The original post: /r/television by /u/Iccotak on 2024-04-25 05:33:46.
TLDR:
What have been your experiences in discussions of Animation with others?
Do you think it is taken seriously in the West? if not, why?
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Whenever it comes to the discussion of animation, I am noticing very different attitude between people in the West in comparison to the East. This difference also seems more pronounced when looking at America.
The idea being that Animation, especially films, are for children. I don’t see it taken very seriously as a medium for storytelling
On the other end of the spectrum of “Only for kids”, there seems to be the attitude that any animation for adults should be black comedy. Popular examples such as; Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Rick and Morty, etc.
But Within the past few years there has been a boom in popular animated series aimed more towards adults which handle more emotionally mature topics and treat the storylines with sincerity rather than having a focus on dark humor; Castlevania, Primal, Cyberpunk, Arcane, Primal, Invincible, Blue Eye Samurai, Hazbin Hotel, Vox Machina, etc.
Yet, despite the massive success of these series, in recent discussions I have had with others - I still see people who either don’t have any respect for animation as a storytelling medium or just don’t see the possibility of it being more successful if given the chance.
Disney has been remaking all of their classic animated films into live action, and although there are some voices who ask “why?” The films are still box office successes for the most part, or they would not keep making them. However people still ask “Why make live action versions of films that were already great?”
Netflix has recently been remaking popular animated works such as the previously mentioned Cowboy Bebop, One Piece, and Avatar the Last Airbender. All of which triggered various discussions about the artistic value of recreating something into live action when it was already good.
It just seems like there is this dislike towards animation both in the industry and from audiences. Meanwhile Japan released 76 animated films for Theaters in 2022 alone.
But I am curious about what has been your experience in discussing Animation with other people and what your thoughts are about attitudes towards animation in the West compared to the East.