As a lifelong comic book reader, can I just say how annoyed I am that you don't even mention that art form once? :P It's arguably the FULLEST merging of drawn image and text we've ever invented, where even the linear nature demanded of animation isn't a given.
One of the best inversions of how illustration/drawing separates us from mundane reality - Calvin & Hobbs, where Calvin's imaginary worlds are drawn in a moe realistic style before returning to Calvin's "real world" which is completely cartoon-y. And yet it works without even having to think about it. The way we take to visual language that represents the real world in a shorthand way, but then allows us to explore those shorthands at a deeper level because we're not constrained by the said real world.
Hahaha! Believe me, I had comic books on the mind here too; I just didn't trust myself to include them in this piece without going on the tangent that that particular angle deserves, especially with how winded this one ended up as is.
You're 1000% on the money, though. Really appreciate you pointing that out, Dave!
"Animation is the purest form of storytelling there is."
Yes, exactly! It's easier to accept animated films as fictional "stories" than it is for many live-action films precisely because there is enough distance between the art form and "reality" to make that possible.
And it does need to be "reframed", particularly in light of the increased volume of production of it being made around the world in the 21st century, thanks to technical innovations like the ones in this film.
As a historian, I have been exploring how animation both then and now has shaped popular concerns and cultural change without always being recognized for it. It's a topic I deal with in my books "America 'Toons In" and "The Encyclopedia Of American Animated Television Shows" as well as in my Substack FOCUS!: https://focus966.substack.com/
As a lifelong comic book reader, can I just say how annoyed I am that you don't even mention that art form once? :P It's arguably the FULLEST merging of drawn image and text we've ever invented, where even the linear nature demanded of animation isn't a given.
One of the best inversions of how illustration/drawing separates us from mundane reality - Calvin & Hobbs, where Calvin's imaginary worlds are drawn in a moe realistic style before returning to Calvin's "real world" which is completely cartoon-y. And yet it works without even having to think about it. The way we take to visual language that represents the real world in a shorthand way, but then allows us to explore those shorthands at a deeper level because we're not constrained by the said real world.
Hahaha! Believe me, I had comic books on the mind here too; I just didn't trust myself to include them in this piece without going on the tangent that that particular angle deserves, especially with how winded this one ended up as is.
You're 1000% on the money, though. Really appreciate you pointing that out, Dave!
"Animation is the purest form of storytelling there is."
Yes, exactly! It's easier to accept animated films as fictional "stories" than it is for many live-action films precisely because there is enough distance between the art form and "reality" to make that possible.
And it does need to be "reframed", particularly in light of the increased volume of production of it being made around the world in the 21st century, thanks to technical innovations like the ones in this film.
As a historian, I have been exploring how animation both then and now has shaped popular concerns and cultural change without always being recognized for it. It's a topic I deal with in my books "America 'Toons In" and "The Encyclopedia Of American Animated Television Shows" as well as in my Substack FOCUS!: https://focus966.substack.com/
Hey, I’ve started an account where I collect some out of context captions of great films in cinema history. Just wanted to share it with the cinephiles around here : https://substack.com/@pariscinema?r=1x6h4r&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile