Come Back To Earth
Generational differences in Animation Perceptions
Today I re-watched Mac Miller’s music video, “Come Back to Earth”. The video is a single shot 3D animation of a small scuba diving character sinking into the depths of a dark and lonely ocean. To me, it represented the song’s exploration of depression and addiction. This theme came through powerfully when it was first released but was exacerbated in the wake of the artist’s recent deadly overdose. The scuba-diving character sinks slowly, personifying the slow, mournful tune of the song. It’s light up eyes calmly search the darkness as if searching for a way out that never comes, “I’ll do anything for a way out of my head”.
Come back to Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ocPPhtglU
The video got me thinking about our first when in class Professor Harrington talked to us about how many people saw animation as something for children. It got me to question my own perception of animation as 20-year-old. Personally speaking, I have never seen Animation in association with a child’s audience. And this example of a mainstream rapper using animation speaks to this idea. That maybe my generation doesn’t have the same perceptions and misconceptions of animation as the generations before us. Rappers are notoriously the type of people who are constantly trying to convince people they are cool. If animation truly had the perception that it was for children, I doubt a rapper would touch it with a ten-foot pole.
My entire life I saw animation as a medium for storytelling, to me animation was not just for children. The Simpsons was thriving for almost a decade before I was even born. South Park, Family Guy, and Archer are nostalgic reminders of my time in middle school. In my high school film class, my teacher showed us Paprika (2006). That was also around the time I discovered Don Hertzfield’s gut-wrenching It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012) on Netflix and found myself in abstract animation shorts screenings at Slamdance Film Festival. More recently, shows like Rick and Morty, BoJack Horseman, and Big Mouth are among my favorite shows (none of which I would watch if children were in the room). My entire life I have recognized Animation as a medium for adults and children in the same way I believe most people view Live-Action.
This adheres to Cholodenko’s assessment of the past three decades of animation as a Renaissance, but perhaps my argument pushes even further. I don’t think it’s even a question to argue over anymore. I believe that for young people animation has reached a status in our minds equal to that of any other form of art. To me, it’s sort of like arguing that paintings have meaning. Paintings are for adults and here’s why…. it’s pointless because we already know it.
For my generation, we understand animation is not only for children. Perhaps many of us have gotten a scolding or two from our parents for the animations we watched in adolescence. I don’t think many of my peers would disagree with me, that when someone says “animation is for kids” it's genuinely perplexing. Honestly the first time I remember hearing that spoken out loud was in this class.
What are your thoughts?
I love this post and couldn't agree more. I definitely think younger generations would all agree and say animation isn't just for kids. I watch animation all the time that are not shows kids should be watching, as you said so yourself. I really like that you included this video and said, "Rappers are notoriously the type of people who are constantly trying to convince people they are cool. If animation truly had the perception that it was for children, I doubt a rapper would touch it with a ten-foot pole." So, the people that make the argument that "animation is for kids" clearly need to broadened the shows/films they are watching and I think maybe then they would agree with what we are saying. Animation gives us the ability to create content that would be hard to do with regular day to day objects or with people as well, which is why I like this music video because it kind of justifies that.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of what's considered cool is a really good measure of shifts in society's thinking, isn't it? I totally agree. I've grown up seeing animation in all kinds of music videos, games, and other things that were generally accepted as cool. Maybe that's a newer thing than I realized.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the generation shift idea. Younger generations are growing up more saturated in a diversity of media types (for better or worse) and this probably means they're less prejudiced toward animation because they've seen a greater variety and there simply is a greater variety.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that animation is not for kids only. In Japan especially the medium reaches all genres and all age demographics. However I think in recent years American media has started to recognize animation for more then children's cartoons. I almost feel that the medium (at least in the main stream) has grown up with us. Family content with compelling stories from Avatar the Last Airbender, to Gravity Falls and Steven Universe has grown exponentially with shows telling more and more mature stories with each coming year. And animated shows for adults have also grown in number over the years. It seems these changes have evolved with our generation.
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