Is ATLA an anime?

So there is a ton of debate in the anime and ATLA communities about whether or not Airbender qualifies as an anime. Many people define anime as strictly "Japanese animation". But I see it more as a separate art form, with different styles, trends, and tenants apart from just nationality. I just wanna know what y'all think on the topic. I personally see ATLA as an anime because it's influenced by recurring themes, art styles, and storytelling. Why not try to start a debate?

Comments

  1. jasonhNovember 8, 2018 at 6:47 AM

    I know we discussed this after class, but I'll continue here. If Japanese Animation (Anime) created a style and then western countries imitate that style shouldn't we then call it Anime Style rather than Anime?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elaine HortonNovember 8, 2018 at 8:49 AM

    I'm in a polling group on facebook and someone asked about this a short while ago! The overall winner with 186 votes was "Soft yes" and "nah" was in second at 74. So 61% of the 305 people who responded were a hesitant yes and 24%. (The other choices in order of popularity were "hell yah" with 21 votes, "Based in many ways on anime, but isn't itself anime" with 21 votes, and "my hands are tied here" with 3 votes. It's a very informal polling group.)

    I would be in the "based in many ways on anime" group, since I think of anime as a style of art? There's so many people all over the world who emulate it now, or started off drawing anime and morphed it into their own style. The art school debate of "is anime a legitimate art style" comes up fairly frequently on the internet (Ringling just recently got called out on twitter for discouraging their students from drawing anime and/or taking classes about anime) which I also think is an interesting topic, since a lot of art/animation programs seem to consider it, for lack of a better word, "low art" and almost treat it like taboo? It's really weird.

    ReplyDelete
  3. jasonhNovember 9, 2018 at 12:53 PM

    Okay, so I did a little research on this. Some scholars want to say that Anime is Japanese Animation production, period. Others argue that it's a style and good old merriam-webster says it's a style of animation originating in japan. So what if the style is done or imitated elsewhere? I think what we have to ask ourselves is, 'what do we gain or lose by our definition?' What does it mean if we take a show written and made in the west (like ATLA) and call it Anime? Isn't that completely misleading? Doesn't that lack authenticity? Or does the show simply need to adhere to a loose and amorphous group of anime style signifiers and then it's anime? If we define Anime narrowly as specific kind of style then I would say Miyazaki isn't anime and I don't want to say that. I think we gain more from keeping Anime as 'animation from Japan,' but ask me again next week and I may have changed my mind.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bratz: Rock Angelz is the movie I didn't know I needed

Image
This weekend, I watched the hit 2005 animated movie Bratz: Rock Angelz. This movie was one of the first Bratz films in CGI, and let me tell you- the plot is ALL OVER THE PLACE. The girls start a fashion magazine and use stolen passes to get into hot London punk clubs, but when they lose their passes they decide that the only way to get into the gig is to become a rock band? This movie can be considered capitalist propaganda- the Bratz shop in order to destress about their problems, and it's an implemental part of their lives. They don't have jobs either- Jade has an internship, but only for three hours until she is fired. Chloe meets a TRASH British prince and ignores her best friend Yasmin who finds celebrity judge Byron Powell's (I don't make this stuff up) dog, Ozzy. Jade and Sasha try to do a photo shoot for the magazine, but Sasha micromanages the whole thing and makes her friend feel bad! And this whole time, there's these two evil blond twins (Kaley Cuoco PLA...
Read more

The New Spider Man!

Image
Yesterday I saw spiderman with some buddies and we all walked out absolutely giddy! This animation is the best animation to hit the theaters in 2018. Period. I remember watching it and as I was watching it thinking, "thank god I already finished all my reviews because I don't think I can put into words how good this movie is in just a page". The style of this animation is something you have never seen before from Hollywood. It is absolutely stunning. It follows traditions of comic book artists with bright colors, dark lines on the face, and a pop art texture overlayed on top of everything. My breath was taken away during the final fight scene: it was gorgeous , emotional, and the stakes were made clear in every shot. Not only was the animation fantastic, but the story was also so well told. Every character had a meaningful arch or something you didn't expect from them. Every relationship and turning point felt genuine and earned. And you didn't have some v...
Read more