Posts in EDITORIAL
Fan Service in Chinese and Japanese Animation
Fan Service in Chinese and Japanese Animation

Originating in Japanese anime, fan service refers to elements in fiction, often of a sexual nature, added to please the audience and cater to fans’ desires by incorporating nudity or highly suggestive and erotic scenes. Keith Russell (2008) argues that fan service scenes in anime create an aesthetic of the “glimpse,” where panty shots, leg spreads, and brief flashes of breasts transform mundane moments of daily life into possibilities charged with desire. These anticipated gestures are briefly frozen in time, sustaining moments of sensory gratification where the body and imagination coexist, establishing a connection between gaze and desire (Russell 2008, 107).

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EDITORIALMengxue WeiANIME, JAPAN, CHINA, SEXUALITY, REPRESENTATIONComment
A Look at How to Train Your Dragon (Dean DeBlois, 2010) from a Queer Perspective
A Look at How to Train Your Dragon (Dean DeBlois, 2010) from a Queer Perspective

Based on a book of the same name by Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon (Dean DeBlois, 2010) was influential on family audiences, and especially children, when it was released in March 2010, with a unique story about a misfit teenage Viking named Hiccup, discovering his sense of self as he ascends to adulthood. We follow Hiccup on his journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance, and, in the end, he gains the trust and admiration of his peers and the surrounding society.

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EDITORIALTrinity SencindiverQUEER IDENTITY, HOLLYWOOD, FRANCHISE, IDENTITY, COMPUTER-ANIMATED FILM Comment
Game Central Station: The Worlds of Wreck-It Ralph (Rich Moore, 2012)
Game Central Station: The Worlds of Wreck-It Ralph (Rich Moore, 2012)

Wreck-It Ralph (Rich Moore, 2012) follows the antagonist of a fictional arcade game known as Fix-It Felix. After escaping his 8-bit pixelated world and joining fellow outcast Vanellope von Schweetz in the brightly tinted world of Sugar Rush, the eponymous Ralph learns that their quest for redemption could lead to a massive shutdown of the arcade. Through its visual style and videogame narrative, Wreck-It Ralph felt as if it was calling me and my sector of young gamers, and the animation team at Disney managed to successfully bring in elements of popular gaming tropes and familiar characters to build the many worlds connecting through Game Central Station.

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EDITORIALRudan DanielDISNEY, COMPUTER-ANIMATED FILM, STYLE, FICTIONAL WORLDS, VIDEO GAMEComment
The Role of Animation in Creating New Visions for the Future
The Role of Animation in Creating New Visions for the Future

In the libraries of history and literature, there’s a recurring theme: it’s not enough to have knowledge, you have to be able to navigate it, accessing and linking relevant pieces of information that often seem disparate. The goal of the Library of Alexandria in Ancient Egypt was to amass all the knowledge in the world in one place, and the world’s first known index system, called the pinakes, was developed to organise the expanding collection as it became more and more unwieldy.

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EDITORIALElizabeth CoxARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, KNOWLEDGE, TECHNOLOGY, DIGITALComment
How A Town Called Panic (2009) takes your toys to the next level
How A Town Called Panic (2009) takes your toys to the next level

Keep it simple, stupid. A phrase taught to students in commercial animation so that they will not overwork themselves. Simple is not to be confused with simplistic, however. One Belgian-French film from 2009 sought to prove how much can be achieved with very little. This blog will explore how A Town Called Panic, directed by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, combines the formal techniques of limited and stop-motion animation with witty dialogue and uniquely ridiculous scenarios in order to maximize the comedic possibilities within the confines of animating plastic figure toys.

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EDITORIALBryce SheehanCHARACTER, PERFORMANCE, REPRESENTATIONComment
That Old Pixar Magic: Reframing our Perception of Computer-Animation’s Beloved Studio
That Old Pixar Magic: Reframing our Perception of Computer-Animation’s Beloved Studio

Undeniably, Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) changed the global animation industry forever, properly introducing the world to Woody, Buzz and a studio that would come to define the childhoods of millions of people. Following an unprecedented streak of beloved crowd-pleasing computer-animated films, Pixar Animation Studios made a name for itself with a brand built on a gold standard of quality, a reputation that has since become both a blessing and a curse. Ever since the start of the 2010s, and tied to the lacklustre reception of Cars 2 (John Lasseter, 2011), the common refrain that the latest Pixar release is missing that “old Pixar magic” has become a staple of most new releases from the studio.

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EDITORIALOliver VigniINDUSTRY, PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS, HOLLYWOOD, COMPUTER-ANIMATED FILMComment
4 Iconic Animation Characters Who Wear Glasses
4 Iconic Animation Characters Who Wear Glasses

In animation and film, disability representation is crucial in shaping the portrayal and perception of characters. A previous article took a closer look at Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, and found that disability can either be a barrier or a defining characteristic that enhances a character’s depth and relatability to audiences. Such representations are often taken for granted, yet they carry significant symbolic and practical weight. This can be particularly evident in how vision disability is depicted through characters who wear glasses. Glasses worn by fictional characters serve as integral elements of character design, reflecting personality traits, intellectual abilities, and personal journeys.

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EDITORIALHollie HobbsCHARACTER, REPRESENTATION, GENDER, COSTUMEComment
An Analysis of George Dunning’s Yellow Submarine
An Analysis of George Dunning’s Yellow Submarine

Based on the music of the British pop band The Beatles, Yellow Submarine (George Dunning, 1968) is a film that perhaps best resembles the tradition of the jukebox musical. It tells the story of Pepperland, a music-loving utopia falling under siege by the music-hating Blue Meanies. By command of the Mayor, Captain Fred boards the titular yellow submarine to seek help. He discovers The Beatles and urges their help given their musical talents and their resemblance to Pepperland’s favourite musical group: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles join Old Fred (Fig. 1) on a journey back to Pepperland, and rally Pepperland’s citizens to rebel against the Blue Meanies. Harnessing the groovy power of psychedelic pop, they sing their way to freedom.

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EDITORIALKirstin Stevens SchmidtMUSICAL, SURREALISM, BRITISH ANIMATION, STYLE, AESTHETICS, COLOURComment
Maintaining Identity over Time in Animated Bodies during Metamorphosis Transitions
Maintaining Identity over Time in Animated Bodies during Metamorphosis Transitions

A character’s body in animation is believed to be a fluid form (Wells 1996) due to its ability to take on any intended form. Characters can manipulate their bodies to assume new identities, hiding, or losing their sense of self in the process (Clarke 2022), whether intentionally or not. However, when discussing identity in animation through the technique of metamorphosis, the body tends to be overlooked despite being mostly affected in these acts of transformation, as audiences are more focused on anticipating the outcome of metamorphosis (Torre 2010) rather than the transition between the two bodies and the reasons behind the way the body transitions.

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EDITORIALRui Han TeoMETAMORPHOSIS, BODY, CHARACTER, REPRESENTATION, ABSTRACTComment
The Bruno Edera Project: Archiving Adult Animation
The Bruno Edera Project: Archiving Adult Animation

It is easy to argue that pornographic animation is always transgressive, for it directly confronts hard-won stereotypes that animated films are somehow a children’s medium, or that it is a type of media watched solely for laughs that cannot be taken seriously. To consider the creative potentials of pornographic animation is to therefore theorize the plurality of what animation truly is as a medium. But the very existence of pornographic animation also threatens preconceived ideas that there would be such a thing as authentic pornography, that is a kind of pornography in which performers are actually enjoying themselves and not ‘lying,’ versus faking and over-performing.

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EDITORIALAurélie PetitADULT, PORNOGRAPHY, HISTORY, ARCHIVESComment
Animation vs Automation: Labour, Artificial Intelligence, and the Silent Crisis in the Animation Industry
Animation vs Automation: Labour, Artificial Intelligence, and the Silent Crisis in the Animation Industry

In 2009, Vivian Sobchack asked: “what might it mean to bring together the concepts and practices of ‘animation’ and ‘automation’”? At the time Sobchack was writing on the visibility of labour within a modern computer-generated cinematic framework, where computers have become advanced enough that they appear to “have a life of their own” (2009, 375). In her examination of Pixar’s computer-animated film WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008), Sobchack notes that it is the machines, the robots like WALL-E and EVE, who are imbued with “the movement of life,” while the humans are left motionless.

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EDITORIALOliver VigniANIMATION, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, LABOUR, HOLLYWOOD, INDUSTRYComment
Wizards: Flaws of Human Nature through Fantastical Animation
Wizards: Flaws of Human Nature through Fantastical Animation

Western culture has long had a preconceived notion that animation is primarily for children. Two prominent reasons for this positioning were the arrival of the Hays Code, a motion picture guideline that made censorship stricter starting in 1934 up until 1968 (and which included the censoring of animated stars such as Betty Boop), and the dominant influence that the Walt Disney Studios had upon shaping the identity of the medium as family-friendly (see Lewis 2021). These two forces converged to create cartoons marketed primarily towards younger audiences, leaving future generations of animators and studios to adopt and perpetuate this convention.

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EDITORIALJames GorczycaADULT, RALPH BAKSHI, REPRESENTATION, FANTASYComment
They Were More than Roommates: An Analysis of Ramona’s Growth in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023-)
They Were More than Roommates: An Analysis of Ramona’s Growth in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023-)

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023-) is an anime adaptation of the original graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley and directed by Abel Góngora, released in November 2023. One of the many adaptations of the original story, Góngora’s retelling shifts its focus to its female lead, Ramona Flowers while featuring a new narrative of forgiveness and reconciliation with past relationships.

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EDITORIALJada CarterADAPTATION, TELEVISION, GENDER, REPRESENTATIONComment
Annecy and Animafest Zagreb in the 1980s: Building Bridges for the Sino-European Opening-up in Animation
Annecy and Animafest Zagreb in the 1980s: Building Bridges for the Sino-European Opening-up in Animation

The following excerpts are taken from my recent book Chinese Animated Film and Ideology. Tradition, Innovation, Interculturality (2024) published by the CRC Press. This book will be of great interest to those in the fields of animation and film studies, political science, Chinese area studies, and Chinese philology. It especially considers animation film festivals history, paying particular attention to the culture-building role of the festivals Annecy (France) and Animafest Zagreb (former Yugoslavia) in the 1980s.

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EDITORIALOlga BobrowskaCHINA, FESTIVAL, SHANGHAI ANIMATION FILM STUDIOComment
The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Magic, the lost art history of the Walt Disney Studio The Courvoisier years, 1938-1946
The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Magic, the lost art history of the Walt Disney Studio The Courvoisier years, 1938-1946

This article is dedicated to Giannalberto Bendazzi, Italian historian and writer.

There is no glitter that plays with the souls of film fanatics like the art produced by the Walt Disney Studio. The films made by Disney hold an emotional spot in the hearts of their fans and this is not by accident. Their characters are drafted to connect to how we feel about ourselves and where we feel we fit within our own lives. The good-versus-evil plot lines that come out of Disney sell us the fantasy that people in power are punished when they try to hold other people back, and the way these narratives are designed to exploit our need to believe in these happy endings has created a cash machine for Disney that is almost unique in the realm of big box office animation.

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EDITORIALRon BarbagalloDISNEY, FILM HISTORY, CEL ANIMATION, ARTISTComment
Exploring Beets: Conceptualising Loneliness Through Metaphorical Symbolism
Exploring Beets: Conceptualising Loneliness Through Metaphorical Symbolism

The expression of emotion in the design of animated characters is not always a constant event or visible activity; rather, it is often presented in a subtle, complex, and multifaceted way. This is because the contribution of emotion to the formation of a character is closely connected with different backgrounds and contexts, which reflect the richness of human experience (Uhrig 2018).

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EDITORIALZhijun HuangMETAPHOR, SYMBOLISM, EMOTIONComment
Speaking to Impurity: The Preservation or Expulsion of Parasites in Iwaaki Hitoshi’s Parasyte
Speaking to Impurity: The Preservation or Expulsion of Parasites in Iwaaki Hitoshi’s Parasyte

Parasyte is a Japanese sci-fi/fantasy/horror manga created by Hitoshi Iwaaki, serialized from 1989 to 1994, and continuously adapted over the last decade into multiple films, animations, and television series. Its enduring popularity is evidenced by the recent Korean film adaptation, which emerged a decade after the last, Parasyte: The Grey. Most versions of Parasyte maintain the same core narrative, focusing on a high school student named Shinichi and an alien parasite named Migi that burrows into his right arm. They gradually form a trusting alliance to combat other parasytes that have taken over human brains. Through his interactions with Migi, Shinichi begins to ponder the justice of survival among non-human creatures.

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EDITORIALShao-Jie JhouANIME, MANGA, ANTHROPOMORPHISM, REPRESENTATION, PHILOSOPHY, BODYComment
Empowering Inclusion through Animation: Pioneering Digital Resources for Cultural Competency at King’s College London
Empowering Inclusion through Animation: Pioneering Digital Resources for Cultural Competency at King’s College London

The story began with discussions with colleagues about cultural competence content to train staff and students. I appreciated the unique insights I had on these perspectives, both as an outsider (experiences I had as a non-native) and as an insider (working as an academic in the UK for the past 17 years). Driven by a desire to address this issue, I began exploring the less overt forms of bias, i.e., microaggressions. While explicit biases are widely acknowledged for their impact, implicit biases are subtler and vary significantly based on individual backgrounds, education, and conditioning.

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EDITORIALMandeep Gill SagooEDUCATION, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, CREATIVE PRACTICE, DIGITAL Comments
The ‘Unmasking Scene’ in the Student Films of Shofela Coker
The ‘Unmasking Scene’ in the Student Films of Shofela Coker

Nigerian-born artist and illustrator Shofela Coker’s student films Oni Ise Owo (2007) and Iwa (2009) narrate tales of redemption at the intersection of divine will and the exercise of human agency. Iwa is a remake of the earlier animation completed as a Motion Graphics final project when Coker was an art student at the Memphis College of Art. This post reads a critical scene in both films to explore artistic creative agency at the intersection of traditional African art production and the digital provenance of animation.

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EDITORIALMichael OshindoroSUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, REPRESENTATION, BODY, TECHNOLOGYComment
The Perils and Problems of Fantasy and Animation
The Perils and Problems of Fantasy and Animation

From Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream to Disney’s Frozen (Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck, 2013), fantasy storytelling across multiple media has allowed authors to create grand tales of myths, magic, lore, love, and sacrifice. Since the codes and conventions of fantasy do not require the storyteller to be shackled to our world’s laws, sensitivities, cultures, or even physics, the fantastical worlds available to the genre blow us away by what can be possible if we just suspend possibilities, even for a while, so that dragons can fly in our midst and wizards can reveal to us our heroic destinies!

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EDITORIALAshton WhiteTELEVISION, SPECIAL EFFECTS, SPECTATORSHIPComment