CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Pro and Con

animated short film directed by Joanna Priestley

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 30, 2026
Entity authorityQ7246790
Source-derived summary

Pro and Con is a 1993 9-minute 16mm short animated film produced, directed and animated by Joanna Priestley and Joan C. Gratz using drawings on paper, pixillated hands and object animation. The "Pro" section of the film was written by Barbara Carnegie and Joanna Priestley and narrated by Lt. Janice Inman. The "Con" section was written by Jeff Green and narrated by Allen Nause. The sound was designed and produced by Lance Limbocker and Chel White with music by Chel White. Pro and Con was commissioned through the Metropolitan Arts Commission's Percent for Art Program in Multnomah County, Oregon.

Synopsis

Pro and Con investigates life in prison through two monologues: one by a corrections officer (Lt. Janice Inman), and the other by Oregon State Penitentiary inmate, written by Jeff Green. The guard is concerned both with the inability of our current prison system to deal with the increasingly violent nature of crime and the cyclical nature of crime within families. The inmate reflects on the isolation he feels- how much he misses not only his wife and family, but also such mundane activities as riding in a car.

Editorial summary

“Pro and Con” enters the record as animated short film directed by Joanna Priestley. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what animated, short and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1993—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around animated, short and film.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Pro and Con” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, animated, short and film provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7246790. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1993.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Pro and Con”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Pro and Con primary sources, Pro and Con archive and animated research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pro and Con”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Pro and Con” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.