Faszination Animation

[list]
[*]the ability to stretch and bend reality
[*]the potential for stylistic variety (although designers rarely take advantage of this opportunity)
[*]the high-contrast nature of illustration and animation, so that it - in a sense - appears hyper-real, similar to how putting sugar or MSG in food makes it hyper-tasty
[*]the nature of illustration to simplify, often making viewing much easier and relaxing
[/list]The last two reasons, I think, are why Western animation like Disney is often so appealing to children; and why adults are usually more interested in animation that approaches reality. Adults usually want a more challenging or empathic movie experience, and the simplistic visual and story styles of most Western animation don't offer this.

For me it was a effort to make sence out of what I was seeing. A fascination with the techknowledge in the science fiction animation. The comedy in all the remaining animation has keep me viewing them over the years. Lastly there are those special animation shorts that make a person cry or sent my spirit soaring. (Soaring is a good thing)

- create new worlds
- bring things that don't live (drawings, CG models, puppets etc.) to life and provocate symathy or antipathy for them
- Realize things that aren't possible in real life, and there's no limit for phantasy and creativity
- a combination of art and entertainment

[list]
[*]the ability to stretch and bend reality
[*]the potential for stylistic variety (although designers rarely take advantage of this opportunity)
[*]the high-contrast nature of illustration and animation, so that it - in a sense - appears hyper-real, similar to how putting sugar or MSG in food makes it hyper-tasty
[*]the nature of illustration to simplify, often making viewing much easier and relaxing
[/list]

I enjoy animation for all those reasons as well. I'd like to elaborate on one of those if I may.

Great animation not only stretches and bends reality but rather challenges reality. When Wile E. Coyote is hovering over a precipice he doesn't fall right away, he has more than enough time to give a distressed look to the audience, wave goodbye, and maybe hold up a sign or two before falling. It's as if Jones was saying, "Yes. I have the power to suspend your puny earth gravity. And when the coyote hits the ground after such a long fall, he will still be alive. And there's nothing you can do about it! Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!" Of course, any realists watching that will whine "oh but that can't happen in real life!" Well no shit, Sherlock. It's animation. :p
Another example is in this one Simpsons episode. While Homer is in a fist fight with someone from the Big Brother program, he falls back-first onto a fire hydrant and as he does we hear an very audible snap. There's no way a human being could survive that, but Homer does.
Leonard Maltin talked about the audacity of Duck Amuck once. The entire cartoon is really Daffy saying to the audience, "I don't really exist. A bunch of artists control everything I say and do." And yet throughout it all we still believe that Daffy exists.

There are many other examples that can be named I'm sure but I won't take up this post with them all. I'm sure others on this board can add some.

The goal of any artform is not merely to make something decorative for rich snots to display for their dinner guests, it is to challenge society. Express a point of view that is not necessarily the norm. Animation has proven itself in the past and present to be the best outlet for such a thing. The more people that realize that, the better this industry will be. :cool:

For me it's really just creating something out of nothing... taking an idea and bringing it to life. Watching it grow and develop from just an idea to completed production. Sitting back and watching it from beginning to end for the very first time.

Most of these traits aren't exclusive to animation. Before animation came along, they existed in painting, literature, theater, music, and illustration. Most of the "surreal" aspects of animation appeared in comic strips before being adopted by the animation studios.

Are there any unique traits of animation - besides being a unique combination of media like illustration, film, and screenwriting (i.e., the textbook definition of animation) - that draw us to it?

This may not be a unique trait, but maybe part of 2D animation's draw is something as base as being composed of the brightest, most high-contrast, and (when not B&W) most colorful light.
Maybe we feel an awe watching 2D animation that is similar to the awe we feel watching flashing Christmas displays or fireworks.

The hope that, due to the low budget nature of the medium, originality can still exist. I know with doing comics, there's this wonderful sense of inspiration in that if you can draw it, you can do it. Which makes me wonder why so many indie comics put 'marketability' before all else. Most of them bomb anyway-- and if you don't at least do something you like and it bombs, you've acheived nothing.

There's this Luis Bunuel essay about puppet theaters that also touches on something. He says when you see a play, you wonder about the actor's sincerity, what they're REALLY thinking or feeling, etc. With puppets, there's no doubt that they embody the emotion they're putting forth because they're creations, and contain exaclty what we put into them, and nothing else. This is even more true of animation.

I'm addicted to contrast and striking compositions, and I like the idea of being able to design characters to match their surroundings, and vice versa. You just don't have to pander to "realism" the way you do in live action. And cartoon characters ALWAYS hit their marks! Well, usually.

I like telling a story and entertaining people and to do it with the most uncommon and unique things. A chair, a bird.....anything and everything.

"its a magical world"
-calvin and hobbes

Leonard Maltin talked about the audacity of Duck Amuck once. The entire cartoon is really Daffy saying to the audience, "I don't really exist. A bunch of artists control everything I say and do." And yet throughout it all we still believe that Daffy exists.

As an aside, if anyone ever has the opportunity to see this short in a theater, run - don't walk - to do so. I grew up watching it on TV (as most did, I'm sure), but it took on a whole other dimension when I saw it in the theater. On TV it's really, really good - in the theater, it's brilliant.

For me, to borrow from Robert Frost's quote about writing:

Animation is not a profession; it's a condition.

As an aside, if anyone ever has the opportunity to see this short in a theater, run - don't walk - to do so. I grew up watching it on TV (as most did, I'm sure), but it took on a whole other dimension when I saw it in the theater. On TV it's really, really good - in the theater, it's brilliant.

I've seen Duck Amuck several times in a theatre. When he screams, "Let's get this show started!" and the end card slides in, the (uninitiated non-animation)audience goes crazy with cheers and applause, thinking it's over...and then a really big laugh when he pushes the card out of the way,"No!No!No!"...