Sentence:  But even as the Messmer-Sullivan cartoons emphasized Felix's ingenious use of that <WSD>plasticism</WSD>—as we see in his ability to turn his tail or a graphic flourish like an exclamation point into a useful, narrative-furthering prop, thus all the more flattening out the world, making "everything in the drawn world. . . of the same stuff," as Leslie suggests (23) -- the early Mickeys seem far more intent on making space function within the narrative so that it might thereby reveal itself. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The plastic quality of certain artworks, and the theory or movement of art that embodies this quality.