Animation in America

Animation in America

--Part I: The Point

Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Eight Crazy Nights.
Titan A.E..
Iron Giant.
Treasure Planet.
The Road to El Dorado.
Anastasia.
The Prince of Egypt.
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.

The only decent American Cartoon movies involving realistic human design I can think of. (not counting classic Disney musicals) THIS IS TRULY PATHETIC.

I was curious, so I decided to look up a list of major animated motion pictures released in theaters, and I found this website:

http://www.cartoonresearch.com/feature.html

Here is the pattern I discovered:

From the 40's to the 80's, America is booming with original animated movies, many of them obviously being simpler due to lack of technology.
Throughout the 90's, American cartoon movies strive, and a style is developed which shows off American design of humans in cartoons. Unlike anime, these American cartoons give human movement much more detail and emotion by use of body language and all parts of the face at once, not just by use of the eyes.
2000 through 2004, things begin to change. Less and less of these brilliantly animated cartoons involving human realism are showing up; maybe 1 or 2 every two years. Besides these few movies, the only American cartoon movies are unnecessary sequels to Disney movies made around 10 years before, and these sequels tend to have a lessened quality of animation than that of their prequels.
2004 through today, and these masterpieces are basically gone. Disney Cartoon Studios has officially closed down, and Warner Bros. cartoons have ended for the most part as well. The new thing (along with the continuing trend of Disney sequels) is 3D animation: The next revolution in animation. As American 3-D Movies increase in number, American cartoon quantities are virtually replaced with a growing number of anime cartoon movies. Japan is now carrying out the legacy of cartoon animation in movies while American has decided to move onto a different path.
There are 11 American animated movies scheduled to open in theaters in 2007. Nine out of these eleven are computer animated, and one of the two 2-D movies is a Simpsons movie. In other words, we've got one decent original American cartoon movie ahead of us, and we don't even know how that one will turn out.

To condense this pattern into one simple statement: the decency of American cartoon movies, both in number and style, has begun to crash just as its high point was reached.


--Part II: The Reason

Scrolling back a bit to that last section of the timeline trend - 3-D movies are the dominant factor of American animation as of now, and their popularity is growing ever faster. However, the appearance of the animation is not the only thing that has changed; the plotlines and themes of the movies have changed even more dramatically than the visual appearance. No longer are the movies about serious plots and no longer do they revolve around alternate realities, future realities, or past events in history. Now, animated movies are about 100 percent personified animals/objects which possess the personalities and language usage of current day Americans. Yes, I credit the writers for discovering that allowing the young audiences to relate to the characters is a great method of attracting viewers. But where has all the sense gone? Where has every drop of seriousness, sense, and emotion gone? Ice Age had a remote amount of historical context, and Finding Nemo was the kickoff of these 3-D"animal movies"....and the only good one.
Yes, a good movie needs comedy. But when a movie is comprised of absolutely nothing but comedy and silliness, crap is forced into children's minds as opposed to fascination. Both silliness and fascination are entertaining and attractive, but in different ways. For example: Napoleon Dynamite and The Day After Tomorrow were two of the top rated movies of 2004. One was successful because of the comedy that came out of stupidity, and the other was successful because of the interestingness of the story and its ability to make people really think. It's odd how two total opposites can be so alike.
Human emotion is definitely more difficult to portray though 3-D animation than in cartoon animation. To get around this difficulty, animators/storywriters have done 3 things:
1.) Use of animals to portray the personalities of humans.
2.) Use of more modern references so it will be easier for today's audiences to understand.
3.) Applying the use of comedy and silliness to the majority of the events and actions in the film.

When it all comes down to it, the abundance of both comedy and modernization is simply what the animators/storywriters use to cover up their inability to make movies similar to the past successful cartoon movies. These methods are the new way of bringing in money through animated movies.
American animators of the nineties had a knack for making movies that were both entertaining to all ages while containing historical, philosophical, and educational value. So why not just go back to making cartoon movies with some value rather than using mindless comedy to sweep in money? Because that would be moving backwards in terms of technology, and that is not what America likes to do. It is quite unfortunate that only a few good cartoon movies had the chance to be made before this "3-D mindless comedy" revolution.


--Part III: The Observation

If you take a moment to compare the animation styles of the few movies mentioned above to the animation style of every anime movie, you will notice that the American ones are much better. Ignore the storyline for a second, and just compare the animation. The anime humans barely move. They portray emotion through long-winded speeches, shimmering eyes with way too many reflections, and hair that waves in the wind even when there is no air flow in sight. Aside from the detailed actiony fight scenes, the characters normally move only one limb at a time, and the head does not move as the mouth moves unless the character is getting hysterical. Not to mention the mouth does not even move properly in the first place. I am an anime fan and I have seen many anime shows and movies, so don't tell me I have no basis of opinion.
This American human animation style is so unique and filled with emotion, and it could be taken much farther. If only there were some way to combine the human animation of America with the dignity and respect of good cartoons that the Japanese have, then everything would be peachy.
Guess what? Here is another list:

Finding Nemo.
Madagascar.
The Wild.
Over the Hedge.
Barnyard
Open Season.
Cars.
Chicken Little.
Robots.
Ice Age.
Valiant.
Doogal.
Chicken Little.
Everyone's Hero.

These are some recent dominating animated movies, all in 3-D. I'd say Finding Nemo was a great movie, and it was one of a kind. Apparently it became a major kickoff for this revolution, but we all know that no movie will truly beat the originals. The rate that these 3-D movies are coming out is so massive, that it is getting tedious for the true animation fans. Of course, since these new tedious movies appeal to basically ages 8 and under only, they bring in money, and that is all America needs. So basically, the other reason that this revolution is taking place (besides the advancement forward in technology) is because this invaluable crap that is being forced into children's minds is a much easier way of bringing in money than actually taking the time to THINK OF A DECENT STORYLINE.




--Part IV: The Unnecessary Extreme:

I was trying to find a way that this whole argument could actually seem significant, and this is what I came up with.
The USA is very very very very very very very very very rich. America uses all of this money to pay mindless media factors so that they will entertain the masses and get more money, so they can use this money to pay the media to get more money, etc, etc, etc. Well, to pay for that and to fund military activity to help force our form of government on another nation. Which is, of course, also extremely important (sarcasm incase you didn't catch on.).
Virtually all countries dislike America. We will most likely get bombed very soon. We are greedy slobs who sit back and eat microwaveable instant pasta dishes while watching IO digital cable programs, and meanwhile, people of other countries must be constantly working simply to have a meal each day. One key reason other countries hate America is out of jealousy. They must work their asses off in harsh conditions in order to live, and they are looking at little old America, where the people are carefree slobs who throw their money anywhere they can, and where the children and teenagers bitch and complain because the biggest problem in his or her life is that they can't have a 50 square inch plasma screen television or a miniscule purse that costs 1,200 dollars.
Money is rising high around here, and we are making this money by selling out all of our culture and dignity. We have the money, we have the talent, and we have the resources. Screw advances in entertainment technology, we already have enough. Hey America, slow it down and savor each thing before immediately trying to think of something new. Chew your food, and take your time, because for all you know, the next course may not be as delicious as the salad you're having now.
If that metaphor meant nothing to you, I will move on. I am saying that America has all of this potential, and it is wasting it by always rushing to get to the next advancement. Everyday technologies and defense technologies are a different thing, but we are talking about ENTERTAINMENT FOR GOD'S SAKE, PEOPLE. Let's slow down and use our human resources and brilliant ideas for culture, dignity, and civilized interest, not for acquiring wealth and transforming future generations into zombies with an IQ of .01.
What I am getting at here: America is a cultural wasteland that was once looked up to for its creative innovations, but is now looked down upon for its tendency to throw away money as a means of showing off how rich it is. The 3-D movie revolution of America has become a result of America's need to show off its money and technology. Let's make some more cartoon movies with human animations. Forget the crap and the silliness and the showing off of superior entertainment technology, and bring back the culture, the historical value, the juicy stuff that makes people think, the dignity, and the brilliance of our own unique style, and maybe we will be one step closer to reviving the respect that many other countries once had for us back in the good old days, back before we used our money to show off. We are America and we are free, so let's use our freedom to gain cultural respect.
Take a look at the movie "Robots." The hero is the little creative nice guy who everyone happens to love, and the bad guy is the rich man who gets what he wants because of his wealth and power who everyone happens to hate despite his high status. Talk about hypocrisy.


--Part V: The Conclusion

If you have not noticed by now, I am all about potential when it comes to culture. I also believe that dignity is more important than most other things. America has potential for making great animated movies, and it is throwing this potential away for all the wrong reasons.

--Part VI: This Entire Statement Packed into one Blurted-out Sentence:


Atlantis and Titan A.E. were some damn good movies, and I really would like to see more like them before I die, so let's get off our asses and get to work.