This Week in Cinema - The Production of 'Toy Story' Begins

This Week's Historical Theme: Cinema

 

19 January 1993

 

A significant event throughout the history of cinema that occurred in January was the start of production on 'Toy Story'. This was to be the first full-length feature film created by the pioneering Pixar Animation Studios. Initially functioning as a branch of George Lucas' visual effects company, Pixar first put itself onto Disney's radar with special effects produced for films such as 'Young Sherlock Holmes', that featured the first computer generated images, also known as CGI. After Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, purchased Pixar in 1986, it became an independent company.

 

In 1991, the company signed a $26 million deal with the Walt Disney Company to develop, produce and distribute up to three animated films. 'Toy Story' thus became the first feature-length animated film that was completely computer generated. Even though the long development process included drawings, paintings and sculptures, the final work was done entirely on computers. When released in November 1995, the film received universally positive reviews, and became the first animated feature to ever earn an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. There has subsequently been three sequels, all of which were also critically acclaimed. 'Toy Story 2' was released in 1999, 'Toy Story 3' in 2010, and 'Toy Story 4' in 2019.

 

Want to find out more about the production behind 'Toy Story'? Click here for more information, or here for more about the history between Pixar and Disney.

This Week in Communism - The Collapse of the Soviet Union

This Week's Historical Theme: Communism

 

25 December 1991

 

A significant event throughout the history of communism that occurred in December is the collapse of the Soviet Union, after Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation as the president of the nation. He had lost much of his power and prestige in the Soviet Union, and the economy was very unstable. No Soviet was pleased by Gorbachev, as some opponents demanded even more political freedom whereas hard-liners opposed any movement toward reform. He survived an attempted coup in August, but only through the assistance of Boris Yeltsin, the Russian Federation president. Yeltsin subsequently became a vocal critic of the slow pace of the country's economic and political reforms.

 

Despite this announcement, representatives from Soviet republics has already declared that they would no longer be part of the Soviet Union. Instead, they announced that they would establish a Commonwealth of Independent States. As the three Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia had already declared their independence from the Soviet Union, only one of its 15 republics, Kazakhstan, remained. Gorbachev was ultimately disappointed in the dissolution of his nation, hence his resignation. Despite this, it was a peaceful end to a long and terrifying decade, known as the Cold War.

 

Want to find out more about the fall of the Soviet Union? Click here for a video with more information, or here for more about the history of the Cold War.

November 12 - Akihito Enthroned as Japanese Emperor

This Day in History: 12 November 2020

 

12 November 1990

 

30 years ago, today, Crown Prince Akihito was enthroned as the emperor of Japan, making him the 125^th Japanese monarch along an imperial line dating back to 660 B.C. He was the only son of the late Emperor Hirohito and became the first Japanese monarch to reign solely as an official figurehead. His father had begun his reign in 1926 as absolute, but his powers were very limited in practise. After the Japanese defeat in World War II, Hirohito was stripped of his power by the United States and forced to renounce his divinity. With this signing, amending the Japanese constitution, the emperor became the official figurehead of Japan.

 

In 1959, Akihito had caused controversy when he broke a 1,500-year-old tradition by marrying a commoner. She was Shoda Michiko, the daughter of a wealthy businessman. The imperial couple subsequently had three children: Crown Prince Naruhito, Prince Akishino, and Princess Nori. When Akihito became emperor, he commenced a new Japanese era, known as 'Heisei', meaning 'achieving peace'. However, in April 2019, he stepped down from the throne, making him the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in over 200 years. He was succeeded by Naruhito.

 

Want to find out more about Akihito? Click here for more information, or here for a video of his abdication ceremony.

November 4 - The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin

This Day in History: 4 November 2020

 

4 November 1995

 

25 years ago, today, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot fatally after attending a peace rally in Tel Aviv's Kings Square in Israel. Later, Rabin died in surgery at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. He had been walking to his car when he was shot in the arm and the back by Yigal Amir, a 27-year-old Jewish law student who had connections to the far-right Jewish group, Eyal. Israeli police arrested Amir at the scene of the shooting, and he later confessed to the assassination. He explained at his arraignment that he killed Rabin because the Prime Minister wanted to "give out country to the Arabs."

 

Rabin had been a leader of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and served as chief-of-staff of Israel's armed forces during the Six-Day War of 1967. After serving as Israel's ambassador to the United States, Rabin entered into the Labour Party and became Prime Minister in 1974. In this role, he conducted the negotiations that resulted in a 1974 cease-fire with Syria and the 1975 military disengagement agreement between Israel and Egypt. In October 1994, Rabin and Yasir Arafat shared the Nobel Peace Prize, due to their formal peace agreement with the Palestinians.

 

Want to find out more about the assassination of Rabin? Click here for more information, or here for more about his life.

November 1 - The European Union is Established

This Day in History: 1 November 2020

 

1 November 1993

 

27 years ago, today, the European Union was established, when the Maastricht Treaty came into effect. This was drafted in 1991 by delegates from the European Community meeting at Maastricht in the Netherlands, whose main architects were Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand, and was officially signed in 1992. The agreement called for a strengthened European parliament, the creation of a central European bank and common foreign and security policies. As well as this, it laid the groundwork for the establishment of a single European currency, known as the 'euro', and established European citizenship.

 

By 1993, 12 nations had ratified the Maastricht Treaty and joined the European Union: Great Britain, France, Germany, the Irish Republic, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Two years later, in 1995, Austria, Finland and Sweden became members of the EU. After suffering through centuries of bloody and destructive conflict, the nations of Western Europe were finally united in the spirit of economic cooperation. However, in 2016, in what became popularly known as 'Brexit', the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU. They officially left in January 2020, and currently, the nation is in a transitional phase until December 2020.

 

Want to find out more about the history of the EU? Click here for more information, or here for more about the history of Brexit.

September 13 - The First Oslo Accord is Signed

This Day in History: 13 September 2020

 

13 September 1993

 

27 years ago, today, the Oslo Accords were officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington, D.C., between the PLO chairman, Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and American President Bill Clinton. The accord provided for the creation of a Palestinian interim self-government and decided that this would have responsibility for the administration of territory under its control. With the signing, the Israel Defence Forces were forced to withdraw from parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The PLO also acknowledged the State of Israel and pledged to reject violence, while Israel likewise recognised the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.

This agreement was historic as the Jews and the Arabs in Palestine had been constantly fighting for many decades before the accords. However, matters began to improve once Yasser Arafat had recognised the State of Israel's right to exist in 1988, thus authorising the beginning of 'land-for-peace' negotiations with Israel. Although Israel initially refused to open direct talks with the PLO, newly elected Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin vowed to move quickly on the peace process. He froze new Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and later authorised secret negotiations between Israel and the PLO. Even though the second Oslo Accord was signed in 1995, neither accord promised Palestinian statehood, and the peace process was stalled once right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu was elected prime minister.

Want to find out more about the Oslo Accords? Click here for more information, or here for a video with more about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The History of Homework

Homework is the bane of my life. I always end up sitting in my study every day trying to work through a mountain of it, only to find that I get another hundred pieces when I turn up at school the next day. So, naturally, I decided to write a blog entry about it. I was a little disappointed when I couldn’t find anything about the history of homework in the UK, so I’m afraid that you’ll have to settle for how homework came about in America.

Traditionally, homework was frowned upon in America as few people went into higher education and their parents wanted them to do chores instead (I still have to do chores anyway). This caused California to abolish homework in 1901 for anyone in kindergarden (Year 1) to the eighth grade (Year 9). However, America’s involvement in the Cold War managed to bring back this form of mental torture. Oh yes, in order to keep up with their Russian counterparts, homework made a comeback in the 1950s and by the 1990s, homework was seen as a good thing for students of all ages.

So as you’ve all probably guessed, I’m now wishing that I was born in the 1900s in California so that I no longer have to procrastinate because of my homework (apart from History homework of course).

P.S. If you're wondering where the excuse 'The dog ate my homework' came from, here's your answer!

JG

Skateboarding

One of my favourite hobbies when I’m not locked in my study doing homework is going skateboarding. If you are one of my nearest and dearest and you are reading this, please do NOT ask me to show you as I will probably fall flat on my face and end up in A&E. Moving swiftly on, I decided that I am going to combine two of my favourite things so that you will hopefully have an interesting article to read. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, today I am going to bore you with the history of skateboarding (I’m joking, you better find this interesting)!

Skateboarding is quite vintage considering that it originated in the late 1940s/early 1950s. It came about because Californian surfers wanted something to ‘surf’ when the waves were flat. Apparently, no specific person invented the skateboard, it was created by many individuals at around the same time. Originally, skateboards were boxes on wheels which gradually evolved into a board on wheels. The first proper skateboard sold from a shop was in Los Angeles, California. By the 1960s, the number of shops had grown substantially and there were many skateboarding shops in South California. In the coming years, the design of the skateboards were improved and in the 1970s skateparks were constructed from skaters to practice tricks. Then, in the 1980s, the main focus was on doing tricks on these ramps. After that, during the 1990s, street skateboarding came about. It gained popularity and that’s about it. 

So now I hope you know a little bit more about skateboarding which is actually a lot harder than it looks!

JG