Some Musings I've Been Having...

[clear_tranquil]

about the WGA strike, the sorry state the television and film industries are in right now (at least the American industries) and how storytelling is getting better and better in video games (or always has been.) I was reading Entertainment Weekly and there's this article about the ten best tv episodes the editors chose for this year and number one

Comments

[mochibuni]

Because animation is the perfect venue to know whether or not you have a great story. Animation is entirely man made and you have complete control over the look of the movie and the only limit is the amount of money you want to put into the quality of the art. A mark of a good story is when the consumer becomes completely wrapped up in the story and not once remembers that it's fictional. This makes animation perfect because if you can get the viewer so emotionally invested in a cartoon singing lion that they forget and don't question the believability of a lion being able to sing, let alone that it's flaming orange or "that it's a lion, why the fuck am I treating it as a human," you know you've successfully told your story.

I never once thought, "Holy crap this movie is about singing critters painted in colors of burning," when I watched The Lion King. I was completely invested in the characters and eager to see the outcome. I never had the opportunity to remind myself that Simba is a lion, and if I had then the story wasn't good enough because remembering reality even once shows that the story doesn't completely have the viewer, and therefore fails.

Not that I mind so much when it fails. I enjoy most movies.

[caffeinatedjedi]

Ooh, good point. I hadn't even thought of that, and I forget that a lot of people assume animation is for kids.

[mochibuni]

I can't say I blame them too much when their eyes are being attacked by rainbow bears.