Animation Nation and Other Thoughts

By Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman

Even in our allegedly civilized society, mythical beasts abound. Though you are not likely to glimpse a gryphon, ogle an ogre, or even grok a roc, you may yet find equally interesting critters in abundance if you pick up your newspaper, tune into cable TV, sample a news magazine, of surf the Web. Therein you will find pundits, commentators, and experts of all stripes in cohabitation with wonderful mythical animals such as "the national mood," "the American psyche," and "our cultural climate." I myself could never understand how we could have spent the last decade in an endless "celebration of diversity" and still have a unified "mood" or "psyche" (or consistent values, for that matter) but one thing is certain: These are indisposable creatures to have around when a couple of pre-teens use the little red schoolhouse as a shooting gallery or an NBA star turns on his coach and hits nothin' but face as opposed to a pretty three-pointer.

I have been asked of late why there is such a proliferation of animated series and features these days. What does it mean? Between 1980 and 1990 there were a total of fifty animated features (actually, thirty-eight if one discounts Warner Bros. compilations and the feature-length toy commercials). We are now well into 1998, and there are between thirty and thirty-five animated features that will be released by the year 2000. In several columns I have mentioned that there are close to three hundred animated series airing or in the works at this time. Let's don't forget, by all means, the booming OAV market or the two 24-hour cartoon cable entities. So...is there some reason, buried deep in the American psyche, why we have become an animation nation? What, exactly, does this say about our culture?

Most animation critics and historians seem to agree that the modern boom in animation began in 1988 with the release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. No doubt this landmark film had a role in returning animated features to prominence. The full-blown re-emergence of the Disney studio less than a year later with The Little Mermaid certainly kept the snowball rolling. Animation became respectable, nay, fashionable both as entertainment and as a major employment sector. It's difficult to believe that any of this has to do with cultural theories such as a national wish to regress to childhood, escapism from bad times, the collective nostalgia of a generation, or a growing lack of sophistication in a dumbed-down culture that has lost the handle on basic education. The reasons why animation is more prevalent and popular than ever are largely economic, technological, and market-driven. Fortunately, the product has been quite entertaining and in many cases greatly improved over past efforts.

Animation is blooming for the following reasons: While still costly, it has become increasingly less so due to technological advances and the ability to farm much of it out overseas. Also, many of the major studios have more funding available due to profitable mega-mergers with non-entertainment corporations. With more television stations than ever, there is an increasing need for product. Happily, there is a growing labor pool as a result of the number of students eager to break into the lucrative world of animation; almost all of them find well-paying jobs. These young professionals have merged art and technology to an unprecedented degree; no one in the field can deny that since the beginning of the decade the advances in animation technology has been, frankly, unbelievable. Software packages that now let the advanced student work at home did not even exist two or three years ago.

Animation has proved to be a profitable draw in the theaters. It is true that many animated features crash and burn at the box office, but Disney features generally turn a buck or two, and Anastasia proved that competition with the Mouse House is somewhat possible (Dreamworks SKG is staking quite a bit on that very premise). Still. many of the features that did fail have found a new life through video, where their sales have surpassed their box office grosses (Cats Don't Dance). The video market is a major part of the animation boom. Had The Land Before Time been made in 1978 rather than 1988, it would have been over and done with. Instead, there are now no less than four OAV sequals to the original, and this threatens to continue until Littlefoot reaches senescence. Animation has been further legitimized with the movie-going public since Beauty and the Beast went to Academy Awards night. Michael Jordan, the most lionized athlete of our time, teamed with Bugs Bunny and the Warners stable, furthering the message that Toons Are Cool.

Regression to childhood? Most studies show that Americans have more responsibility and less time than ever. Escapism? When the economy is booming, the stock market soaring, and no threat of war? Hmmm. There are now enough video retailers, catalog specialty sellers, websites, and cable TV stations dealing in old and obscure cartoons to satisfy anyone's nostalgic longings, and I hold that animation is more sophisticated and less dumbed-down than ever: King of the Hill or The Flintstones? Batman: The Animated Series or The Super Friends? The Simpsons or Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. I rest my case.

II.

Oh my God, they discovered South Park! The bastards!
Has anyone failed to notice that within the last several months South Park has made it to the cover of virtually every hip, kewl, and funky magazine on the stands? In fact, some of the more serious newsmagazines have followed suit. What does this mean? What does this say about our society? Even though the series has been around since last year, it seems that of late the South Park bandwagon has grown big enough to transport every journalist in the entertainment world (not to mention a titanic Barbara Streisand or two). Most are enthralled; some conservative critics have decried the series as a visual corollary to the moral breakdown of "our society". Others have lamented the collapse of highbrow culture into lowbrow, or bemoaned the cumulative triumph of perpetual immaturity. Those who do so might better turn their attentions to more weighty matters. The South Park explosion has more to do with factors that the experts did not forsee. Neither, for that matter, did Matt Stone, Trey Parker, or Comedy Central.

South Park is an unprecedented phenomenon because it has become the first "people's cartoon" in the history of animation. This series may have begun with The Spirit of Christmas but it now reflects the spirit of democracy. All of this is due to specific technological changes, and future creators would do well to take note of them. Let's begin with the Internet. Because of this wonderful, world-wide communications tool there are now 122 websites devoted to the cutely cussing Coloradites (at least there were when I finally grew weary of counting them; I'm sure that there are actually more). Most that I have visited are pure HTML heaven. To say that the webkeepers are computer-literate is a vast understatement; these appear to be first-class citizens of cyberspace. Because the show's graphics are so simple to download, entire episodes - the entire compendium of episodes, in fact, can now be viewed over the Web. This has caused some consternation at Comedy Central, but what are they to do about it? South Park now belongs to the people in a way no animated series ever has before. The show's characters are now beginning to appear in fan fiction as well. One such story has Stan, Kyle, Eric, Kenny and the gang crossing paths with the family Simpson.

In a brilliant essay entitled "The Significance of Broadcasting in Human History" Daniel J. Boorstin stated that "Subculture - which is of course the dominant culture of a democratic society - is probably no worse, and certainly no better, than it has ever been. But it is emphatically more visible." South Park is a phenomenal marriage between its adoring subculture and technology. As it exists today, the show is produced by computer animation, displayed over cable television, and disseminated over the Internet. This would have been patently impossible only twenty short years ago. The series itself? I may be risking the wrath of (at least) 122 websites, but South Park seems to me to be the package-pushing Hot Toon of the Moment, as Ren & Stimpy and Beavis and Butthead once were. It remains an uneven, at times very funny, work in progress with room for development. In one recent interview, the creators discussed making the content of the show increasingly arcane and bizarre; I certainly hope they confer with David Lynch for a history lesson before they. Even so, what matter? No toon has ever existed under the conditions that South Park has enjoyed, and thererin lies a good deal of the explanation for its meteoric rise.

III.

Hip, hip and three cheers for The Simpsons! Springfield's foremost tribe has now been invited into our homes on 200 occasions at the time of this writing, proudly extending the prime-time longevity record for an animated series. Dysfunctional in ways that Jay Bradshaw and Jerry Springer could not have imagined, this fabulous family actually understands the secret behind "the American psyche": It exists to be japed at, ridiculed, and lampooned in a thousand different ways. The only diversity considered on The Simpsons is the diversity of human folly. Never has any one television show, live or animated, sliced up our culture, mores, and values, splashed them so liberally with drop-dead satire, and thrown them in our collective faces like a Krusty Kreme Pie. Yet, this has the feel of healthy catharsis rather than cruel cynicism. Do these rubbery yellow freaks have the true answer to why we have become an animation nation?

Perhaps, then, Homer Simpson should be animation's foremost commentator. One can see him now, goggle eyes staring from his expressionless face, dreaming of chili-glazed donuts as earnest academecians pose to him the question: "What does animation reflect about our society, and why are we incresingly expressing our cultural values through that medium?"
The great man ponders for a moment. Then answers.
D'oh!

What are your thoughts? Send them to Dr. Toon.

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