my attempts to make my first post about animation and cartoons light and airy resulted in a short but heady proclamation of my love for them so bear with me for a few and then we’ll get to the good stuff…
cartoon Look up cartoon at Dictionary.com
1671, from Fr. carton, from It. cartone “strong, heavy paper, pasteboard,” thus “preliminary sketches made by artists on such paper,” augmentive of M.L. carta “paper” (see card (n.)). Extension to comical drawings in newspapers and magazines is 1843. Cartoonist first recorded 1880.
something i certainly cannot get enough of is brilliant animation…be it stop/start, anime, lifelike high definition, cgi or clay…i love the fact that boundaries are the only thing that the creators definitely have to produce and the rest can fall anywhere and everywhere in-between. the technology can be as varied as a stick figure drawing collection on posterboard all the way to the highest complexity of graphics melted together in three dimensional splendor but the important thing is the what the viewer decides to see and how suspended their disbelief can take them. animation is usually synonymous with cartoons and comedy from slapstick to satire and can skate on the edges of reality or dive right into a fantasy world that can be manipulated to the likings of the audience as well as the producers in mere moments. pixar has certainly forced itself onto the world with animated film after film that truly tests the credibility and authenticity of an animated film and deserves the respect of the film industry as much as the often forgotten and underrated horror film genre. the cartoon or animated movie is one big special effect from beginning to end using the same idea that was used to create the moving picture in the first place. thousands and thousands of single still photographs strung together and shown at a speed which makes the images seemingly come to life by changing and moving as they would if they really existed outside of the imagination. the ‘animation celebration’ series will be an every now and then posting of some old favourites and new discoveries of animated clips and movies that i find while browsing the internet to share with you. please enjoy!
the first one is a new one that i just found today…it was a project created for an art class by one jamie bell and in 3:12 minutes it is ‘a brief history of pretty much everything’
‘mrs. bobbit’ is drastically different animation style capturing a bizarre puppet play into a short, ‘stubby’ film (i couldn’t resist) about the only bobbit family it could possibly be about. it’s not the slapstick of the roadrunner or scooby doo but i’m sure you’ll find certain aspects of the piece quite entertainingly glee inducing.
the next cartoon is part of new series on adultswim called ‘xavier : renegade angel’. the characters, plot, storyline and style of animation make up just a percentage of the production’s ridiculousness and dark humour and as well as a relatively decent helping of a fable underneath all the muck and mire. be warned. it is not another typical herocentric adventure easily explained to anyone…it’s quite bizarre
(sigh) this one is definitely up high on the list of absolute favourite cartoons of all time for me. aside from being a wonderful story for children from walt disney that i used to watch many times when i was younger, i definitely sense that there is a not so hidden metaphor for young boys of the homosexual variety and describes their plight through that of a lion that was raised by sheep therefore behaving like one and coming to terms with his ‘differences’. i may be stretching here but don’t all homosexuals tend to make everything somehow relate to being queer anyway? take this blog for example hehe. aside from the fond memories of watching this as a kid i recently shared it with a bunch of close friends after thanksgiving dinner and they were as enamoured as i was with ‘lambert the sheepish lion’ upon first viewing…
and last but not least…i definitely enjoy when artists decide to make an animated music video to promote their song. this one is for a song called ‘vania and the master’ and it is a combination of 2d and 3d animation to create a vivid otherworld in black and white and meshes with the song’s melancholic energy in a wonderfully imperfect way.
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
the h.o.d. daily gazette
