Some Oldies but Goodies in Animated Film
Tonari no Totoro also known as My Neighbor Totoro by the director Hayao Miyazaki. The film is about two girls who move to the country to be near their ailing mother and they have adventures with the wonderous forest spirits who live nearby. This film has a strong use of images rather than dialogue to get to the plot. Miyazaki has a strong attention to the little details of life and the simpler times of being a child. When the children discover the Totoro spirits in the old camphor tree this brings me back to a time when magic seems possible in this crazy mundane world. Most of Miyazaki films are different in nature because of mood and the tone of the film. This film brought many emotions for it made me remember being a child to have a dad I adored and who cared selflessly for me. It made me think of being young and being able to see all the enchantments of the world. Also the ability to explore and be carefree. It reminds me to have fun with the simplest, new thing, most of all to be young and how family can get sick and sometimes even die.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkziJbL2-y8
Pink Floyd The Wall which was directed in 1982 by Alan Parker about Pink Floyd who was a confined trouble rockstar. The animation is about his life. The flowers represent his wife who was coy, loving, and nurturing but later on treacherous and deceptive. He has a clear message and individual but can relate to people in general. Floyd depicts high-rise buildings, televisions, radios, Harley Davidson motorcycles and BMW’s which represent the personal and social barriers humans build around themselves to avoid people and community. There is many detailed animation sequences which use traditional hand drawn techniques. Floyd uses a lot of manipulation in the exaggerated characteristics in flowers, facial expressions and the human body. The film is meant to serve to let viewers interpret the story and the metaphor of the wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWhmiQ5e61A
The Snow Queen or commonly called Snezhnaya koroleva which was directed by Lev Atamanov in 1957 was about two young children, a boy and girl who fall in love when an evil Snow Queen hardens the heart of one. The music sort of sounds Russian and very romantic.This is a great story about a brave little girl, friendship and love that are above everything, and are worth the fight. The quality of the transfer of the film is not great and it makes it look like the film is older then it is. The majority of the film is very dark and grainy. This film gives us a great view of children’s entertainment in the 50’s. It is nice to see the true artistry into the films. This movie is incredibly popular in the Soviet Union and many people still watch it today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8jN0oOvYi0
So when you get a chance make sure you check out the links. Some great watching of animation films oldies but goodies.
A Short Vision
An animation film which was created in 1956 called A Short Vision. The background looks like it was done with water paint still drawings. This is a short 6 minute animated film by Peter and Joan Foldes’. It is about the end of the world caused by a nuclear apocalypse. This film had a huge impact on audiences especially across the Atlantic.
“Wild creatures flee in terror as a strange missile flies overhead. As it passes over the sleeping city, the world’s leaders and wise men look upwards. The missile explodes, destroying humans, wild creatures, and the Earth itself,”
“The Leader looked up, the wiseman looked up, but it was too late.” All those who saw it were destroyed.”
This became one of the most influential films in British animated films; it caused outrage and alarm with its graphic representation of the horrors of what happened in the nuclear war. Every living creature and every human being was annihilated. I think it was quite horrific myself especially with the disintegrating skulls and the people’s eyeballs popping and flesh being peeled back to muscle and bone. It wasn’t till about thirty years later that the nuclear holocaust formed the basis of When the Wind Blows by Jimmy Teru Murakami in 1986.
This is how it was introduced on the Ed Sullivan Show which aired on May 27th, 1956.
“Just last week you read about the H-bomb being dropped. Now two great English writers, two very imaginative writers – I’m gonna tell you if you have youngsters in the living room tell them not to be alarmed at this ‘cause it’s a fantasy, the whole thing is animated – but two English writers, Joan and Peter Foldes, wrote a thing which they called ‘A Short Vision’ in which they wondered what might happen to the animal population of the world if an H-bomb were dropped. It’s produced by George K. Arthur and I’d like you to see it. It is grim, but I think we can all stand it to realize that in war there is no winner.”
Throughout the Foldes careers they made social conscious animations. Another one they made was called La Faim which was produced in 1974. It wasn’t until he moved to Paris did he start exploring into computer animation. This was a violent tale about inequality. This is one of the first computer animated films. The storyline is told without words. It is about greed and gluttony in society. He was able to create a keyframe animation which created animated sequences from key frames. It took about a year and a half for him to make this animation.
Peter Foldes was Hungarian born painter and experimental animator. Nowadays looking at animation you can see how far we have come. Peter Foldes was an artist searching for his way to express his innermost feelings. The animations speaks to the view in their own language. Some things don’t always need words like La Faim. For me the film was still pretty disturbing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdtpvoOXn2o (When the Wind Blows)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkhNED3-mnI (A Short Vision)
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi co-wrote and co-directed the film Persepolis which was based on her memories of growing up during the 1979 revolution which are based off her best selling graphic novels. This a wonderful little film about a young girl living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is a funny little film where she is fearless and outsmarts the “social guardians.” She is slowly breaking out of her shell discovering punk, ABBA, Michael Jackson and Iron Maiden. Her dad wishes her farewell and tells her never to forget where she comes from. At the age of 14 they send her to safety in Austria because her parents worry because of the daily fear that is threatening their life in Iran with bombs and Iraqi war.
After she moves to Austria she goes through the difficult trials that teenagers face. She is vulnerable and alone. She is constantly having to deal with her religious fundamentalism and extremism background since fleeing her country. She even experiences love but after highschool she is alone and homesick.
Eventually she goes back to putting on the veil and returning to her home tyrannical country. Marjane returns to be close to her family. After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school, and even marries. She continues to speak out against the hypocrisy she sees around her in society. When she turns 24 she comes to the realization that she can no longer live in Iran. She eventually heartbroken to leave her family again moves to France. She begins to be optimistic about her future.
This film is not a biography and part fictional. What inspired Marjane? She gives her own personal point of view and how she started originally with her graphic novels. This film takes a step back and insightful in everyday Iranian’s a point of view. Everyone should have a life and dreams. It is not as easy as we think it is. She is a illustrator and told through her adventures as a young girl. It is a lo-fi animation largely made out of black and white film. I think not only does this film show the creation of art and illustration but it is also inspiring. It is not just about a young women and her struggles growing up. It is also a film about awareness and how a country can be suppressed by values brought about in society. How rebellion begins and why the need for freedom. It is true struggle because she has to make choices to leave her family but homesickness sets in but she endures her culture but eventually has to seek her own happiness. You can see the hidden rage her society entails because of the sharp stabs against women-hatred of the Iranian governing classes.
It is interesting to see the two-dimensional planes especially in the ocean waves. Muted color tones are introduced for sequences happening in the present. Marjane is able to create witty and sympathetic facial expressions with hardly more than a few scribbles. Check out a mini blurb of the film and comment what you think.
The Art of Animation 
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