Cultural Contexts For Digital Animation
By
Mathew Richens
Introduction
Animation is possibly the greatest illusion ever created; it has different values and meaning all over the world. In some cultures animation is seen as an art form, something that gets well-deserved respect for all the time and effort that goes into it. In others, it is a form of entertainment, one that can appeal to anyone with an open mind. These days animation is used solely for the purpose of advertisement. It is used mostly to sell a product or even an idea to us. The central location for most of this numbing down and consumerism is, as always, corporate America. Mainly this is because of America’s vast amount of wealth, and the way America thinks. Unfortunately, both of these things combined can mean the rise and fall of many industries. It has already been made noticeable in Hollywood and the entertainment industries. Mediums like cinema and animation, even music, have become almost totally controlled by profit alone. In a world where money controls everything, it is understandable why some people would sell out to provide an easy living for themselves. I think it is okay, if, and only if the decision isn’t forced. I can think of a few examples where trends and actions of certain companies and individuals have destroyed possibly the most creative minds, and greatest examples of animation.
Japan: The Art of Detail
In some ways, popular Japanese animation has never really belonged to Japan. When the animation industry kicked off in the 1960’s all over Japan, the stories were based on traditional Japanese legends. Between the 60’s and 70’s Toei Doga had produced a dozen features, all failed to win in international sales. Whilst looking for a story he felt he could translate well through animation and sell to the world, his travels brought him to Europe where he developed a love for most of the folk tales he came to hear about. He felt that because he understood and loved them so much, they would be the perfect tales to adapt. It was a success, but was it Japanese? Sure it was made and produced in Japan, and all of the features had a strong Japanese style to them, which is today referred to a anime or manga.
As soon as manga became popular (mid 1960’s) it started to take a more Japanese approach, shows like Cyborg 009, Astro Boy and Gigantor began to appear. It was Japanese television made for a Japanese audience. It really became so popular that it is seen as one of Japans strongest mediums. One thing that separates Japanese animation from the rest of the world is its lack of censorship. The cartoons would contain nudity, gore and excessive violence, and still be considered for a young audience. During the 90’s manga stormed America, and just like that, Japanese cartoons were being bought by television networks across the seas. One of the most popular series to date would be DragonBall Z, based on Akira Toryama’s 1982 manga series, it spawned three television shows: DragonBall, DragonBall Z and DragonBall GT. DragonBall was directly based on the books and was hugely popular when released in 1986. DragonBall Z was a continuation of the series; it became the most popular of the franchises and is still hugely popular with today’s audiences. It first aired in America in 1996 alongside the success of PokeMôn. Both shows began quietly before becoming worldwide phenomena’s. DragonBall GT was nowhere near as popular and it became apparent that it existed only to make money. It had an up-to-date and clean style of animation, but shunned by it’s creator and suffering from poor storytelling, the show was cancelled after two years. Originally the shows contained adult humour (one of the characters was a perverted old man) and plenty of gore (the shows main theme was of fighting in tournaments) all of which were cut for the American children. This shows a difference in cultures; Japan doesn’t feel the need to shelter it’s younger audiences, where as America censors anything that might influence it’s youth in a negative way. Oddly though, Japanese culture isn’t a particularly violent one and causes one to question if censorship is in fact such a good thing.
Europe: We Aim To Please
Aardman is shooting a new Wallace & Gromit movie with backing from Dreamworks. Pathe has produced The Magic Roundabout, and Disney has North America and worldwise merchandising rights on Ealing Studios’ Valiant. Disney has also fast-tracked Rocket Pictures’ CGI and live-action Gnomeo & Juliet, this time taking worldwide rights. Also, Tim Burton is said to be shooting Warner Bros. stop-motion fairy-tale The Corpse Bride in the UK.
Although there seems to be quite a few British animation releases it would seem that all of them have some kind of backing from US studios. To be fair, most productions would never see the light of day because of this, but it also seems to be a convenient way of sucking us into the consumerist wars that best describe America. A coincidence? Barnaby Thompson, who is producing Valiant with Shrek producer John Williams, argues that the falling cost of animation equipment has opened the door to such mainstream, family-friendly product for independents.
Many people feel that Aardman put the UK on the global map with its first feature Chicken Run, a worldwide hit for Dreamworks and Pathe. French animation company Films Action looked for a UK partner on The Magic Roundabout mainly because of Aardmans success. Films Action is now working with Bolexbrothers. Bristol’s second animation studio, at its Marseilles studio on the CGI production.
Despite a greater range of technology and talent, the UK’s animation sector is hardly booming. The many animations seen in advertising are overlooked and full length shows and features are being turned down due to highly popular overseas competition.
Traditional animation is also still going strong in other parts of Europe. But most animation films disappear without a trace outside their home markets. Animation studios in countries such as France and Spain have emerged as market leaders in Europe. This is because of these countries governments offering a range of tax breaks. The European animation studios worked alongside each other to produce animation content for television. This is seen mostly in countries such as France, Germany, UK and Spain.
The European animated feature film industry still hasn’t achieved the popularity of their American counterparts. The feature film industry is more expensive and riskier. There are very few European films with trans-national success. This is partly due to the diverse cultural backgrounds, as British films (for example) mainly show traces of British humour and slang.
Back in the days when animating was probably at it’s best and most original, the processes for producing it were fairly different than they are today. One of the newest features in modern animation is the script writing process. Creators like Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and even a young Walt Disney used to sit in their studios thinking of jokes and anecdotes that would make them laugh and once convinced that the idea worked they would eventually go straight to storyboarding it. This way of thinking is probably what helped give birth to such classic characters as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck etc. The interesting thing about these characters is that we still laugh and enjoy them today, and it’s also an international style of humour. Not only did these people create ideas, they drew them as well, which opened debate on whether all cartoonists made cartoons. Around the 1960’s though, this process came to an end. Traditional cartoonists no longer had control over their creations. The cartoon scriptwriter was introduced and it seemed quite apparent that these writers didn’t care less about the subject material. This might even be proven by the sheer fact that these classic cartoons continue to stand out in history.
One particular animator I have felt sorry for over the past few years is John Kricfalusi, co-founder of Spumco. He, as well as some of his close friends believed that the new processes were destroying good animation; he rebelled against Disney, and saw Warner Bros. shows as rude and mean, which he felt related more to the real world. He and some other animators like Bob Camp, Lynne Naylor and Jin Smith decided to form Spumco in the hope of creating cartoons how they felt cartoons should be created. Spumco had one employment rule; If you cannot draw, you cannot write. John Kricfalusi swore that “at Spumco, only cartoonists will make cartoons.”
A short while after Spumco was formed. Nickelodeon, children’s network, announced that they were looking for new cartoons invented by cartoonists. Nickelodeon president Geraldine Laybourne revived a concept long familiar to cartoonists, but forgotten by the rest of the world: the concept of creator driven cartoons. She wanted to prove that Nickelodeon, unlike other networks, would be encouraging cartoonists. John Kricfalusi flew over for a meeting at Nickelodeon and there they discovered two of his creations. Ren and Stimpy. The chosen Nick-Toons were Rugrats, Doug, Rocko’s Modern Life, Aaaahh! Real Monsters, Blues Clues, Hey Arnold and The Ren and Stimpy Show. Spumco now had the funding required to make cartoons how they should be and produced possibly some of the funniest cartoons for that decade. But Nickelodeon weren’t happy, they weren’t getting any of the jokes and saw the cartoon as a waste of money. Eventually the ideas being pitched weren’t the ones being produced, and this was just to get Nickelodeon to agree to give them airtime. Eventually Nickelodeon had John Kricfalusi fire most of his staff, because they felt that the show needed new writers and a new style. When the show first aired, it was an instant success… And Nickelodeon weren’t happy. They managed to overthrow Spumco and with every employee John fired, they would rehire until inevitably, John Kricfalusi had no control at all over his creations. Unfortunately nobody took to Nickelodeons revamped Ren & Stimpy Show and it was cancelled shortly afterwards. It’s horrible to think that possibly on of the only true cartoons of the 90’s was killed off by the very people that claimed to want it in the first place.
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