FINAL BLOG

For my final blog I resubmit “The Forest” for your review. This animation is full of imagery and messages that are reminiscent of “1984″ and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”  I love it.  The commentary that institutional education can be mind-numbing, vacuous as well as spiritually and creativity-crushing young minds sounds plausible.  Yes, this angle is dark but that’s the point of dystopian art.  How fantastic is it that animation can cover a range of topics so broad?  Although, let’s not forget, Disney told some pretty dark stories in his time.

This story pulls you in with the focus on the little and that is why the gun was shocking.  The fright it causes on lasts for a second or two.  When she uses it to set her classmates free and those psychologically trapped, I thought it was a powerful choice.  Notice how the living vines begin to grow immediately upon detachment of the ‘devices.’  Detach from your electronics and get outside; enjoy and respect the Earth, please.  She finds joy and power in her imagination, which she blames the complicit society, technology and rampant consumerism for stealing away from her.  The message can be taken in its simple form, not to allow yourself to become overly ‘connected’ to media.  Whether it’s television, PC’s, laptops, IPods, IPads, cell phones or video game machines; machines detach us from the Earth and all that it has to offer or “The Forest” in this case.  Taking it a step further, she doesn’t only blame electronics/media but ‘the establishment’ for not expecting any more of people than to behave like sheep.

What will become of the world if we just let the ones in charge tell us all what to do?  It becomes easy to forget that while we are walking past people everyday, connected to headphones, that we may be missing out on human interactions that could enrich our lives immeasurably.  When we see people coming toward us, we can even pretend to be connected to something, like a cell phone call, to avoid contact or human interaction.  This may seem silly or funny now, but what will the future hold for those who know no other option? Will we become a world of humans connecting only on virtual terms because that’s easier and more controllable? Will we stop voting too?

It’s animations like these and dystopian literature that attempt to remind us of the power behind and the need for, a re-connection to our nature, our community and our individual creativity.  More importantly, it attempts to shock us out of our stupor to engage and take charge of our destiny!

 

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Post 11: Animation vs Live Action – Decisions, Decisions…

Post #11: Donald’s Crime

Blog #12: Breakfast Cereal Mascots

Blog 9, actually 10… forgot the mid-term!

Post #13 Going/Went to see Pirates!

So, my 13 year old son and I did go to see this movie on the Saturday matinee.  It was delightful.  Pirates is a stop-motion animation, that I now appreciate more than ever before.  Having taken only 180 photos for my animation project, I can only imagine the time and patience it took to film this entire movie.  The characters were vibrant, the story and hero have a fresh look at pirates and the Queen was insane.  I loved the water shots on the high seas and the humor was spot on witty!  Without being a spoiler, I can say that I appreciated the character development and the humanization that took place with these animated characters.  They did throw in a wonderful element, that I was thrilled to see my son, not only happy about, but also informed about, Charles Darwin.  Yes, he has a pretty important role in the film and the way they neatly wrap up his character’s plight, to end up right where he ‘belongs’ historically, was genius.  Again, I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

One of the other great things about going to the movies is seeing the trailers for what is next in the world of animation! And they did NOT disappoint. Two I’ve posted look especially cool to my son and I.  The one below is Paranorman…

PARANORMAN/Chris Butler & Sam Fell

This gave me a Jimmy Neutron feel, which we have always loved.  So, if they stole characters and plot lines, hey, that’s what Hollywood does, right?

And the incomparable Tim Burton presents:

FRANKENWEENIE

Now, this I love because it involves a classic tale but gives the youth the power and again, emphasizes the depth of love we can have for our pets.

#12 Dark and Powerful

Today, I submit “The Forest” for your review.  This animation is full of imagery and messages that are reminiscent of “1984” and the like.  I love it.  The commentary that institutional education can be mind-numbing, vacuous as well as spiritually and creativity-crushing young minds sounds plausible.  Yes, this angle is dark but that’s the point of dystopian art.

The gun scared me for a minute but then when she used it to set her classmates free and those psychologically trapped, I thought it was a powerful choice.  Notice how the living vines begin to grow immediately upon detachment of the ‘devices.’  She finds joy and power in her imagination, which she blames the complicit society, technology and rampant consumerism for stealing away from her.  Which leads me to the simple message that can be taken from this animation for anyone overly ‘connected’ to media.  Whether it’s television, PC’s, laptops, IPods, IPads, cell phones or video game machines; machines detach us from the Earth and all that it has to offer or “The Forest” in this case.

It becomes easy to forget that while we are walking past people everyday, connected to headphones, that we may be missing out on human interactions that could enrich our lives immeasurably.  When we see people coming toward us, we can even pretend to be connected to something, like a cell phone call, to avoid contact or human interaction.  This may seem silly or funny now, but what will the future hold for those who know no other option? Will we become a world of humans connecting only on virtual terms because that’s easier and more controllable?  I wonder…

It’s animations like these and dystopian literature, that attempt to remind us of the power behind and the need for, a re-connection to our nature, our community and our personal creativity.

#11Animation Project

I submit a labor of love, if not of the actual content but of my 17 year old son for sure.  I’ve always been impressed with his skills but he actually liked MY work on this one! How about that!?  You will see that I have been completely brainwashed by my 3 sons and their action figure collection.

I did all of the writing, posing and  picture taking.  He took my direction after we uploaded the pics to his Adobe After Effects program (that we bought for him) Once in the program, he combined the images and I told him where to put the sound effects and asked him to put the glowing effects in for me, which is a little extra effort, but he’s a pro, so it went quickly.  I tried to be silly to give you all a little smile.  For those of you who hate or love Star Wars, I apologize in advance…

http://leelexab…

Stop Motion Animation Strut

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Blog Post #9: Simpsons

#10 Return to Steam Punk Fun

While looking for more steam punk animation to indulge myself…

I found this great animation! Such cool uses of collage and rotoscope techniques! Reminded me of a combination of “Blue’s Clues” + good Westerns + “Sherlock Holmes” + “The DaVinci Code” …. I hope you all enjoy!

 

 

After watching, of course, I had to research the origins and was happy to find a historical hoax at the end of the line; I happen to be taking a class on historical hoaxes this semester so again, the overlap is interesting.   The Beale Ciphers are reportedly, a set of 3 ciphers that lead to buried treasure! Who’s with me? Anyway, this started from a pamphlet found in 1885 from a man named Thomas Jefferson Beale who was said to have buried the treasure in Bedford County, VA

Wikipedia’s additional report states: “However, in 1982 Joe Nickell published a scholarly analysis of the papers, using historical records that cast doubt on the existence of “Beale”, and linguistic evidence demonstrating that the documents could not have been written at the time alleged (words like “stampeding”, for instance, are of later vintage). His analysis of the writing style showed that “Beale” was almost certainly James B. Ward, whose 1885 pamphlet brought the Beale papers to light. Nickell argues that the tale is thus a work of fiction; specifically, a “secret vault” allegory of the Freemasons. James B. Ward was, in fact, a Mason himself.”

What makes this animation so cool is not only does it draw on a sensational historical hoax (or not, there could be a treasure) but the filmmaker embedded ciphers and clues to a mystery within his animation.  So, for those who love a mystery and have a serious amount of free time, have fun!  There is a facebook page dedicated to those who wish to commiserate over their work as well: http://www.facebook.com/thomasbealecipher

#9 In honor of Junior

Our beloved dog for 13 years passed away Sunday, 1 April, which happened to also be his birthday.  I know that April Fool’s day is usually a fun day but this one wasn’t.  We have loved him and he has protected us since our youngest son was just a baby.  He was an old soul and could really communicate with us.  I’ve used these scenes in UP to honor him and remind me about why that movie had such an impact on me.

The story line had a classically, beautiful love story of a pure love between a man and woman but also the pure and unconditional love between dogs and humans.  They did such an amazing job! We fell immediately in love with ‘Dug’ the dog in UP.  Even the ‘evil’ dogs were only trying to please their owner.  They worked very hard just to do what was expected of them, as you can see in the scene below.

We all came home from that movie wishing we could put a dog translation collars on our dogs.  Yes, we have two and now our Eddie is wondering where his best friend of 5 years has gone…  But really, the power of a good film is that we can either identify with a character on screen or fall in love with one.  I would say that the animation UP reached a variety of viewers for a plethora of reasons.  The obvious: color, expert animation technique, action, adventure, suspense and the less obvious but just as necessary: complete narrative arc, well developed characters, heartfelt emotion, and of course, adorable doggies.

What set this film apart was the issue raised with respect for the elderly.  Most cultures, outside of America, respect and revere their elderly population whereas here, they are typically disenfranchised, disrespected and worse, ignored.  I loved that UP gave both of the old men, character and determination.  It would have been better if they included the woman rather than kill her off as motivation for the man to get ‘up’ out of his chair, but I’ll forgive them.  The initial disconnected relationship between the boy scout and the old man was masterfully crafted to allow for the development of the eventual and equally fulfilling interaction between the two.  The deep and real connection that each, admitted they needed from each other, highlighted that the value of relationships and love have no age or fur barrier.

#8 The Lorax

My 13-year-old, 7^th grade, son’s school went on a field trip last week.  (It seems they are scrambling to use the excess snow days)  Did they choose one of the numerous historic sites in Manassas? No. They gathered up 100 kids, 35 adults and 3 cops to walk them a half of a mile to the local movie theatre to see the 3-D animated feature The Lorax.  I’ll leave my opinion on the state of our educational system out of this blog; suffice it to say, I was shocked.  Granted, the main human was a 13-year-old boy…

I did not have the luxury to be one of the chaperones, so I will rely on his assessment, combined with reviews that I read to interpret the movie.  The Lorax is a movie based upon a 1971 Dr. Seuss story that had an environmental cautionary message.  The main character, Ted, looks for a legendary Truffula Tree, that has become a legend because his environment is treeless and fresh air must be sold in bottles. He hears the story from the “Once-ler.”  Seuss never ceases to impress me with his creative jargon… But just his premise scares me… think about it, bottled water seemed absurd a mere 25 years ago.

The Lorax is a character that speaks for the trees.  Of course, the books can be simple and poignant, but a movie must entertain for longer stretches of time, so Hollywood fills in the blanks.

According to my son, the tree chopping came across as accidental or that the supposed villain didn’t really have ill intentions.  The reviews said the same but accused the film of chickening out of making the villain have a clearly greedy motivation.  The reviews said he “simply seemed misguided” and my son confirmed that.  He came away thinking that the Once-ler, tree-chopping corporate leader, didn’t realize the damage he was doing.

Among the critic’s opinions as well as and my son’s, the jokes were interjected, it seemed, just to get a giggle, not to move or support the story.  For example: when the Once-ler cut down his first tree and called the Lorax, the Lorax started to build a small grave around the tree’s stump, intense, right? But the film throws in a joke using the little creatures that were helping.

In contrast, WALL*E didn’t hold back for one minute with its environmental cautionary message.  Both my son and I still think that is one of the best animated films of all time.  It never backed off, not for a minute!

Yet, overall, my son came home liking The Lorax  movie and getting the point.  Mainly, he loved the run back to school!

#7MIDTERM SPECIMEN

Racism in animation was rampant in the 40s.  At first glance, the ‘Boogie-Woogie’ animation may make the viewer smile, tap their foot and feel good and that is why it was dangerous. From an artistic standpoint, it has an art deco look of color and design and follows the general rules of good animation with its cycles of movement flow.  While good animation has aesthetic appeal, it falters if it highlights stereotypes and then propagates the effect under the guise of entertainment.

Racism in animation

There are animations with a much higher degree of blatant racism than the first considered, “Boogie Woogie”.  That selection initially interested me because of the combination of a clear stereotype with a seemingly scandalous representation as well.  In the Emmy Award winning documentary, Ethnic Notions by Marlon Riggs, he compiled much of the animated representation of African Americans over the course of 150 years.  Through various mediums: cartoon renderings, children’s books, merchandise and film he illuminated the insidious nature and the combined effect of this imagery on race relations in America.  Specifically, African American men were portrayed in either a simple, non-threatening image or the exact opposite as animalistic or savage-like.  This animation used the stereotypical rendering of African American ‘Sambo’ men, having large, red lips, the eyes somewhat crossed, implying low intelligence and only happy when playing or listening to music.

Where this animation took a scandalous (for the time, 1941) turn was at the 4:51 minute mark, with the entrance of three, very sexualized white women.  The soldiers not only gawk at these women but dance with them.  According to Riggs, images of African American women were rarely shown from a sexual standpoint.  The most popular and prevalent image being that of “Mammy” an obese maid only too happy to take care of children and serve in the home.  Additionally, the stereotype that was repeated in various forms was one of African American men as stupid and in this animation they blow themselves up because they are carried away by the music.  Even though it was typical to animation, the concept of being blown up, but because it has been repeated here only among the ‘dumb’ soldiers, the connection is negative and racist.  That scenario can be tied to a number of startling racist images leading up to this cartoon.  For example, there was a series of children’s books, which depicted little black children accidentally killing each other in various ways.

In analyzing that cartoon I was compelled to research further.  In doing so, I discovered many cartoons that are now banned and don’t allow for an easy embedding but I will post the URL anyway. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXFSsKFrCgY

America’s history of racial stereotyping is long, as we know.  Even though the level of racial stereotyping in the Boogie Woogie animation may have seemed mild to some, when added to just one more like this rendition of ‘Snow White’ now ‘So White’ the context carries with it the weight and seriousness of un believable racial discrimination.  In this interpretation of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, Merry Melodies uses “sebben” dwarfs instead and they are in the military, like my other example.  Here, the African American women fall into two usual categories: the ‘Mammy’ (the opening story teller and the witch) who are fat and ugly and the ‘Jezebel’ (‘So’ White character) who is highly sexualized. The Jezebel is dressed overly sexual and she kisses the group of men (Murder Inc.) hired to kill her.  The fascination with the military is a running theme here, even though it doesn’t seem to add anything to the storyline except to support the war effort (WWII).  Of course, that is the point to why the prince’s kiss doesn’t seem to work…he’s not a military man but the dwarf is and it’s a ‘military secret’ as to why his kiss worked.

The stark racial offense here is at the very beginning…the title: “Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs” wow! Supposedly, the choice of ‘Coal Black’ instead of ‘So White’ was to prevent confusion with the original.  The insult entrenched in the word ‘sebben’ cannot be denied either.

The fact that this animation has been ‘banned’ whatever that means, does tell me that progress has been made.  Racism though, is not a solved problem but an ongoing social concern.  Through education and awareness of what was once perpetrated upon an entire race of people, hopefully, that awareness will act as a reminder and moral compass in judgments and decisions we make in the future.