Is animation a film genre or a film technique? In the mind
of course, animations are films where the scenes are created by the artist’s
hand or the computer. As the slew of
animations past and present amply prove, animated films do not have a fixed
stable of settings, neither do they have a predominant mood nor do they follow
fixed thematic patterns. Animations today harmoniously nests in a space where
they borrow and develop upon elements quintessentially associated with other
genres. So, we have a western-style ‘Rango’,
a war-themed ‘Grave of the Fireflies’,
a sci-fi ‘The Iron Giant’, a
fantasy-filled ‘Spirited Away’, the
political commentary ‘Persepolis’, a
dramatic ‘Mary and Max’, and the list
goes on and on.
Defining animated films as those meant for children
entertainment is both marginal and erroneous. With major animated productions
in recent years with epic settings and advanced technology (notably 3D),
animations are no longer the realm of the kids or the kids-at-heart. From the ‘realistic
animations’ of Hollywood to the anime toons of Japan to “claymation” techniques,
animation films are entertaining and like so many have proved, make for great
cinema.
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