Animation as a medium has existed since the early 1900s, and now with the popularity of CGI, the art form is at risk. During the dawn of animation, it was used to create films that were impossible to film. Through animation, cups could sing and dance, lions could speak, and we could go underwater with mermaids. Stories that were nearly impossible to tell through live-action could be told through animation. With the rise of CGI, this is no longer an issue. Anything that can be animated can just as easily be made with CGI. This transition can be seen with the surge of live-action remakes being pushed by Disney. Every month there's a new remake of one of their classics that, more often than not, ends up soulless and lacking all the magic found in the original. Despite this, they’re still profitable, and there seems to be no slowing Disney’s production of them. So what is keeping animation alive? And how can it adapt to these new times?
In 2009 Disney released their last 2-D animated feature film, ‘The Princess and the Frog, ’ and transitioned to using 3-D animation for most of its feature films. Switching to 3-D animation has resulted in most of their movies having startlingly similar visual styles and main characters, with many pointing out how similar Rapunzel, Anna, and Elsa look to each other. Instead of developing unique styles movie-to-movie, the focus has shifted to how detailed animations can become.
Yes, having detail down to the stitching on a dress through 3-D animation is impressive, but besides the level of detail, they’re not doing anything new to set them apart in the animation industry. Unfortunately, Illumination has also fallen into this pitfall, with most of their movies looking the same.
Give a story a reason that it has to exist in animation and would not work as a live-action movie. Push the boundaries of what animation should look like to fully use the medium beyond just creating hyper-realistic images. Films like ‘Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse’ does this exceptionally well. This movie cannot be made into a live-action because specific things are done in the animation that would not transfer to a live-action format. The movie pays homage to the character’s origins in comic books by using visual motifs like Kirby dots and replicating offset printing instead of using blur to indicate depth serves as callbacks to comic books and creates a distinct visual style that would be impossible if not through animation.
The general perception of animation needs to evolve as well. The consensus seems to be that animation is delegated only to kid’s movies and that it’s a less dignified art form than typical cinema. This disregards the fact that while many of the movies may be targeted toward children, they still present lessons and stories that apply no matter what age the viewer may be. Unfortunately, with the rise of the internet and social media, kids’ attention spans have been getting shorter, leading to animated movies that are less concerned with a good story and more so with just keeping a child’s attention for an hour and a half.
Some movie studios are already moving towards more unconventional animation styles. Netflix’s ‘Arcane’ pushed the boundaries of 3-D animation, basing the style on concept art from the video game the show is based on. In Netflix’s ‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines,’ the main character is an animator, a trait they utilize by bringing her animations to the otherwise 3-D animated movie. Even Dreamworks, with ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’, explores animation with a clunkier style that emphasizes the shot's emotion instead of making it look as smooth as possible.
It isn’t enough anymore for an animation to make the most detailed, cleanest film they can. The industry is changing, and if animation studios don’t adapt, we may lose the art form. Turning away from focusing on things that CGI can do just as well, if not better, and turning towards what made animation such a unique medium in the first place is how the industry can survive in these changing times. Not only working to make their films special but going back to the roots of trying to tell a good story instead of talking down to children will help keep animation’s place in the film industry.
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