While animation as a film technique was discussed in Module 3, it is also important to examine animation films and television programs as a genre
(see Best/Worst Animation Titles, Google Directory: Titles and Google Directory: Cartoons) in which animals, people, birds, trees, plants, and houses are transformed and personified as humans vice versa. This emphasis on metamorphosis of images is a primary tool associated with the fairy tale/fable literary genre on which many animation films are based: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, Bambi, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Pan. Many of the Disney versions of these stories reflect a consistent value orientation privileging a “innocent,” idealized cultural model of the world. For example, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh represents a highly sanitized version of the original stories, in which the complexity of characterization; the imaginative, literary language; and the high-quality art work has been replaced by bland versions that wash out the realistic, foreboding nature that lies at the heart of fairy tales and fables.

Many of the Disney animation films contain sexist and racist role representations. In his analysis of these films, Henry Giroux (2001) posits that the female main characters in The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Pocahontas all adopt subordinate gender roles consistent with patriarchic values. For example, Ariel in The Little Mermaid, gives up her voice in order to obtain legs so that she can pursue the handsome prince, a literal and symbolic loss of agency for the purpose of romance. In Beauty and the Beast, Belle, as does the heroine in romance novels and romantic comedy, transforms the brutal beast into a caring male, the dramatization of how the female’s primary role is to solve the male’s problem. And, in Pocahontas, the Native American princess saves John Smith from being executed by her father, another portrayal of a female defining herself primarily through relationship with a male.

Giroux also identifies instances of racist portrayals in Aladdin, in which the villains have Arabic physical features and accents, a reification of Edward Said, “Orientalism” — the Euro-American representation of the Arab world in deficit terms as foreign, bizarre, exotic, mysterious, quasi-barbaric, and deceitful. In The Lion King, the evil lion Scar is portrayed as darker than the other lions. While the royal family speaks in British accents, the hyena storm troupers speak in Black dialect. In all of this, being white and male is assumed to be the privileged norm against which “others” are subordinated. Giroux argues that this is consistent with the larger Disney corporate value system that appeals to a traditional white, middle-class conservative American audience.

However, contrary to the Disney films, animation films such as Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Mononoke Hime, Shrek, Monsters, Inc., Waking Life, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit employ creative techniques of the genre to explore alternative value perspectives.

Much of the Saturday morning cartoon television shows such as Scooby-Doo, The Powerpuff Girls, Jem, Futurama, Hey Arnold, and Batman, are equally sexist and largely white. The shows The Simpsons, Beavis and Butt-Head, South Park, and King of the Hill reflect a more cynical, irreverent stance on contemporary society. As Douglas Kellner (2000) argues, while critics blamed the characters on Beavis and Butt-Head as negative examples for adolescents, the show, derived from Wayne’s World and other aspects of media culture, is more of a critique of the economic decline of the working-class family, the lack of educational and employment opportunities, and contemporary media culture. In contrast to Disney’s idealized, innocent version of American culture, for Kellner, the characters’ destructiveness reflects:

their hopelessness and alienation and shows the dead-end prospects for many working-class and middle-class youths. Moreover, the series also replicates the sort of violence that is so widespread in the media from heavy metal rock videos to TV entertainment and news. Thus, the characters’ violence simply mirrors growing youth violence in a disintegrating society and allows the possibility of a diagnostic critique of the socialsituation of contemporary youth (p. 325).

Animation Journal

For further reading:

Bruna, K. R. (2004). Addicted to democracy: South Park and the salutary effects of agitation (Reflections of a ranting and raving South Park junkie). Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 47(8).

Irwin, W., & Conard, M., & Skoble, A. (Eds.). (2001). The Simpsons and philosophy: The d'oh! of Homer. New York: Open Court.

Keslowtiz, S. (2003). The Simpsons and society: An analysis of our favorite
family and its influence in contemporary society. New York: Hat’s
Off Books.

Stabile, C., & Harrison, M. (2003). Prime time animation: Television animation
and American culture. New York: Palgrave.

Wells, P. (1998). Understanding animation. New York: Routledge.

Williams, R. (2002). The animator's survival Kit: A manual of methods,
principles, and formulas for classical, computer, games, stop motion,
and Internet animators. London: Faber & Faber.

Module 7: Word document

Different Perspectives on Genre Study

Audience-based Approaches to Film/Television Genre Study

Critical/Ideological Analysis of Genres

The History and Evolution of Genres

Devising Genre-analysis Activities

Different Genre Types

Action/Adventure

The Western

Gangster/Crime

Detective/Film Noir

Comedy

Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Horror/Monster

Suspense Thriller/Spy/Heist

Soap Opera

The Talk Show

Sports

Game Shows/
Reality TV

Animation

Comics

Graphic Novels

Teaching Activity

References

Teaching activities on genre developed by students in CI5472, Spring, 2004