In the darkness, a skeleton emerges on the screen and then jolts into a series of poses, lifting a leg, arms thrown out to one side, squatting, and popping off its head in both bony hands. The skeleton is dancing.…
I will consider pixilation as a form of dance in which the movements that are produced are wholly specific to animation, thereby making the study of this method fruitful for Animation Studies. In pixilation, single film frames are synchronised with…
The artist, animator, and educator Jules Engel is perhaps best known for his work as an Art Director at the beloved United Productions of America (UPA), or maybe later for his role as the first director of the Experimental Animation…
Dance sequences appear in a significant amount of Fleischer Studios cartoons throughout the 1920s and 1930s. These sequences presented the audience with an aesthetic sense of realism and an increased illusion of a third dimension, even though Fleischer’s cartoons were…
Isao Takahata’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) stands as the final masterpiece of one of Studio Ghibli’s founding fathers. Expanding upon the historic Japanese fairy tale Taketori Monogatari, it offers a poignant reflection on the impermanence of joy…
Accountability and responsibility must be thought of in terms of what matters and what is excluded from mattering. (Barad, 2007: 220) This is a ghost story about a poltergeist that haunted me through the winter of 2023-2024 on my Vimeo…
I suggest anyone who is interested in anime, is involved in the ‘Animation, Comics and Games’ subculture within the East Asian context (ACG), has friends who are anime geeks, or identifies as an ‘nijigen/erciyuan’ to have a look at Anime’s…
According to theater director Peter Brooks, a play becomes holy when it reveals the invisible, reflecting the elements of the world that escape our senses. (Brook 1968, 49) Unlike traditional narrative theater, the holy employs incantations, primal screams, and cyclopean…
We, the editors on Spirited Animation podcast Dr Tim Jones and Pastor Erin Jones, conclude our guest-edited theme on Profane Animation, with reflections on irreligiousness in animation from a working congregational pastor – the Reverend Katy Sachse. The Spirited Animation…
Animation is a powerful medium for cultural critique, utilizing caricature, fantasy, and exaggeration to address sensitive issues without causing significant offense. The animated adult series Masameer County (2021) exemplifies this by transgressing societal boundaries and exposing taboo topics. This blog…
