Why we prefer Eastern European cartoons
Amid from Cartoon Brew recently posted about "Music Box with a Secret", which I talked about a few days ago. In the ensuing discussion, a poster named Nicholas wrote what I think is a pointed summary of the difference in characterization between the animation in the West and in Eastern Europe:
Well, my love for many of the Eastern European ( Read more... )
Well, my love for many of the Eastern European ( Read more... )
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I like your observation about the freedom from physics and consequences in American animation, and the suggested relation to the American optimism. It seems to me that animation creators from the two sides had different ideas about serving their audiences in mind. Eastern European animation is often about feeling and serves as some kind of consolation, as if keeping in mind that people watching it have emotional needs and are familiar with the concept of pain and suffering, and don't take it lightly. American animation is created for a purpose of entertainment only, satisfying no emotional needs, as if implying that you guys (audience) have no real problems, we are just here to save you from boredom.
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To me, it seems like the chicken-and-egg question - did these cartoons influence the culture, or was it the other way around - or (probably) was it a kind of positive feedback loop? There is indeed a cultural trend here in the West - talking about problems ("pain and suffering") is NOT DONE in polite company. Everyone asks "how are you?", and the only acceptable answer is "good". The idea is that if you put on a kind of fake happiness, that fake happiness becomes real. And so you get the American parenting technique of cheery deceit:
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