Like many animators, I am inspired by the works of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. For me, he exemplifies what the capability of animation is. His stories are engaging, his characters honest and searching. His vision true.
As great as his works are, I think that the art form of animation is still in its Infancy. Winsor McCay created some of the first animations, and envisioned animation as the next great art form. In my estimation, It has yet to make good on it's capabilities. When I look at what has been done in animation, I don't see work that comes close to the emotional and lasting impact of the rest of cinema. Even with work such as Disney's "
Dumbo", "
Fantasia", "
Triplets of Belleville", "
Akira", "Graveyard of Fireflies", "
The man who planted trees", and awesome works from Japan, Canada, Russia, Italy. I see artists who struggle to create great work often without support or supplies. Or caught in a system that sets it's expectations at slap-stick humor or cliched action flicks.
If you go back to the origins of the media and look at what Winsor McCay was doing in 1911, not only was it impeccably drawn but it had impact. For instance, "The Sinking of the Lusitania" (1918). He used his animation to recreate the events surrounding the Germans sinking the ocean liner "Lusitania". His animation raised public awareness that eventually led to us entering World War One. After the brilliance of McCay's work, the rest of the industry sank to rubber hose style animation and it would be years before anyone came close to the realism of figure and movement that he did in 1911. Animation was hacked and used to slapstick low-brow humor, created by animators who did not know how to draw movement.
We have yet to see the impact of "
Citizen Kane" or the artist visions of someone like Fellini or John Cassavetes. Where are the Bergman's and Wong Kar Wai's? I love animation and yet I think it sell itself too short. It sometimes comes down to finances or skill or capabilities. Most often, I believe that this art form suffers from lack of vision. No one believes that they can do great things. No one tries to explore the human condition or tell works that searingly bite at society. How about a film like "
Scenes from a marriage" or even "
8 1/2" or "
La Strada" or "
The Godfather" or "
Woman under the Influence" or "
born into brothels" Why not documentaries as animation? Why not?
Vision.