Animation and adults

[avrelia]

I made a comment on Tor.com and decided to re-post it here for safety.
https://www.tor.com/2023/01/31/why-do-people-still-balk-at-animation-and-how-can-we-change-their-minds/


The idea that animation is for kids seems to me as ridiculous as “fiction books are for kid”, “theater is for kids” or something similar. Animation is just another way to tell a story, or to be more accurate many more other ways to tell a story, as medium it is amazingly flexible – from traditional 2 d drawings, to stop-motion and claymation, to computer animation, to all the experimental ways one can make animated visuals.
And well. Is Shakespeare for kids only? What about animated one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare:_The_Animated_Tales I love this project, even though the plays are abridged, but the different stiles of animation add their flair to the stories told.

Now, for my favorites:
anime. I am not the biggest fan – I don’t dislike it, just haven’t seen a huge amount of anime as truer fans. I absolutely loved Carol and Tuesday on Netflix and Wotakoi: Love is hard for Otaku on Amazon Prime.
Maya and the Three and the Book of Life for the absolute visual feast.
My childhood favorite, The Plasticine Crow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsgGP3Oyk7E
I know, The Legend of Vox Machina has been already mentioned, but I am absolutely in love with it right now.
And talking about animation I can’t omit Yury Norshtein and his work. For the best sample – Hedgehog in the Fog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThmaGMgWRlY
and the story of his unfinished masterpiece, Overcoat: https://collider.com/the-overcoat-animated-film-41-years-in-the-making/

***
of course, those are not all my animation favorites, just some I remembered and were not mentioned before. Like Avatar the Last Airbender or Miyazaki movies

Comments

[shadowkat]

The idea that animation is for kids seems to me as ridiculous as “fiction books are for kid”, “theater is for kids” or something similar. Animation is just another way to tell a story, or to be more accurate many more other ways to tell a story, as medium it is amazingly flexible – from traditional 2 d drawings, to stop-motion and claymation, to computer animation, to all the experimental ways one can make animated visuals.

Heartily agree. I adore animation. I draw and paint, and understand how hard it is to do well. I'm also insanely picky about it. I tried Vox Machina, and need to go back to it - I think. I like the animation. Oh, if you have NETFLIX - Arcane is a must see in the anime department. It's beautifully done and focuses on two sisters.

Also a Miyazaki fan. Favorite cartoon as a kid was Kimba. Also seen almost everything from Studio Gibli, which is Miyazaki movies - they should still be on HBO. And saw all of Avatar The Last Airbender. Still need to get around to Legend of Korra.

A lot of anime is adult only, not for kids. Such as Ghost in the Robot, Akira, Lupin III, and Robotech.

Then there's the claymation, and stop-action - such as the new Pinnochio movie by Guillermo Del Torro. And Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and Coraline.

I know people who worked in animation professionally - I've a cousin who does the Yoda baby for Mandalorian, and then one of our next door neighbor's kids who I went to Junior High with - became an animator with Disney. My brother had friends who worked on Nightmare Before Christmas. It's a lot of hard work.

I need to look into some of your recs - there are so many now. I used to have to hunt for anime in video stores - it was hard to find in the 20th century, now with streaming - it's so easy to find.

[avrelia]

the legend of Vox Machina gets more gorgeous animation in season 2, and I love the characters, they develop in interesting ways.

I love how versatile animation is, so many amazing possibilities for all kinds of stories!

[shadowkat]

Ah, so stick with it? Okay. Thanks, good to know!