Full circle: useful animation and the geography of petroleum extraction

Abstract

This article examines animated films produced in Britain for oil companies in the mid-twentieth century and their representation of, and contribution to, the international and transnational geography of petroleum extraction. Within these films, the graphic basis of hand-drawn animation meant it was often used to display and propel into motion cartographic and diagrammatic representations derived from a range of disciplinary and intermedial contexts, which served to navigate and construct spatial and power relationships around oil industries. A case study of the film Full Circle, released in 1953 by British Petroleum, demonstrates these characteristics but also documents the specific postcolonial context of the nationalization of oil in Iran in this period. Production materials for Full Circle held at the BP Archive provide a unique insight into the way this animated film changed during these events and how it became a central tool for oil company and government deliberation on their relationship with Iran and other oil-rich states. As such, this article recognizes the importance of animation at the intersection of three fields of study: environmental and energy humanities; useful cinema; and animated documentary. It argues that studying the entwined history of the animation and oil industries can help us to understand the role of media in our dependence on fossil fuels, and the present-day climate crisis resulting from this dependence.

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