(no subject)
My Animation teacher is a man named William Matthews.
He prefers to be called "Bill" or "Uncle Bill". He worked under Walt Disney himself, and is very much a Disney man, if it weren't obvious by all the posters covering the walls of the classroom; his drawing, his energy and teaching method all correspond with Disney people, such as Preston Blair; Bill himself learned basic animation as a kid from Blair's books. All of his video examples are from Disney shorts or features.
Because he worked for Disney, the man himself, he was asked what Walt was like as a person. He spoke fondly of him, said he was a tall, lanky man with an extraordinary sense of humour. Speaking of Walt's death, it sounded as if he were speaking of a close friend. "We all miss him," he said.
On the wall, he puts up newspaper clippings about various affairs dealing with animation. I walked up to check the wall, and saw he had put up an article from the LA Times, dated August 26th, about Satoshi Kon's death. In the article, besides a picture of him, were two stills from the movies "Tokyo Godfathers" and "Millenium Actress". This struck me in particular because those were the two movies we watched on the night of August 26th. I pointed it out to Bill:
"Look," I said, tapping the clipping. "Me and those guys watched these two movies last night."
"Oh," he replied. "I don't like anime."
I was miffed. So far the only Disney person I've met whose expressed an interest in anime was my uncle Flammarion, and that's because I showed him Ouran Host Club. (If you knew Fla, you would know why this is relevant.) But the point is not personal taste here. The point is that regardless of format, genre, nationality, or style, Satoshi Kon was a man who contributed to the art of animation. Let's ignore "anime" now. His death was a loss to our art as a whole. A reaction of "I don't like anime" is glib, insensitive and close-minded.
No, I'm not particularly into Disney's style of animation. It's complicated, I could go into details, but that's not relevant. The issue is that when someone- a Disney person, a Western artist, someone who contributed, dies; I'm not going to ignore it and say "I don't like Disney". Because it matters. Regardless of how I feel about this art or that art, it matters. It affects us. It affects the industry, the audience, and it affects the art, because we lose someone, a spirit who innovates and who forwards our knowledge and expands our horizon.
But the worst is that even when I say this, I feel like a defensive anime fan. I love animation. I love the illusion, the fantasy, the science behind it, and I love all of it; But because I was born American, do I need to restrict myself to western-style art? I draw a picture like this and I draw a picture like this and because of the first I am branded "ANIME FAN" despite the fact that I love the second style equally, if not more.
Why is "ANIME FAN" different? Why can't I be "ANIMATION FAN"? "ART FAN", even? Why is having pictures like the first one in my portfolio placing me in a little box? "Oh, you're one of those!" That's what it's like. Because anime is popular. Because 90% of the kids in my animation class are "ANIME FANS". And yet we spend half the time discussion Nickelodeon, Invader Zim, Flapjack, Disney; We are ANIMATION STUDENTS. Anime is animation. The word means the same thing in Japanese. So we had a party last night and watched Azumanga Daioh and Gurren Lagann! BIG DEAL! We are just as likely to watch Spongebob. Is it bad that our inspiration came from the other side of the world?
It kinda sucks, but this is how it is for us. I'm not being a weeaboo. I happen to like something that a lot of other kids my age like. I happen to like something that didn't exist back when Bill was starting his career. I happen to like something that is filled with stupid and stupid fans who tarnish everything else. Then again, have you seen South Park fandom? Awesome show; not awesome fandom.
I've ranted long enough. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm unlimited. I want to know everything there is to know. I want to make a grand contribution to this world. And I don't want to make it under the label of "ANIME FAN". I want it to be in this world because I love art and everything it stands for. I'll learn from Bill, hell yes, I will. But the manner in which I set forth and apply myself will determine my entire future. And I will not allow a label to stop me.
He prefers to be called "Bill" or "Uncle Bill". He worked under Walt Disney himself, and is very much a Disney man, if it weren't obvious by all the posters covering the walls of the classroom; his drawing, his energy and teaching method all correspond with Disney people, such as Preston Blair; Bill himself learned basic animation as a kid from Blair's books. All of his video examples are from Disney shorts or features.
Because he worked for Disney, the man himself, he was asked what Walt was like as a person. He spoke fondly of him, said he was a tall, lanky man with an extraordinary sense of humour. Speaking of Walt's death, it sounded as if he were speaking of a close friend. "We all miss him," he said.
On the wall, he puts up newspaper clippings about various affairs dealing with animation. I walked up to check the wall, and saw he had put up an article from the LA Times, dated August 26th, about Satoshi Kon's death. In the article, besides a picture of him, were two stills from the movies "Tokyo Godfathers" and "Millenium Actress". This struck me in particular because those were the two movies we watched on the night of August 26th. I pointed it out to Bill:
"Look," I said, tapping the clipping. "Me and those guys watched these two movies last night."
"Oh," he replied. "I don't like anime."
I was miffed. So far the only Disney person I've met whose expressed an interest in anime was my uncle Flammarion, and that's because I showed him Ouran Host Club. (If you knew Fla, you would know why this is relevant.) But the point is not personal taste here. The point is that regardless of format, genre, nationality, or style, Satoshi Kon was a man who contributed to the art of animation. Let's ignore "anime" now. His death was a loss to our art as a whole. A reaction of "I don't like anime" is glib, insensitive and close-minded.
No, I'm not particularly into Disney's style of animation. It's complicated, I could go into details, but that's not relevant. The issue is that when someone- a Disney person, a Western artist, someone who contributed, dies; I'm not going to ignore it and say "I don't like Disney". Because it matters. Regardless of how I feel about this art or that art, it matters. It affects us. It affects the industry, the audience, and it affects the art, because we lose someone, a spirit who innovates and who forwards our knowledge and expands our horizon.
But the worst is that even when I say this, I feel like a defensive anime fan. I love animation. I love the illusion, the fantasy, the science behind it, and I love all of it; But because I was born American, do I need to restrict myself to western-style art? I draw a picture like this and I draw a picture like this and because of the first I am branded "ANIME FAN" despite the fact that I love the second style equally, if not more.
Why is "ANIME FAN" different? Why can't I be "ANIMATION FAN"? "ART FAN", even? Why is having pictures like the first one in my portfolio placing me in a little box? "Oh, you're one of those!" That's what it's like. Because anime is popular. Because 90% of the kids in my animation class are "ANIME FANS". And yet we spend half the time discussion Nickelodeon, Invader Zim, Flapjack, Disney; We are ANIMATION STUDENTS. Anime is animation. The word means the same thing in Japanese. So we had a party last night and watched Azumanga Daioh and Gurren Lagann! BIG DEAL! We are just as likely to watch Spongebob. Is it bad that our inspiration came from the other side of the world?
It kinda sucks, but this is how it is for us. I'm not being a weeaboo. I happen to like something that a lot of other kids my age like. I happen to like something that didn't exist back when Bill was starting his career. I happen to like something that is filled with stupid and stupid fans who tarnish everything else. Then again, have you seen South Park fandom? Awesome show; not awesome fandom.
I've ranted long enough. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm unlimited. I want to know everything there is to know. I want to make a grand contribution to this world. And I don't want to make it under the label of "ANIME FAN". I want it to be in this world because I love art and everything it stands for. I'll learn from Bill, hell yes, I will. But the manner in which I set forth and apply myself will determine my entire future. And I will not allow a label to stop me.