COP2 End of Module Evaluation

The module has helped me become more confident in researching to come up with a question through primary and secondary research. I found coming up with my own question for the Critical Analysis challenging as I have diverse interests in the subject of Animation, and therefore exploring just one specific aspect of animation won’t do for me. I have only managed to found my question when we had the Animation Core Texts lecture which got me interested in the critical theory of popular culture by the Frankfurt School because of the scope is still within commercial entertainment, and are still applicable to the animation industry nowadays. I feel that the research that I did was more extensive and I was able to understand the theories and apply it into the practical context better than last year when I did an essay about The Culture Industry. I have learned many insightful knowledge which can be applied in the process of making the response for the studio briefs within the themes within the module rubric.

My Critical Analysis essay is about how to invite the audience to view the world as the world of possibilities. In simpler terms, it is how animation techniques can be used to show a different perspective of the world than just the world where people are working for the capitalist system. The idea is to see make the audience see the value of animation more than just a mere commercial entertainment. I am intrigued by synesthesia in the art of animation, which means the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body. The emotive nature of synesthesia can explain complexity of the world without simplifying it like animation made for commercial entertainment as explained by an entry on my blog. Due to my passion in this topic, I think I have read too much resources for my own good. I felt it as I have difficulties coming up with my own sentence for the sake of analysing the theories in depth. Instead, what I did was discussing a wide range of theories while having no clue of what to be explored to evidence the thesis that I was about to critically analyse. I reckon that the essay was heavy on the theory, while not discussing animation evidence in depth to make it strong enough to back the thesis. A learning point from this would be that the animation analysis has to be of stronger significance to provide backings for the main thesis. In the future I think I should learn to be more critical about animation and films to balance out my textual knowledge. 

The Visual Investigation brief is the one that is most enjoyable to do mainly because I challenged myself to express my thought in the form of collage. The spontaneous process of collaging helped a lot when filling up the contextual research because it is much faster than drawing. Collage is the best way to express the thought because it is a conscious effort to take images out of context and putting it into another context in meaningful ways. The collage aesthetic also suits the pop culture context I am discussing in my essay.

Although I enjoyed the intellectually stimulating Context of Practice 2 (COP2) module, my journey throughout this module was a tough one. I faced several problems which I will mention below, some have been solved while some has affected the quality of my work which quality does not meet my expectation. My time management is really poor for COP2 because I failed to use the Christmas Break to work on the essay as I underestimated the commitment of a free-lance job, whereas I used up my Easter Break for a pre-booked holiday. So, there goes most of my time which I could have spent for COP. Therefore, everything else other than the essay have to be done in a rush. What disappoint me the most is my badly planned Creative Response. I feel that the concept for the creative response is very weak as I did not have time to present my idea to Richard and my peers in less than a week before the module deadline. The plan is to make an animation from the 5 best pieces of my study on shapes, textures and compositions that evoke emotions in my concertina. However, those three aspects are lacking in my study and it has lost its coherence to what I have investigated in my essay and the Visual Investigation. Despite feeling dissatisfied with the poorly done Studio Brief 2, I think I should give myself a pat in the back because I procrastinate less than last year and have resilience to relentlessly work on all the required submissions for the deadline. With such attitude, I will be able to make better quality works if I were to do similar things in the future, without any disruptions that is out of my control.

To sum up, COP2 has contributed to my personal development as a critical artist. I have a mixed feeling towards this module: whereas I feel confident of my research and synthesis on the subject matter, I still have doubts on how to creatively respond to a generic essay topic. In the future, I want to be more proactive in terms of asking questions around to clarify my doubts. I have liked COP2 throughout the year, and it is not just a module that I want to get done quickly, which is exactly what I did close to the submission deadline. I did not enjoyed it. A lesson to take for next time, is to be more careful when making personal decisions that will affect my time to do any modules. Although I don’t planned my way through the module, I enjoyed the spontaneity in making the Visual Investigation which gave me a reassurance not to lose momentum in the last sprint.

Animation Core Texts

Frankfurt school's Critical Theory:

• Texts by Adorno, Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, Leo Lowenthal.
• Synthesis from radical Marxism and psychoanalysis to explain effects of popular culture to the mind of its audience.
• Leftist: urgency to escape from the fascist capitalist system in the America.
• Walter Benjamin reads popular culture in positive manner in contrast to the 4 scholars.

Popular culture went through a streamlined production to generate money. The outcomes:

• monotonous, standardised
• 'Retour ala Normale': forcing conformity into the unconsciousness to maintain the status quo
• superficial needs over essential needs
• life and art reduced to monotonous line of production

Pseudo-individualisation(the 'drugs for mindless consuming zombies'):

• to conceal the formulaic standardisation in music by giving it varying characteristics, such as repackaging to make consumers buy the same thing over and over.
• make the consumers docile through musical rhythm, physical response to pop music immediately expose to the desire for mass to obey.

Impact to the society:

• Perpetuation of the set formulas that works, made desirable for the sake of giving infantile security.
• (Herbert Marcuse) Products indoctrinate and manipulate the society, causing them to demonstrate one-dimensional thought and behaviour.

Authentic Culture & Mass Culture:

• Intellectuals' outcry that presses on the total revolutionary change from the core to achieve authenticity.
• Avant-garde cinema screened only for a niche target audience. (elitist)

Walter Benjamin 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' (1936)

• Pop culture's consumption can be resisted and played as a form of rebellion; consume without being brainwashed.
• Shift from elitism to democracy in art. For instance, reproducible art have the capacity to fight back against traditional elitist culture.
• Digital culture have brought art to our fingertips. The exhibition value no longer depends on context it is placed on, instead it is designed to transcend through spatial boundaries to spread its revolutionary potential for social change.
• Auteur Theory: relationship between cinema and art where signature styles, like in the work of art, is incorporated in cinematography.

Richard Sennett 'Together'

Abstract

A source that is unused for the essay, but is one of which that contributes to the main argument. The book's introduction is relevant to the professional practice of an artist mainly about the cooperative work and how it can help to resonates the purpose of the work better compared to when they isolate themselves from the society. I do not think the book have substantial information that can be relevant to back the argument in my essay as it got deep into the sociology of creative practice.Therefore, I decided not to use this book as reference.

PREFACE

x.

‘Practical skill is a tool rather than salvation, but lacking it, issues of Meaning and Value remain abstractions.’

xi.

‘… no one could survive as a passive creature without will; we have at least to attempt to make the way we live.’

INTRODUCTION

4.

(on diversity: sexuality, race and religion)

‘To force all this complexity into a single cultural mould would be politically repressive and tell a lie about ourselves. The ‘self’ is a composite of sentiments, affiliations and behaviours which seldom fit neatly together; any call for tribal unity will reduce this personal complexity.’

5.

(Bernard Madeville fable of the bees, Georg Simmel the strangers)

‘… some public good can come from shared vice, but only if people do not ‘suffer’ from religious, political or indeed any convictions.’

6.

‘One result of managing conflict well, as in a war or political struggle, is that such cooperation sustains social groups across the misfortunes and upheavals at times.’

8.

‘Cultural homogenisation is apparent in modern architecture, clothing, fast food, popular music, hotels … an endless, globalisation list. ‘Everybody is basically the same’ expresses a neutrality-seeking view of the world. The desire to neutralise difference, to domesticate it, arises … from an anxiety about difference, which intersects with economics of global consumer culture. One result is to weaken the impulse to cooperate with those who remain intractably Other.’

9.

‘people are losing the skills to deal with intractable differences as material inequality isolates them, short-term labour makes their social contacts more superficial and activates anxiety about the Other. We are losing skills of cooperation needed to make a complex society work.’

13.

(Erik Erikson)

‘self-awareness emerges within the context of experimenting and communicating to others.’

16.

(on collective rehearsals)

‘Musicians with good rehearsal skills work forensically, investigating concrete problems. True, many musicians are highly opinionated …, but these opinions will sway others only if they shape a particular moment of collective sound. This empiricism is perhaps the most resonant point about artistic cooperation in a rehearsal: cooperation is built from the ground up. Performers need to find and work on telling, significant specifics.’

17.

‘Ritual makes expressive cooperation work … As will appear, ritual enables expressive cooperation in religion, in the workplace, in politics and in community life.’

18-19.

dialectical approach aims to reach common understanding

‘Skill in practising dialectic lies in detecting what might establish that common ground.’

‘You pick up on the intention, the context, make it explicit and talk about it.’

20.

Adam Smith on sympathy

‘Imagination can overcome these barriers; it can make a leap from difference to likeness so that strange or foreign experience seems our own. Then we can identify with them and will sympathise with their trials.’

21.

Empathy

‘Curiosity figures more strongly in empathy than in sympathy.’

22.

Sympathy v.s. Empathy

‘As a philosophic matter, sympathy can be understood as one emotional reward for the thesis-antithesis-synthesis play of dialectic; ‘Finally we understand each other,’ and that feels good. Empathy is more linked to dialogic exchange; though curiosity sustains the exchange, we don’t experience the same satisfaction of closure, wrapping things up. But empathy does contain its own emotional reward.’

Indirection gives a leeway for experimentation and improvisation

‘… this subjunctive mood opened up a space for experiment; tentativeness issued an invitation to others to join in.’

23.

‘By practising indirection, speaking to one another in the subjunctive mood, we can experience a certain kind of sociable pleasure: being with other people, focusing on and learning about them, without forcing ourselves into the mould of being like them.’

24.

‘In dialogics, while people do not neatly fir together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, yet they can get both knowledge and pleasure from their exchanges.’

24 – 25.

Cooperation online

‘Their most potent political effect occurs when they stimulate and arouse people to act off-line, rather than containing them to experience on-screen.’

27.

Machine moderates

‘Its (Google Wave’s) dialectical, linear structure failed to account for the complexities which develop through cooperation.’

28.

Problem with machine moderation in online cooperation

‘…meeting face to face to practise more effective lateral thinking, including everyone fully in the conversation.’

‘shedding context often means shedding sense; understanding between people shrinks.’

29.

‘The fault is in the … software written by engineers with an inadequate understanding of social exchange.’

Visual Investigation: (Side B) Creative Response

In the creative response to the synesthesia techniques introduced by experimental filmmaker, I would like to do a study which investigates compositions, colours, forms and textures with mix media from the photos that I have taken in the past. The idea is to take into considerations of what it takes to convey certain emotions that I feel when I took the picture. I used personal old photos because it represents my perspective to the world. However, the cactus page was special as I did a live observational drawing of three different cacti and imagine how each of them can shape-shift to transform into a different-shaped cactus.

I was about to have the 5 best composition studies animated but the workload have been to overwhelming. Everything has to be rushed, even when I was doing the study, such that I can't do an animated response.

Visual Investigation: (Side A) Contextual Studies

To avoid any confusion, I have to clarify that the concertina consist of one sided Visual Investigation, while the other side is used for the Creative Response. Initially, I have no idea on how to start a visual investigation, and the idea of writing it down on the concertina directly scares me a little because I can't erase if I made a mistake. So, I decided to choose to do collage as the main medium to fill up the concertina. The visual investigation that I made outlines the theory revolving the Human Condition and the society that we lived in, mainly inspired by the Frankfurt School critical theorist, Theodor Adorno. It then moves on into selected pieces of stills from Persepolis. It was indeed the animation that I analysed in the essay because it coherently explained a close-minded society, which is closely relatable even for those who lived in a developed country. 

The succeeding illustration in the concertina also explain the basic human need to express ourselves. The quotes throughout the visual investigation, unless otherwise specified, were obtained, deconstructed and pieced together with images came from Stan VanderBeek's poem 'Re:Vision' that I have obtained from his portfolio website about the significance of cinema as an art form. 

The last segment of side A in the concertina investigates the synesthesia using colours, forms and textures from different styles of experimental animations, still accompanied by texts from VanderBeek's poem which gives description of the thought process that leads to motion pictures. 

Visual Investigation: Synesthesia in Animation

I was discussing the topic of my essay with Mike, and he suggested to look at Mark Rothko if I want to explore theories relevant to synesthesia. He is well-known for his abstract expressionism paintings characterised by block colours. Rothko believed his art could free unconscious energies, previously liberated by mythological images, symbols and rituals. 

The cult value of his paintings is reliant on the context they are exhibited in, evidenced by the Rothko Chapel where people could cry at the moment they were looking at his set of paintings. Rothko thinks that the intended meaning of a painting should not be in the way in the relationship between the artist and the audience. 

He loved the abstract for its lack of representation and urged his audience to seek clarity and personal spirituality by projecting their own internal ideas onto his canvas. He revered the ”elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea and between the idea and the observer.” 

(http://www.ozy.com/flashback/the-spirituality-of-mark-rothko/4463)

narrative based synesthesia

Dot and the Line is rather unconventional way for cartoonist animator, Chuck Jones, to tell a story using shapes. The story is adapted from a book well-known for its use of mathematical pun to the character driven narrative. The staging is planned through such that it can best portray the emotions that the director wants to convey. The stills from this film pasted on the concertina are examples techniques used to express emotion. Limitations of the flat cutouts animation with no characters gives room for experimentation to get the emotion across through engaging narration and the appropriate screen composition. 

music based synesthesia

Oskar Fischinger an engineer-turned-experimental-animator who pioneers the music based synesthesia approach to experimental animation. He uses paper cutouts tied onto thin wires to make his animation titled: 'An Optical Poem'. The animation demonstrates a good use of the variations in form, colour and movement of the basic shapes through space. It successfully translates Fischinger's impression on the classical music to the audience's subconsciousness through something that is abstract.

Boogie Doodle is one of Norman McLaren's experimentation of making a camera-less animation. McLaren is a Scotland-born experimental animator who holds up an opinion that what triggers most experimental animation is the limitations and low-budget equipment. His work reflects this opinion as they all relies on mimesis and movements rather than realistically painted backgrounds and still images. Through Boogie Doodle, he has evidenced that the simple aesthetic balances out elaborate movements. Although synesthesia is subjective, McLaren's manages to make movements of the doodles coherent to the music in the sequential images painted on the 35mm film that is engaging to watch even in the eye of the masses. 

Boogie-Doodle from National Film Board of Canada on Vimeo.

COP2 Critical Analysis

COP3 Research Proposal

Research Proposal: Context and Themes

Books or Journal Articles

• Barthes, R. (1977) The Death of the Author In: Image-Music-Texts, St. Ives: Fontana Press
• McLuhan, M. (1967) The Medium is the Massage, California: Gingko Press
• Benjamin, W. (1969) The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, New York: Schocken Books
• Deleuze, G. (2005) Cinema 2, New York: Continuum
• Frederic, J. (1991) Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
• Collington, M. (2016) Animation in Context: A Practical Guide of Theory and Making, New York: Fairchild Books

Websites

• David Lynch Interview on 'Eraserhead': http://www.davidlynch.de/tiplynchtrans.html
• 'Diversion' by Hyunmin Lee from It's Nice That
• Making Process of 'Pearl'
• http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/4-new-rules-successfully-distribute-short-film-online-148855.html
• https://medium.com/@somethingsavage/making-look-see-f32c070a0d59
• https://www.creativereview.co.uk/animation-studio-moth-collective-on-film-making-sensitive-storytelling-and-choosing-clients/

Quotes

• '... the reader is a man without history, without biography, without psychology; he is only that someone who holds gathered into a single field all the paths of which the text is constituted.' (Barthes,1977)

• 'Our electrically-configured world has forced us to move from the habit of data classification to the mode of pattern recognition. We can no longer build serially, block-by-block, step-by-step, because instant communication insures that all factors of the environment and of experience coexist in a state of active interplay.' (McLuhan, 1967)

• 'the dissolution of an autonomous sphere of culture is rather to be imagined in terms of an explosion: a prodigious expansion of culture throughout the social realm, to the point at which everything in our social life – from economic value and state power to practices and to the very structure of the psyche itself – can be said to have become “cultural” in some original and yet untheorised sense.' (Jameson, 1991)

• 'The history of every art form shows critical epochs in which a certain art form aspires to effects which could be fully obtained only with a changed technical standard, that is to say, is a new art form' (Benjamin, 1969)

• 'By close-ups of the things around us, by focusing on hidden details of familiar objects, by exploring common place milieus under the ingenious guidance of the camera, the film, on the one hand, extends our comprehension of the necessities which rule our lives; on the other hand, it manages to assure us of an immense and unexpected fields of actions.' (Benjamin, 1969)

• 'I like intuition and emotions. They are most powerful to me, because people feel them.' (Lynch, 1985)

• 'To me, sound and image are equally important. I think it's got a great power and it's got a great impact on the subconsciousness.  .... If you've got an image and add a certain sound, then this thing comes to life, gets the mood you want it to have and people respond to it. That's why it's so important. All I do is to try to combine the right image with the right sound.' (Lynch, 1985)

Animation

Part 7/8: Poetry of Perception from HarvardX Neuroscience on Vimeo.


How long, Not long - trailer from Michelle & Uri Kranot on Vimeo.

Research Proposal: Distilling Ideas

Questions of Interest 

To what extent do the individual politics of professional practitioners impact on the role and function of Animation?

To what extent does Aesthetic ‘Style’ reflect the context, audience and/or function of contemporary Animation?

To what extent has Animation constructed our understanding or view of historical events and perceptions of truth?

The Internet has changed how we perceive things as information flows rapidly and is bombarded at us. At the pace that we are going, people are exhausted with keeping up on current issues, and as a result leads to indifference towards historical events. However, I feel that being engaged with what is happening in the world and take active actions based on personal belief is the responsibility of artists. This is why I am enthralled when I get a chance to go to an animation festival because I get to see different aesthetic 'style' coming from different animation artists comes to reflect their personal belief. I found myself intrigued a handful of contemporary stylised animations that are made by filmmakers on Vimeo which approach narrative storytelling in idiosyncratic way. Different from the Box Office animated movies and animated TV Series. 

For my Context of Practice 3, I would like to research more of the individual practice of these independent creators through looking at interviews online and probably a research on how this genre become popular. I want to look at the audience demographic of this creative culture and compare them with how people used to view avant-garde animation throughout its history. By doing this, I want to convey that there are more possibilities that can be explored in animation as an art form rather than just a form of commercial entertainment.

Herbert Marcuse 'One-Dimensional Man'

Abstract

'One-Dimensional Man' is another core text of my essay. Understanding that the mainstream media have always been promoting animation as children's entertainment has given a narrow minded view of the general public towards animation as a medium of art, platform for self-expression and discourse in the society. Also, there has been certain standard that society establish to the people who wants to pursue animation in further animation. The most common one is:' Oh, so you want to work for *insert the name of giant animation studio in America* '. Some others think of YouTube, TVs or advertising, which is seen as a risky job on the financial side.

Society recognised the importance of money to measure the worth of people under the capitalist system, and that money can buy happiness. Up to date, the consumerist lifestyle, trend and envy has become the main targeting of the corporations, and has trapped society in superficiality. Marcuse has critically analysed this condition of the advanced industrialised society as he wrote One-Dimensional Man (Published in 1964).

Quotes

‘Independence of thought, autonomy, and the right to political opposition are being deprived of their basic critical function in a society which seems increasingly capable of satisfying the needs of the individuals through the way in which it is organised. Such a society may justly demand acceptance of discussion and promotion of alternative policies within the status quo.’

‘Under the condition of a rising standard of living, non-conformity with the system itself appears to be socially useless, and the more so when it entails tangible economic and political disadvantages and threatens the smooth operation of the whole.’

‘If the individual were no longer compelled to prove himself on the market, as a free economy subject, the disappearance of this kind of freedom would be one of the greatest achievements of civilisation.’

‘The technological processes of mechanization and standardization might release individual energy into a yet uncharted realm of freedom beyond necessity. The very structure of human existence would be altered; the individual would be liberated from the work world’s imposing upon him alien needs and alien possibilities.’

5.

‘The individual would be free to exert autonomy over a life that would be his own. If the productive apparatus could be organised and directed toward the satisfaction of the vital needs. Its control might well be centralised; such control would not prevent individual autonomy, but render it possible.’

7.

(False needs)

‘Those which are superimposed upon the individual by particular social interest in his repression: the needs which perpetuate toil, aggressiveness, misery, and injustice.’

False needs offer instant gratification to the individual. It is important not to be sustained because it halts the masses’ ability to recognise the essence of societal problem and to take chances to solve it.

‘The result then is euphoria in unhappiness. Most of the prevailing needs to relax, to have fun, to behave and consume in accordance with the advertisements, to love and hate what others love and hate, belong to this category of false needs.’

Masses are used as an instrument for the ‘external power’ to fulfil societal satisfaction and function that has been predetermined by them.

‘No matter how much such needs may have become the individual’s own, reproduced and fortified by the condition of his existence; no matter how much he identifies himself with them and finds himself in their satisfaction, they continue to be what they were from the beginning - products if a society whose domain interest demands repression.’

8.

‘The only needs that have not been totally claimed for satisfaction are the vital ones - nourishments, clothing, lodging at the attainable level of culture. The satisfaction of these needs is the prerequisite for the realisation of all needs, of the unsublimated as well as the sublimated ones.’

9.

What we have to achieve is to overthrow the dominance of false needs and replace it with the true ones, abandoning the satisfaction that strains our freedom.

The ‘advanced industrial society’ is notoriously known for impeding the societal development towards liberation of the masses from the repressive authority that maintains the status quo. The social control has extended the need for frivolity which are therapeutic to the exhausted proletariats and provides escape from their arduous lifestyle in order to get back to it again. Deceptive liberty helps maintain the status quo: ‘free competition at administered price, a free press which censors itself, free choice between brands and gadgets.’

‘The range of choice open to the individual is not the decisive factor in determining the degree of human freedom, but what can be chosen and what is not chosen by the individual.’

10.

‘The criterion for free choice can never be an absolute one, but neither is it entirely relative.’

Pre-conditioned class system

‘Sustaining social controls over a life of toil and fear - sustains alienation’

‘The spontaneous reproduction of superimposed needs by the individual does not establish autonomy; it only testifies efficacy of control.’

Equalisation of class distinction:

‘Assimilation’ does not eliminates the class distinction, rather it is the homogeneity of the needs and satisfaction that are shared by the society controlled by the establishment.

‘Transplantation of social into individual needs, obscured the contrast between the two functions in reality.’

11.

‘We are again confronted with one of the most vexing aspects of industrial civilisation: the rational character of its irrationality. Its productivity and efficiency, its capacity to increase and spread comforts, to turn to waste into need, and destruction into construction, the extent to which this civilisation transforms the object world into an extension of man’s mind and body makes the very notion of alienation questionable. The people recognises themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment. The very mechanism which ties the individual to his society has changed, and social control is anchored in the new needs which it has produced.’

Technological means of social control is prevalent in the advanced industrial society is divisive in nature. It imposes formula and efficacy that trap the masses to fear the uncertain; alien to the status quo. The integration of such superficial thoughts are also catalysed by alarming social condition, such as mortality and the pressing needs to instigate peace through the enforcement of law.

The technological means of social control in contemporary industrial civilisation has successfully manifested the masses so they accept things that are appropriate to sustain the status quo, and dismiss all contradiction by deeming them ‘irrational’ and all counteractions ‘impossible’.

12.

‘The social controls have been introjected to the point where even individual protest is affected at its roots. The intellectual and emotional refusal ‘to go along’ appears neurotic and impotent’

The reality imposed by technology has penetrated the boundary between the conscious and the unconscious, as a result, masses lost their capacity to make a judgement that is not just the ‘mechanical reactions’ that is expected by the system.

13.

(One-dimensional mind)

The capacity of critical reasoning that comes internally from an individual has been crippled by the technological control, such that the root of opposition against the status quo are exterminated before subversive thoughts could even happen. The masses have come to terms and accepts the laws of their society as ‘the facts of life’. Efficiency of the capitalist system has stifled the masses from questioning its repressive nature.

‘The concept of alienation seems to become questionable when the individuals identify themselves with the existence which is imposed upon them and have in it their own development and satisfaction.’

‘The identification is not illusion but reality. However, reality constitutes a more progressive stage of alienation. The latter has become entirely objective; the subject which is alienated is swallowed up by its alienated existence.’

Societal progress created one-dimensional society which rejects radical ideas and their propositions. The ‘false consciousness’ is the new true consciousness justified by social norm established by the system, and passively consumed by the masses.

14.

‘The means of mass transportation and communication, the commodities of lodging, food, and clothing, the irresistible output of the entertainment and information industry carry with them prescribed attitudes and habits, certain intellectual and emotional reactions which binds the consumers more or less pleasantly to the producers and, through the latter, to the whole.’

(Lack of objectivity)

Advertising becomes a lifestyle

Promotion of glamour to work against qualitative change in the society

The trend’s ‘common feature is a total empiricism in the treatment of concepts; their meaning is restricted to the representation of particular operations and behaviour.’

Sub-cultures: Materialism incorporates spiritual, metaphysical and bohemian lifestyle.

‘Such modes of protest and transcendence are no longer contradictory to the status quo and no longer negative. They are rather the ceremonial part of practical behaviourism, its harmless negation, and are quickly digested by the status quo as part of its healthy diet.’

16.

(Media publication: rationalising policies and narrow-mindedness/binary opposites)

‘One-dimensional thought is systematically promoted by the makers of politics and their purveyors of mass information. Their universe of discourse is populated by self-validating hypotheses which, incessantly and monopolistically repeated, become hypnotic definitions or dictations.’

East-West contrast

East (Communism)

Instituted by communist regime, all other transcending modes of freedom are either capitalistic, or revisionist, or leftist sectarianism.

West (Liberal)

“Free World” other transcending modes of freedom are by definition either anarchism, communism, or propaganda.

“Socialistic” ideals encroached corporations; universal and comprehensive health insurance, environmental conservation from commercial activities, public services hurt profits.

‘In both camps, non-operational ideas are non-behavioural and subversive. The movement of thought is stopped at barriers which appear as the limits of Reason itself.’

Mark Collington 'Animation in Context'

Abstract

Animation in Context is a book by Mark Collington that I shapes my main arguments in the essay. The book summarises complex theories of animation, and can be used as a guideline in critical writing within the topic of animation. Out of all the theories that is presented in the book, I am most keen towards Hannah Arendt's theory of 'Human Condition' which described that self-expression remains crucial for human beings. It leads to self-discovery and eventually discourse that could contribute to the qualitative change in society. 

Collington also explains a concept that I always feel strongly about:

‘The visual techniques used in the most meaningful animations are not driven by technology or style, but are result of narrative form and function’

He compared understanding an animation to how we understand a narrative in very old paintings. We need to have a degree of contextual understanding of the general history at that period of time when the painting is made in order to fully appreciate the animation.

I personally think that animation should be seen as an entirety, and not as segments, therefore examining transitions that leads one scene to another should also be analysed. I will follow up talking about movements and transitions not in the visual investigation sketchbook, but in the blogs so that I can coherently get my points across as I can put on the reference videos, which could not be done on a piece of paper.

The Human Condition

‘Can be described as the artistic self-expression of the identity and everyday existence of an individual, society or entire civilisation, which is determined by the events of their past, present and future.’

‘A term that captures the innate survival instinct of mankind to master his own destiny over the constraints and fears imposed upon him by other civilizations, society, individuals or even himself. Ultimately, the human condition is a term that can be applied to the relationship between mankind and the natural environment, that is, the ability of mankind to take control over the natural world and even leave planet Earth altogether in search of an even greater voyage of self-discovery.’

‘Human condition and their historical context’:

• Fairy tales representation.
• Modernist and propagandist representations of the impact of technology and war on the everyman.
• Interpretations of deeply personal and abstract human experiences using techniques of animated documentaries.

Michael Foucault (French constructionist) ‘believed that knowledge is produced through discourse and that nothing exists meaningfully within itself without being defined as a topic for discussion. Further, it is the context within which something is discussed, in other words the era or culture in which the subject is discussed, that defines the nature of its very being. Above all, at any period in history, it is the views of those in particular positions of power that determine commonly held knowledge and beliefs.’

‘By reading about current affairs, as well as reading, thinking and writing how and why real events have informed the work of others, you will have a better idea of how and why you can express yourself through animation. As an artist, animation can be a way for you to explore the world, understand your place in in and share your own artistic interpretation of world events online with others.

The Culture Industry: Consumerism and the status quo

‘In modern society … have also established particularly powerful ways for government and large organizations to manipulate public behaviour by not only controlling the news media, but also advertising and entertainment.’

Walter Lippman (critic of American government’s propaganda) ‘defined that the use of news media by governments and large organisations to filter facts and influence public opinion as the ‘manufacture of consent’

‘Societies will often alienate those whose cultures, lifestyles and values deviate from those held as the established norm.’

‘But for Marx, subsequent neo-Marxist and modernist artists, a key function of great art was how it could be used as an aesthetic process (artistic experience) to educate people. Art could expose or challenge the reality behind many of the belief systems used by society, that condition people to accept the repressive and dehumanising effects of capitalism as the ‘normal’ way of life. Equally it could provide emotional escape from highly rationalised and industrialised society.’

The challenge for the individual and society is to be able to separate knowledge gained through active human experience, reading and debate rather than passively absorbing our identity and understanding of the world through exposure to corporately managed digital media, both in public urban spaces and the privacy of home.

‘Animation was born out of experimentation with a range of expressive art forms, such as shadow puppetry, and also the technology of optical toys. We have also witnessed how animation very quickly became an industrialised form of highly-stylised mainstream animation.’

Authorship

‘Animation is especially persuasive in depicting such states of consciousness - memory, fantasy, dream and so on - because it can easily resist the conventions of the material world and the ‘realist’ representation that characterises live-action cinema. Interestingly, this capability is highly enabling because it can illustrate both states of consciousness and the visual conceptualisations of psychological and emotional conditions.’ (Wells, P. (2002) Animation, Genre and Authorship, p.49)

‘The visual techniques used in the most meaningful animations are not driven by technology or style, but are result of narrative form and function’

‘We now live in an age where narrative genres evolve and hybridise as quickly as the human world and consume our imagination with concerns about our present and also our future.’

Considerations of semiotics: thorough research of subject matter, meaningful juxtaposition, aesthetic, sensitivity in representing different cultures, use of colours, anthropomorphism. Ultimately, produce harmonious composition that makes the artwork effectively communicate meanings to the viewers.

‘Our ability to understand a narrative, particularly in very old paintings, often requires us to understand the moral codes, customs, beliefs, values and visual metaphors of the given era and culture.’

‘How these more conventional ways of reading images and narrative sequences can be challenged through more abstract modernist art movements’

‘Discussion of genre has reinforced how at different periods throughout history, civilisations have reflected on mankind’s place in the world, using stories and images to understand and record what defines their society and the human (or hero) within it.’

‘Directors have focused on presenting the audience with nonfictional knowledge that often reveals more personal abstract truths and aspects about the human condition, in ways that avoid stereotyping, delve deeper into the human psyche and challenge our preconceptions about the function and purpose of all forms of documentary.’

‘Documenting and visualising synesthesia … a neurological phenomenon in which some people’s senses, such as sight, taste, smell and hearing crossover with one another. The result for some is that sounds, words and letters may be perceived as being of certain colour or even having a particular smell or taste. … for representing knowledge about subjective abstract experiences, feelings and memories.’

Independent animators ‘Directly and indirectly challenged preconceptions about the narrative content, function and form of animation.’

Cross-disciplinary practice (in the case of animation): work with a range of experimental and expressive techniques inspired by other film, art and design disciplines to enhance storytelling skills

‘Pschological insight to, or evoke a feeling of the state of mind of the subject’

‘Evocation … focuses more on more abstract stimuli such as colours, textures, rhythms, sounds and so forth.’

Study Task 5: Writing an Introduction

How does animation invites the audience to view the world as a world of possibilities?

Mankind possess innate survival instinct to take control of his own destiny over the boundaries and fear imposed upon him by the world he lives in through the act of creating art that shares his own artistic interpretation of civilisations, society, individuals or even himself. Animation is an exceptional artistic medium that utilises space and time to give the illusion of life. As an artist, I believe in its potential to invite the audience think for themselves away from being influenced by the ‘repressive and dehumanising’ effect of capitalism. In this essay, I want to briefly explain the relationship between of the human condition and historical context within the narrative storytelling in animation which contribute to the evolution of genres in Animation. Then discuss in-depth about the role of commercial animation within the capitalist system; as a tool to reinforce the ‘manufacture of consent’; analysing the conventional use of semiotics within the mise-en-scene of …(An animated film from Disney)... and explaining why this convention has to be broken by independent animation directors who use experimental approach in order to share their own artistic interpretation regarding more abstract subject matters. Finally, investigate some of the animating techniques that contribute to the process of evolving and hybridising existing genres to leave the audience with psychological insight, or evoke a feeling of the state of mind and fulfil its function to invite the audience to contribute in the ongoing discourse in their everyday lives.

Study Task 3: Choosing a Research Question

Research Question:

How does visual storytelling in Animation invites the audience to view the world as a world of possibilities?

Ontology (What is there to study?):

• Difference between the psychological impact of still and changing imagery on people's mind
• Immersive experience: use of technology
• narrative genres and relevant use of semiotics
• The shift from the use of stereotype in anthropomorphic characters
• Defining character traits based on its shapes
• Seeing a good application of 12 principles of animation and stunning graphics over thought-stimulating content? (commercial entertainment vs avant garde) perhaps a possibility of assimilation from both?
• Is it still effective to use cliches to evoke feeling of sympathy and stimulate humanist thought on the audience?

Epistemology (How can we know about it?):

• Analysis of existing animation from various genres
• Past experience watching animation (audience PoV)
• reading and cross referencing articles and journals

Methodology (How do we study it?):

• Analysing secondary sources and coming up with a thesis
• Interviews to test out the thesis
• Social experiment: let people watch sime animated clips and tell them to fill a survey relevant to the investigation

Resources:

• Chomsky, N. (1989) Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies, London, Pluto Press.
• Staiger, J. (1992) Interpreting Films: Studies in the Historical Reception of American Cinema, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press.
• Collington, M. (2016) Animation in Context: A Practical Guide to Theory and Making
• Barthes, R (1977) Image Music Text, London, Fontana
• [Internet] Source: https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/in-theory-barthes-2/
• Crow, D (2003) Visible Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics, Lausanne, Switzerland, AVA Publishing
• Goldmark, D and Keil, C (2011) Funny Pictures: Animation and comedy in studio-era Hollywood, Los Angeles, University of California Press

Animations or animation related artefacts:

• Pixar's colour script (Mis-en-scene)
• Zootopia

Study Task 2: Parody & Pastiche

Sources

• Hutcheon, L. (1987) The Politics of Postmodernism: Parody and History in Cultural Critique, No. 5, Modernity and Modernism, Postmodernity and Postmodernism, University of Minnesota Press.
• Jameson, F. (1984) Postmodernism: Or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, pp.17-25.

Jameson defines postmodernism as an era of mess and confusion which is lacking of a Grand-narrative when being compared to the modern era. Cultures from the past were recycled and simplified so that it is acceptable for the mass audience. Jameson is a proponent of the idea that postmodernism is not idiosyncratic, hence lacking of substance. According to him, it reflects the effortlessness and its effect on creativity which leads to a cul-de-sac for originality. The superficial understanding of avant-garde culture creates a dystopian society with historical deafness, and hence the problem of 'random cannibalisation of styles' (Jameson, 1984) prevalent in creative works. Postmodernism is arts of pastiche. Pastiche itself is a 'blank parody'; 'without any of parody's ulterior motives, amputated of satiric impulse, devoid of laughter and of any conviction that alongside the abnormal tongue you abnormally borrowed, some linguistic normality still exists.' (Jameson, 1984)



Hutcheon (1987) has a different insight on postmodernism which criticises Jameson's theory of postmodernism. She thinks that they are 'art marked primarily by an internalised investigation of the nature, the limits, and the possibilities of language of the language or discourse of art.' In other words, postmodern art is an application of art forms and its theory from the past, carefully crafted in order to 'abuse, install and then subvert convention in parodic ways'. This relates closely to Hutcheon's (1987) definition of parody: 'the formal analogue to the dialogue of past and present that silently but unavoidably goes on at a social level.' Despite all the criticism, Hutcheon acknowledged Jameson's take that postmodernism lacks 'genuine historicity'. The double-coded nature of postmodernism has resulted on the popular perception that postmodernism marks the fall of the avant-garde movements from the modern era. Hutcheon dismissed the negative connotation by arguing that avant-garde have undergone a paradigm shift to parodic postmodernism in which artists place more value on revealing 'the close connections between the social production and reception of art and our ideologically and historically conditioned ways of perceiving and acting.' (Hutcheon, 1987) This is pertinent to the present day situation where animated comedies, such as South Park, Family Guy and American Dad!, make use of narrative and symbolism as a powerful propaganda tool to influence the public's perception on socio-political issues.

Research and Epistimology part 2

This lecture guides us on how to make connections and coming up with a question based on facts that will drive the whole essay-writing process. Reflects what our ambitions as practitioners. Finding facts, knowledge, research on questions which would help us come up with the revised research question that funnels the gap between what we know and what you don't know. This way, the essay serves as a synthesis combining both in a way that makes sense to us.

Paradigm position

You as an individual and your outlook on the world. But you're in a degree course, so put into context of what you're specialising in. (i.e: Animation you should consider how the question relates to the 12 principles and/or industry-related facts and issues)

Ontology: What is there to study?

Ontology is what is or can be known, such as production process and 12 principles of animation, these are the some facts, properties and processes that form knowledge. Conceptualising and categorising animations in genres is also a process that uses existing knowledge to critically analyse and kick start the research process.

Epistimology: How can we know about it?

Making connections and forms philosophical analysis of scope and nature of knowledge in order to find a backings of our personal take on the question. Finding out something new could also lead us to a paradigm shift, in which we have to make decisions of whether we are going to change the discourse or to stick with what we have started with. 

Methodology: How do we study it?

Consider who and how can we get the information that we want, analyse the information that we have gotten from the source and turn these source material to evidence our take on the research question.

Study Task 1: Triangulation

Summary

In Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey (2009 [1975]) discussed about the difference between the roles of men and women in films, in a way that the male protagonist keeps the narrative going, while women disrupts the flow of the diegesis. Active-male and passive-female roles both contributes to the development of scopophilia for the audience. The female figure integrate sexual pleasure in male audiences and the male protagonist projects an ideal ego 'giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence' (Mulvey, 2009 [1975]), which leads to 'misrecognition' of themselves on the screen (Storey, 2008). However, McDonald (1998 [1979]) dismissed the idea of intentional sexual objectification of women in narrative cinema as he pointed out the inclusion of 'looks directed at the male body and also looks between male characters' in films. Nevertheless, he clarified that contradiction between star's image and the concept of eroticism could overturn the effect of constructing a look that eroticises his body. The women figure connotes the to-be-looked-at-ness, which is why when 'a woman performs within the narrative; the gaze of the spectator and that of the male characters in the film are neatly combined without breaking the narrative versimilitude' (Mulvey, 2009 [1975]). McDonald's argument reiterates Mulvey's male gaze theory in relation to the content offered by popular cinema as a male-dominated industry. Hence, the patriachal influence apparent in the narrative flows as means of escape from an 'unpleasurable re-enactment of the original castration complex' and to 'salvage pleasure' as proposed by Storey (2008).

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Class Discussion: Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema

Harvard reference

Mulvey, L. (2009[1975]) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema in Visual and Other Pleasures, Basingstoke, Palgrave.

Contextual Facts about Laura Mulvey

• Article first published in 1975 coincides with the Women's liberation movement that started on the late 60s and persisted until the late 70s.
• Mulvey is a feminist film theorist, also an academic.
• Director of films in the field of avant-garde art cinema. An idiosyncratic persona.
• This essay is the most famous work produced by Mulvey because it is highly controversial gender-based critic, and it has been critically analysed and/or referenced by many other theorists, including those who wrote the other two articles.
• Uses psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Lacan as a 'political weapon' to critic Hollywood Films.
• She does not fully agree with the psychoanalytic theories. What she does is selectively choosing parts from the theory and tweak it to form new concepts which supports her tone of voice.

Key points

• Active/passive heterosexual division of labour in cinema.
• Active-male and passive-female according to male audience's perspective.
• Patriachy has its effects on culture. For instance, old pervasive potrayal of gender stereotypes based on the director's preference. It also affects how the layers of meaning in films are formed.
• Male gaze (the way in which the visual arts and literature depict the world from a masculine point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure)
• To-be-looked-at-ness of female physique extends beyond the narrative 
• Ego ideal projection of self into the protagonist male characters on screen.

Cine-psychoanalysis

Harvard reference

Storey, J. (2008) Cine-psychoanalysis in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction, 5th ed., NJ: Prentice Hall.

Contextual facts about John Storey

• Emeritus Professor in University of Sunderland's Center for Research in Media and Cultural Studies.
• Relevant research interests: cultural studies, especially cultural theory and cultural history and theoretical and historical approaches to popular culture
• In Cine-psychoanalysis, he analysed Mulvey's essay and explained the connections between the essay and the real world context.
• His book 'Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction' is continually updated so that it is up to date to the current social context.

Key points

• Scopophilia involving sexual objectification and narcissism are manipulations apparent in popular cinema.
• Scopophilic elements in popular cinema is driven by male's defense mechanism against castration complex.
• Calling for film-maker to be objective, and make films that contains intellectual stimulation.

Stars and Spectators

Harvard reference 

McDonald, P. Reconceptualising Stardom in Dyer, R. (1998 [1979]) Stars and Spectators in Stars, pp.187-188, London: BFI.

Contextual facts about Professor Paul McDonald

• An academic, currently the Head of Department for Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King's College London.
• One of his research interests is commercial and legal dynamics of conglomerate Hollywood.
• Wrote a handful of books that accounted critical analysis of culture, media and film industry.

Keypoints

• Evidence shows scenes in movies contains recurring shots directed at the male body and also looks between male characters.
• Disavowal of the look diverts the potential of sexual objectification of the male characters in films
• Contradiction between star's profile and the concept of eroticism could overturn the effect of constructing a look that eroticises his body.