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Artz, L. (2015). Animating Transnational Capitalism. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 44(2), pp.93–107. doi:10.1080/17475759.2015.1025817.

Animation is more of an escape from the norms of reality. Where you get to live in surrealistic worlds and empathise with an array of characters. The medium is enjoyed by all as it penetrates all demographics and is seen as a common source of entertainment. This article pounces on the idea of how animation (acting as translational media) has paved way for global capitalism and argues how the medium is easily accessible and with themes of individualism, defiance of authority and consumerism are the common narratives in all kinds of productions. Studies show how TNMC or transnational media corporations incorporate uniformed images and representations of multi-generational “family” content, indicative of how media structure can dictate the entertainment outcome that the general masses consume.  He also argues how through joint ventures, propagating ideological themes that further reinforce transnational capitalism by adopting new, diverse-centric capitalist structures best suited for better commercialization. Some countries have their local animation studios/shows that depict their capitalist cultural hegemony – knowingly or not. As an artist, you should be wary of the narratives to avoid falling into some ideological trap.

Bolens, G. 2012, “Kinesthetic Empathy in Charlie Chaplin’s Silent Films” in Kinesthetic Empathy in Creative and Cultural Practices, ed. Dee Reynolds and Matthew Reason, Intellect, Bristol, pp. 143-156.

Talkies restricted body movements since there was sound to accompany the act. Less energy was set as a benchmark for actors, as there was no longer a need for exaggerated movements, reactions, and slapstick. Instead of focusing on conveying emotions through expressions and actions, actors started relying on speech to share the story. Moreover, the noise from the Talkies distracted the audience from Kinesis. As discussed in this article, Charlie Chaplin wanted to conserve this art form for as long as possible. He focused on using his kinesthetic imagination and communication. More extensive and diverse audiences quickly understood these exaggerated acts. It did not matter whether they spoke a different dialect or language or even if they were deaf. These silent movies catered to a bigger audience. Through sudden and fast movements and acute gestures, even the simplest of scenes activated the perceptual simulation of the audience and engaged them, unlike the talkies. The article is more in line with my style of work. Similarly, I use exaggerated gestures/movements to portray dynamic scenes.

Coates, B., Pusser, H.E. and Goodman, I. (1976). The Influence of ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ on Children’s Social Behavior in the Preschool. Child Development, 47(1), p.138. doi:10.2307/1128292.

Sesame Street and Mister Rogers were two of the most influential shows in grooming pre-schoolers. A study was designed to assess the influence of shows, on children’s social behaviour before (baseline), during (treatment), and after (posttest) after 1 week of exposure to each of the programs. The author discusses the possibility of how caricatures (abstract characters) had a bad influence on children as compared to learning from a father figure like Mister Rogers. These observations focused on how frequently the preschoolers gave praise and discipline to other kids and adults. It was also measured how often the kids interacted with adults and other kids. “Sesame Street” dramatically enhanced delivering of positive reinforcement and punishment to, and social contacts with, other children and with adults in the preschool for children whose baseline scores were poor for an observational category. “Sesame Street” showed no appreciable impact on behaviour in kids with high baseline scores. “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” significantly improved the amount of positive reinforcement given to and social contacts made with other children and adults in the preschool for all children (high and low in baseline scores). The articles make you realise why there is a need for children’s educational programmes, which we are lacking in content today.

Dave, S.S. (2013). Indian Accents: Brown Voice and Racial Performance in American Television and Film. [online] Google Books. University of Illinois Press. Available at: https://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2omj4JhP3UEC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=+Misrepresentation+of+east/asians+in+films+and+cartoons&ots=tgXsBUjQMO&sig=11mWjuSenxxN0jReZC__2Bb_G9w&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=true [Accessed 10 Jan. 2023].

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We live in a world where people are treated according to the sound of their pronunciations/accents. Their social importance is based on their vocal inclination or on a certain tonal voice. Few accents are considered as satisfying, and the others are disturbing; categorized as “great accents” or “terrible accents” add to how we get it and treat individuals from various parts of the globe. For example; the character of Apu from The Simpson, in the episode “Much Apu About Nothing” his endeavour to talk in an American pronunciation demonstrates that he isn’t American. Despite the fact that he has the right pitch, his articulation is overstated to the point that the racial pantomime ends up being self-evident, his intonation is a brown-voice execution yet rather peruses as “credible” in that it matches our assumptions for how an Indian worker communicates in English inspects the social effect of Indian pronunciations as a racializing portrayal for South Asian Americans. Laughable, but an eye-opener article that shows you the west depicts the east.

Ehrlich, N. (2019). Conflicting realism: animated documentaries in the post-truth era. Studies in Documentary Film, pp.1–21. doi:10.1080/17503280.2019.1663718.

Ehrlich discusses the authenticity of documentaries depicted through animations. He argues that some go through such surrealistic events that no record of it exists, hence it is where the medium comes in. Animation is a unique tool where you have control over the world and depict events as gruesomely as you want.  The aim of documentary films is realism, and the author discusses the different definitions of it i.e., often there is no need for live footage. Ehrlich claims that there is a familiarizing and defamiliarizing truth. A thing to take away from the article is that the author is right about documentary animation being used as a self-reflection and that being surrounded by ‘fake news’ we cannot be sure of anything. The animated documentary can teach the viewer to understand reality in their own way.

Head, V (2016). Designing Interface Animation: Improving the User Experience Through Animation. New York: Rosenfeld Media, LLC. p7. 

The author discusses the ways in which the audience empathises and or connects with animation. According to him, the audience gets very critical when watching animations e.g., they look for the reasons in which things move, whether it’s the surface they are on or their movements, some of the most thoughtful questions. The author stresses how the movements of your character/animations affect the viewing experience of the spectator i.e., whether is realistic or exaggerated depending on its type 2D or 3D. He states “Knowing that your animations will be interpreted through one or both of those lenses – applying the rules of the physical world or as characters – creates a solid case for consciously designing what you want your animations to say” (Head, 2016).

Lindner, A.M., Lindquist, M. and Arnold, J. (2015). Million Dollar Maybe? The Effect of Female Presence in Movies on Box Office Returns. Sociological Inquiry, 85(3), pp.407–428. doi:10.1111/soin.12081.

“Why women-centric films are largely flops and what has caused this? Is it largely a business proposition or a result of the mindset of the public?  The Bechdel Test examines box office revenues of films from 2000-2009 and concludes 80% of highest-grossing films are male-centric. Later on, he debunks these tests as there have been cases where women-centric films have been profitable and have had good box office revenue e.g., Charlie’s Angels films, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman. Presuming that women-centric films earn less at the box office, then this is either driven by the movie-going audiences (a downstream effect) or the other shaped by the film industry creators (an upstream effect). There are two contrasting perspectives on the development of gender disparity within the cultural diamond; the upstream thesis contends that any underperformance of Bechdel films at the box office would be attributable to constitutive choices made in the relationship between the cultural object’s creators and the movie industry gatekeepers (the movie). The link between the cultural item (the movie) and the recipients would cause the downstream effect (the potential audience). A dilemma to consider when writing character for films.

Palaiologou, I. (2014). Children under five and digital technologies: implications for early years pedagogy. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 24(1), pp.5–24. doi:10.1080/1350293x.2014.929876.

In this project, the writer talks about how advancements in digital technologies aid in early education for young children and how significant they are in this day and age. The research was conducted to analyse the various kinds of digital technologies children younger than five are using and what kind of an impact it has on them. The author encourages the unrestricted use of technology and talks about how this should be amalgamated with the educational environment.  He talks about how the use of digital technology influences their ideologies, exposure and way of thinking. Studies show that children use these technological devices very frequently. The paradigm shift to a more technologically advanced era has changed the definition of an illiterate person to someone who cannot use digital technology. Hence, concluding that they should be used as pedagogy tools for the education of young children.

Sánchez, C. and Costa, C. (2014). COMMUNICATION & SOCIETY COMUNICACIÓN Y SOCIEDAD ! ” ” Transmedia Storytelling, an ally of Corporate Communication: #Dropped by Heineken case study La Narrativa Transmedia como aliada de la Comunicación Corporativa: Estudio del caso #Dropped by Heineken. Comunicación y Sociedad, [online] 27(3), pp.127–150. Available at: https://dadun.unav.edu/bitstream/10171/37776/1/20140605113549.pdf.

For years the concept of transmedia storytelling had been limited to fictional brands such as; television, film, literary or fundamentally. The ever-evolving media has forced corporates to adopt this concept which helps promote them. The article highlights Heineken as a case study whose recent campaign #Dropped (more of a social experiment) paved the way for corporate transmedia storytelling. The campaign took full advantage of all mediums e.g., it started with tv spots and then expanded into a reality web series where the basic question was: “What are men truly made of when taken out of their daily lives and dropped into the great unknown?” Inspired by the ‘The Amazing Race (CBS)’, where the participants are forced to find their own way back. The campaign proved successful and set an example for others to follow. In a world with ever-growing media, platforms, channels, and other forms of engagement, the use of transmedia storytelling has enabled businesses and institutions to rediscover their connection to the human essence. Hence, improving audience involvement.

Storz, O. (n.d.). How Love Ought to Be: The Power of Sapphic Representation in How Love Ought to Be: The Power of Sapphic Representation in Animated Children’s Cartoons Animated Children’s Cartoons. (2022) [online] Available at: https://scholarship.depauw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1187&context=studentresearch.

Previously there were policies and laws against anyone who wrote characters related to the LGBTQ+ community; hence, the use of vibrant characters was frowned upon. The lack of acceptance of people challenging heteronormativity was evident. However, with time these laws have evolved, and content creators have the creative freedom to incorporate various characters. This gave birth to a new era that signified and promoted the idea of inclusivity by increasing awareness through portraying different characters in multiple cartoons such as The Legend of Korra, Steven Universe, and Adventure Time. The target audience is children, but people of all ages watch these shows as they are readily accessible, entertaining, and easy to understand. If the idea of normalizing diversity is portrayed through different cartoons, children will eventually stop segregating and isolating their peers who might be different from them. Hence, the concept of heteronormativity will subsequently decrease, allowing children to not devalue each other and improve socialization. According to the article change takes time and is often met with backlash just like The Legend of Korra did when the protagonist was shown be queer, through subtle hints, but it later paved the way for other artists to challenge the norms by including diversity in their shows.