Confessions of an Animation Nerd, 3/96

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Confessions Of An Animation Nerd
March, 1996

My column's introduction in Anvil Anthology magazine has been pushed back to the third issue. Until then, I will do essays here on a roughly monthly basis. -- Michelle Klein-Häss

Heavy Metal: The Movie That Wouldn't Die

I am writing this on the day that Heavy Metal, the animated movie, is being reissued theatrically. I am seriously looking forward to seeing the movie the way it was intended to be seen, in a movie theatre. Like many who have clamored to see this released as a legitimate video, I discovered HM on cable TV, after having missed it in its initial release. Yes, it's often sophomoric, and filled with less-than-politically-correct depictions of women with large, bare breasts . It's also got a lot of drug references and violence. But that's ok, because like the magazine it's named after it was never intended for kiddie consumption. And because it is an animated film meant for adult consumption, I'm hoping that it gets a nice big audience this time around.

Adults enjoy animation. This is why Disney had such huge success with Toy Story, Aladdin and The Lion King, and that is why juvenile-oriented features like Balto have died horrible deaths at the box office. Often times in the case of juvenile-oriented features, the theatrical release is a bit of an afterthought, because the producers know that the real action is in the sell-through video release. Busy parents, for good or for ill, use these videotapes as cheap babysitters....one video equalling about 1 1/4 hours of time to get the chores done without interruption from the small fry.

But the fact is, there aren't strong moves towards making more animated movies for adults. Despite the crucial importance of the adult audience in making an animated feature successful, nobody seems to get the hint that perhaps an adult-oriented animated movie would do well if promoted correctly. It is important to stress that when I mean adult-oriented animation, I do not necessarily mean sexually explicit animation, but animation with strong content that might be too intense for children. The article I did for Anvil Anthology #2 (which should be available in Spring) featured two excellent examples of what I mean by adult-oriented animation: MTV Oddities: The Maxx and the Æon Flux series. Both were creative, well-executed series which explored issues that were heretofore ignored in American animation.

Also, now that big-name actors' salaries and state-of-the-art special effects are levelling the differential between live action and animated film budgets, animation may wind up being as cost effective if not more cost effective than live action. Technological advances such as computer ink and paint and the use of CGI techniques in conjunction with traditional drawn animation are being made not only more useable but more affordable by more powerful and less expensive computers. The old arguments about animation being too expensive are starting to sound like voices from the past.

Another hint that the motion picture industry needs to look seriously at doing adult-oriented animated movies is the incredible popularity of Japanese Animation among American fans. In Japan, comics and animation have never been just kids' stuff. And due to the scarcity of soundstages and locations to shoot movies in the very small country of Japan, Japanese film companies have been quick to consider animation as an alternative to live-action production, especially for television.

Although the vast majority of titles that have been translated into English are by and large Science Fiction or Fantasy/Horror titles, the subject matter that animation in Japan covers ranges from soap operas to dramas to historical fiction to comedy. Considering how many fans in America have hopped on the "anime" bandwagon, it might be wise for the mainstream movie industry to consider a similar approach.

If HM does well at the box office, perhaps the money men at the studios will finally be convinced that adult-oriented animation is worth the risk and invest in it. If it doesn't do well in the theatres, it is assured that the video release, something which fans have been waiting for (and overpaying for poor-quality bootleg versions) for over 15 years, will be successful. But it would be nice if the former would be the case instead of just the latter.

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