Sunday, May 28, 2006

Things that need to change in animation

American theatrical features need to stop being so formulaic. In the 1990s, everyone made musicals just because Disney did it well. These days, everybody makes CG silly animal-populated movies full of fart jokes because Pixar made some.

Maybe the kids like these now, but these movies will prove to be very forgettable and never get so much as a nostalgic mention from them when they're older. They offer very little outside of what is hip and flashy at the moment, and rely more on endless promotional tie-ins than good writing for high box-office. The sad thing is that this is unlikely to change, as this is pretty much the way Hollywood has always worked.

American TV animation needs to have less corporate intrusion. People who know little about the art are responsible for what gets made and what gets passed on, and the amount of stuff that will never see the public's eyes is countless compared to what tripe does get put on. Executives are terrified of shows that dare people to actually think to understand a joke, or have a well-done action scene that they're too scared to spend the money for a new surround sound system on. It is purely business to them, as opposed to a creative field.

The Japanese industry has these same problems and then some. A lot of disturbingly perverted jokes get on the air, and I don't just mean the normal big-breast stuff- there's a lot of bizarre loli stuff going on over there. Apparently these are too big a part of the crazy Japanese culture to go away completely, but the amount of shows that revolve completely around it is mind-boggling, not to mention embarrassing to those who enjoy anime but hate fanservice.

Also, no country should ever try and emulate an anime style in their show if it's made outside of Japan. There's just nothing good that can come from that.

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