from below, write at least 3 paragraphs You watched the film Mickey Mouse Monopoly which leveled some critiques against Disney films. However, this movie did not analyze the latest Disney movies. O
Thinking About Animation Is there anything that makes animation as a medium, unique? • Flexibility…”places no limitation on ideas” (From Hubley and Schwartz. “Animation Learns a New Language.” Hollywood Quarterly 1946(4). P. 363) • Non -referential….fantasyscapes (From Napier. 2005. Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. New York: Palgrave.) • Perhaps we’re ”psychologically less defended” when watching (From Napier. See Above. P.XII ) • “It may be that animation in general — and perhaps anime in particular — is the ideal artistic vehicle for expressing the hopes and nightmares of our uneasy contemporary world” (From Napier. See Above. P.11) Tweety Bird. Warner Bros. From My Neighbor Totoro. 1988. Tokuma Japan Communications Co. Ltd., Studio Ghibli, and Nibariki. Disney vs Anime • Scope & audience • Visuals • But there is cross – fertilization… How does Western animation Compare to Anime? Content from Napier. 2005. Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. New York: Palgrave; Mechademia vol. 1. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press; Ruh. Stray Dog of Anime. New York: Palgrave Macmillian. Images from Disneyparks.com; Abiru Junjou. 2005. By Ougi Yuzuha; Afro Samurai. 2007. Fuji Television Network, G.D.H., Gonzo, Mosaic Media Project, Samurai Project, and Spike T.V. ; Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney Company. Visual Examples Pictures from LaMarre. Mechademia vol. 1. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. P. 128, 129, 134. Picture below is from a Miyazaki film demonstrating “sliding” and a “lateral view of motion” rather than “motion in depth”; Picture at right demonstrates superflat “Movement into depth in cinema [as seen in Disney films] depends on keeping things within the image in ‘proper ’ scale even as your position changes….[ballistic perception is where] you see from the point of view of the speeding projective, the bullet’s eye view.” (from LaMarre The Anime Machine ) Can Animation be a Source of Cultural Power? “Disney cartoons embed ideological messages about American superiority, values, and individualistic capitalism whose spread around the world is so effective because they’re disguised within the format of a fantasy cartoon.” (From Allison. 2000. “A Challenge to Hollywood?” Japanese Studies . P. 69) From Disney.com, The Lion King Japan’s Gross National Cool “Following the collapse of the asset -inflated economic bubble at the early 1990s, Japan entered a long -term recession that caused many Japanese to lose self – confidence and do a great deal of soul searching. Not long ago, the American Journalist Douglas McGray wrote: ‘Instead of collapsing beneath its widely reported political and economic misfortunes … from pop music to consumer electronics, architecture to fashion, and animation to cuisine, Japan looks more like a cultural superpower today than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic one’ (“Japan’s Gross National Cool,” Foreign Policy, May/June 2002). In a play on words, McGray suggested that during this time Japan became a major nation in terms of ‘gross national cool’ (GNC), an index of cultural power, rather than in terms of gross national product (GNP), an index of economic power. [Writing in 2005, the Japanese External Trade Organization was able to say] Japanese anime has held the number – one position in the world of animation for nearly two decades… Over 60% of the animated cartoons broadcast around the world are made in Japan. The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) estimates that the U.S. market alone for Japanese anime is worth 4.35 billion dollars, which indicates the strength of its global presence.” (From http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/reports/market/pdf/2005_27_r.pdf) Can Animation be a Source of Cultural Power? From Samurai Champloo. 2004. Fuji, Manglobe, Shimoigusa Champloos. Concept of Soft Power •Phrase “soft power” is new but what it describes is not •It is reflected in the power base of countries in the past Power comes in many forms •Soft power “is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. It arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideals, and policies.” America has had a lot of soft power ….think about all the people who eat McDonalds, or listen to American music, or are inspired by the Statue of Liberty, or watch Disney films Things to Think About •The relevance of cultural power like this which is different from the threat of physical force, military might, or economic power….although these may contribute to soft power Indeed, “seduction is always more effective than coercion, and many values like democracy, human rights, and individual opportunities are deeply seductive.” •What other countries’ cultures you admire and if you can see the idea of soft power at work •Have American actions abroad in recent decades reduced our soft power (Nye says some of our “displays “of “hard military power” have reduced America’s soft power) •If the concept is useful…some critics say in a globalized world the idea of power accruing to one nation is problematic; some also question how far this power goes (would you fight for a country whose products you like??) (From Nye. 2004. Soft Power. New York: Perseus Books; Nye. 2008. Soft Power Superpowers. New York: East Gate Books. Quotes from P. X of the former.) Beauty and the Beast. 1991. Walt Disney Pictures, and Silver Screen Partners IV. Video: Mickey Mouse Monopoly (see link in Canvas to watch on Youtube) Issues in Disney Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney Company., Beauty and the Beast. 1991. Walt Disney Pictures, and Silver Screen Partners IV. Mickey Mouse Monopoly Argues Disney is More than Entertainment • Is a Media Conglomerate • Films Spread Messages which Subtly and Over Time Influence Children • For Example, Films Teach us How to Think about Gender Roles & Race • Film Messages Are Compounded by Product Marketing • Product Marketing Fosters Commercialism Issues in Disney And it’s not just Disney… One study of 101 G -rated films released between 1990 and 2005 found: •Relatively few characters of racial/ethnic groups other than Black or White shown •Majority of characters male (2.6 men for every female character) •Female characters shown in traditional roles (about twice as likely than men to be in a parental role or in a “committed” relationship) •Men more likely to be shown working (From Smith, Pieper, Granados, and Choueiti . 2010. “Assessing Gender -Related Portrayals in Top -Grossing G -Rated Films.” Sex Roles. 62.) Now that it’s 2022, have the images in Disney and American animated films changed? Issues in Japanese Animation:Oshii Oshii feels that “reality is always already a movie” (From Toshiya. Mechademia vol.1 . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. P. 113) Themes & Images: • Questioning the nature of reality, and blurring the line between dreams and reality • Exploring issues of identity • Problematizing technology • Raising issues of power and control (including questioning capitalism) • Showing decaying cities • Utilizing animal motifs • Referencing religion and mythology • Utilizing mirrors and characters confronting their doubles (From Ruh. Stray Dog of Anime. New York: Palgrave Macmillian; Toshiya. Mechademia vol.1 . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.) Ghost in the Shell Bridges Blade Runner and the Matrix (From Ruh. Stray Dog of Anime. New York: Palgrave Macmillian.) Picture from Avalon. 2001. Deiz Production, Bandai Visual Company, Media Factory, Dentsu Productions Ltd., Nippon Herald Films. Ghost in the Shell. 1995. Bandai, Kodansha, Production I.G. Issues in Japanese Animation:Oshii Ghost in the Shell “His film is a meditation on the nature of the self in the digital age, depicting how we may in the future (and to some extent do now) construct our personal identities.” (From Ruh. Stray Dog of Anime. New York: Palgrave Macmillian. P. 126) Discussion Questions • What are the Main Themes of This Movie… (let’s compare our interpretations) • What Does This Film Tell Us About Gender Roles? • What Does the Film Have to Say About Technology and the Future of Society? • Some people say the film is better when watched with subtitles…how did you watch the film and which do you prefer?