Theories of Animation and Animation Aesthetics
Post 2
I had seen Duck Amuck in a couple of other classes. I really think it’s in a class by itself. As described in the reading, it undoes the orthodox approach. The sequence of the three acts is out of order since the end comes at the middle. There is incongruity with the sounds and the background constantly changes. There is also the presence of the artist. The ending implies that Bugs and Daffy are fighting with each other but it also makes one think about the person who is actually in charge. I would classify Duck Amuck as developmental since there are orthodox methods such as the dialogue and the characters have human like characteristics. Creature Comforts can be classified in much the same way. It’s based on real interviews and there is the presence of the artist, but it’s driven by dialogue and keeps a consistent style.
It was interesting to see 101 Dalmatians as experimental cell animation. The movie itself is orthodox since the characters are in their own world and the viewer doesn’t have any problems identifying with them. They know what drives Cruella and they feel sorry for the dogs. This was much like The Ant Bully in that one can identify with the characters, there’s unity, and three acts. This is very different when compared to something like The Nose. I watched some experimental animation in my film analysis class. It was made from different colored lines scratched onto film so I kept thinking about it when we were going over experimental in class.
I found a video on youtube that’s kind of similar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5_KPdwQp0o
I liked the take on experimental animation since I’ve never thought about it too much. Dreamscape was beautiful since there were so many things going on in the frame. I’ve never heard of a pin board before but it really makes me wonder how much time was spent to complete this. I have thought of animation being able to do things live action cannot. It makes sense that people would be able to get away with more in animation when relating to Propaganda. Animation is less threatening and the example we watched in class really shows this. The people were unrealistic looking, had big mouths, and moving eyes.
Magen Thornhill
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I think that there definitely have been many examples of cartoon imagery used to soften emotional reaction. A great example of this is Art Spiegalman's "Maus," a holocaust comic book where the Jewish people are represented as Mice. There's one particular image that I remember distinctly, of several mice hanging dead from Nazi gallows. This image's cartoonishness definitely softened the blow, but at the same time it called to attention the fact that what I was looking at was a construction created for the single purpose of shielding me from the true horror.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I think that animation can also be much more threatening. I honestly was slightly disturbed by the propaganda cartoon. Perhaps it's simply because I'm watching it from the point of view of someone who knows that the messages the cartoon is trying to promote are not particularly good ones. It's like watching Hamas children's television. The cartoon reads like indoctrination.