The Animation Pimp: Like Everyone, I’m Not Like Everybody Else

The Pimp bemuses charlatans and Ottawa’s funding fiasco in this month’s edition.

By Chris Robinson | Thursday, August 7, 2003 at 12:00 am

Posted In | Magazines: AnimationWorld | Columns: The Animation Pimp

Our mistake, which comes from Freud I think, is that we assume there is some stable, coherent, unchanging superego — some perfect form of identity. It’s a very Christian idea (superego as God). What Lacan suggests, is that, there is no such ideal or… God… that we are all (and this comes back to ol’ Heraclitus yet again) in a constant state of motion and uncertainty, a constant clash of harmony and disorder. I dunno ‘bout you but that sort of makes me feel better.

Work didn’t define me, I defined the work. What you know or think of me is the result of the choices I’ve made as a writer, programmer, etc., not the other way around. Ya know what I’m saying? And this comes back to the grifters — they are seeking to define themselves through their jobs — and I don’t mean their work at these jobs, but through labels and assorted name dropping references (like my friend above).

These people are racing around, spending all their time trying so hard to find what THEY think that OTHER people IMAGINE to be an IDEAL identity, that they end up achieving nothing in the end. When the job goes (and it will because they ain’t done nothing) so, too, will that identity. All that’s left is nothing. It’s hard though, and I don’t pretend to have some mastery over it. I get lost in emulation and parasitical behavior as much as you, but until you realize that YOU define the world around you (and no, I don’t mean that in some Machiavellian way), not the other way around, ya ain’t ever gonna find any real satisfaction from the world or yourself.

(My apologies if I bungled Lacan and Freud, but hey, at least I gave it the ol’ college try).

Just got word that our funding was re-instated (I’m writing this on July 10, 2003). Not sure if the call to arms did it. When we got the word, I was angry. I might have been angrier than when we received the initial ‘cut’ letter. It felt like the last two weeks had been so unnecessary. All this time and energy devoted to stress, fear, worry and confusion, all that time spent appealing and blabbering away to the media about why anyone should care. But maybe it wasn’t so bad, perhaps we (I) needed this, a wakeup call of sorts. A time to decide if Ottawa needs to step it up and, if so, figure out if I really want to be part of that new road.

Is this “scare” gonna make me a better person? Is it going to mean conventional opening night “speeches” at Ottawa ‘04? Is this gonna mean that the job will now define me?

Yeah, right.

Hottie Animator of the Month
Every person who wrote a letter of support… and kudos to Bill Plympton and Mike Belzer for going on national radio to fight our cause. And, hey, Judith, I know you didn’t do it for me, but thanks all the same.

AND… I want to say a belated farewell to Heather Kenyon. She’s moved on from AWN to the Cartoon Network and I’m really gonna miss blondie. She gave the Pimp the go-ahead and (along with Dan Sarto and Ron Diamond) has always defended and encouraged these columns — even when she probably didn’t know what the hell I was talking about.

Along those lines (or these lines below): PEOPLE, please, if you’re going to post comments (negative or positive)… USE your real name OR at least leave an e-mail. Have some courage.

Chris Robinson is but a man. His hobbies include squirrel taunting, goat thumping, meat dancing and elderly peeping. You can find the results at http://asifa.net/robinson.

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Comments

Chris , you amaze me sometimes. I have heard you called every name in the book (even threw in some myself) but what is shocking is that no matter what the extreme description they must add the word "intelligent" to it. Your thoughts on status/position becoming identity (and the downfalls of it) were about as perceptive as is possible. To go further , to accept a job as an identity is to give up your real identity and that is the saddest part of all. To lose that part of yourself whether by choice or by weakness. In many ways the temporary collapse of 2D is a godsend in that so many lives will now be realigned and freed from what otherwise would be a long empty road . All change is good though it might not be apparent initially. The important thing is that those who follow ( in 3D) will be subject to the same temptation . To the same submersion . Perhaps that concept of self is the first thing every artist should be taught but whatever the case as long as people are encouraged to define themselves by their position they are in danger of the waking bitch slap. You are weird but I like your rambling. Definately worth reading.

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Dave You Know Who (not verified) | Tue, 08/19/2003 - 00:00 | Permalink

Chris, Glad to hear you're back afloat. I found your article fascinating, particularly considering it really didn't say much at all. Just stream of consciousness ramblings of a stressfull period. (Yes, men have those too…) And BTW, your book looks lovely. Congratulations on finishing that. You know I'd like to see the animation community take one collective chill pill. I am full with all the lousy one-upmanship and villainizing going on behind the scenes and I'd like to see folks take a step back and think about what this medium is FOR. Storytelling is all about life lessons. Teaching and learning and sharing experiences with humanity. (And if apon reading this anybody feels their toes trodden on, it's time you kept your feet under your own special chair.) We have to quit spouting the same rotten behavior we complain about all the time. Enough with the whining victim! Tear off that dunce cap-- toss it at the moon! We all have common experiences and we all need to build bridges of understanding between the members of our community. When it starts being about the story and the people, it stops being about who has the biggest brick ;o) Who the heck am I, You ask, to have these opinions and no mega-blockbuster-ego to accompany them? Never-you-mind. You all just go take a look inside yourselves and it'll all come clear in no time at all. And if that doesn't work, there are always those cool tablets… :o)

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Christina Lane (not verified) | Sat, 08/09/2003 - 00:00 | Permalink

Excellent article Mr. Pimp. I was aware of the Ottawa situation and I'm glad to hear from somebody that everything is back on track. Just on a side note, I'm really glad that you touched upon a few subjects that coincidentally relate to a 2-year research project in film theory that I've been doing. Your thoughts on identity are spot on, and are especially important to both cinema and animation. I think the reason why neither forms have really progressed in the past few decades is becuase of our belief in the "true soul" or our "true identity." If you were to look at a still photograph, is the human figure (if there is one) objectively above anything else in the picture? Think for a second. A picture by nature is flat, and so by nature all parts of that photograph are a sum of the whole. Except for pornography (which ironically most cinema is closest to in form), a great photograph is aestically moving because of it's entire image, where lighting, composition, color and subject only SERVE to create a total emotional experience. Motion photography (movies), I think, should follow the same logic. To take your Lacan reference, a baby first sees itself as a part of the world around itself. I think in order to create the more viscerally true movie, one must also revert back to this way of vision. Most movies, both animated and live-action, almost narcissistically focus upon human beings and our internal problems and desires, with a complete disregard for the world surrounding us. This is probably why Americans makes the most blatant of these movies, since our values focus on the individual, or the "little man" (Seabiscuit anyone?) succeeding by overcoming the "oppressive forces of the world." Heck, it's even how America was founded in the first place. At least in some Asian movies you see some hint of an interest in the overall world around them. Perhaps if we were to create movies that focused on the outsides of ourselves: where our identity is the moment in which we exist where we are just a part of a bigger whole where the world DOES NOT revolve around any one person, then we could create movies that meet the bar of say SHAKESPEARE or BACH, or even JIMI HENDRIX. These are just naive, innocent thoughts though, spurred on by the Great Animation Pimp's mentioning of both "Freud" and "Lacan" in front of a college film student. Still have much to learn. Still learning much. How's that for honesty!