She 
still uses Logan — despite his 
engagement to someone named 
Odette — as a crutch, leaning on 
him for emotional fulfillment 
and companionship. Two things 
he can’t give her.

I’ll admit, I’m biased. I’ve 

been stubbornly team Jess since 
he came into our lives back in 
season two. I still hold out that 
the Rory/Jess kiss at Sookie’s 
wedding is one of the best 
kisses in TV history. The dance 
marathon episode is the best 
episode because Rory finally 
realizes Jess is a million times 
better than Dean, who is actually 
the worst character ever.

So now I’m conflicted. More 

episodes 
seem 
well 
within 

the realm of possibility; I just 
don’t know if I want them. No 
matter how much she annoys 
me, I would love nothing more 
than to see Rory healthy, happy 
and successful. But sometimes 
— especially in the world of 
sequels — less really is more. 
I can only hope that “Gilmore 
Girls” takes notes from TV 
shows that tanked in quality in 
their final seasons (“The Office” 
is a great example) and learns 
when to quit.

NETFLIX

Welcome to my Caucasian home.

MADELEINE GAUDIN

Daily Arts Writer

New episodes of ‘Gilmore Girls,’ while welcome, leave me conflicted

Where you lead, I will follow: My 
adventure with Rory and Lorelai

TV NOTEBOOK

 
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