Bored people start here -> No, not a mild term for a part of masculine anatomy, or a derisive term for women of a certain lifestyle. Or 'Diversity' or the mildest curse word in the non-American English dictionary. Or any other 'D' term in the dictionary or wider English Language that I've omitted (god damn the DeLorean anyway). I'm talking about the 'D' word apparently outlawed in all civilized conversation among Anime fans. The cursed company name that receives little more than a cursory glance from even the more credible anime commentators. That great defiler of Japanese animation! That plunderer of the cave of Kimba! That filthy revisionistic swine who misrepresented Ms Okino's hot beverage preference!
(We're talking about Disney if you're not on the same page yet.)
Ok, so opinions on the Mouse House aren't quite that extreme among the Anime UK News forum goers, and that's kind of the issue. It's difficult to sense whether most have an opinion. There have been scarce mentions of the company in the forum's history, and there is a very narrow range of reasons behind those mentions. When it comes to Disney, people are typically talking about:
1. How Disney made the Ghibli dubs and how they relate to Ghibli film distribution. Occasional mentions of something Disney changed for the worse.
2. Kimba/Lion King name drops, brief discussion of both sides of the controversy, resulting apathy over the issue with the sense that Disney is the villain.
3. Watching Disney as a child. (And corresponding lack of 'I watched a Disney movie yesterday' and resulting lack of discussion)
4. Watching and disliking anything recently distributed by Disney.
5. Similar opinions about anything Disney made in Live-Action recently (High School Musical anyone?)
6. Kingdom Hearts and how you totally played it for the Final Fantasy bits.
7. Pixar
Not an impressive body of debate for a company whose animation output runs into unimaginable numbers of cels and computerised art assets, whose more notable works underpin animation history and have influenced countless Japanese animators / mangaka, and whose movies have surely been a leg up for many Anime fans. So why is this? I suppose that top of the list of reasons why there is so little in the way of Disney discussion is that the films represent everything the Anime fan is turning away from in becoming an anime fan. A big part of Anime fandom seems to be justifying your love of animation in the face of public perception that it is 'for kids'. To say you watch and enjoy Disney movies undermines that, even when you'r enjoying them on some campy nostalgic level. The problem for me is that i've slowly worked my way into this very situation, and i've come here to tell you all (in a long, irritating and protracted way) that I love Disney Movies, may the anime overlords be damned!
Yes, that's where i've been for most of the last year, animeuknews.net!. It was inevitable once I got into anime in 2003. I hadn't been into animated movies since childhood (though I watched Pixar's movies the same as most of the rest of the world), but I've always loved musicals... so once I started watching animation, and started getting progressively more interested in the medium as much as the stories that were told, watching Disney movies made more sense than was healthy. Now, I'm hardly buried in Disney DVDs, but the signs are all there that this is slowly becoming a new obsession of mine. The endless and pointless internet research. The RSS feed subscriptions. The constant hovering over retailer's sales pages to get the best deal on something I've never actually watched but suspect I'll love. That night I and two friends salvaged a crap night out by watching The Little Mermaid and singing every single musical number loud enough to keep everyone awake until unnatural hours (we learnt that night the all important fact that 'King Triton is the Alan Sugar of Disney', though we're not entirely sure what my friend meant by that, and probably don't want to know).
Bottom line is, I haven't been this intrigued by something since Anime itself. In fact, I've watched so little Anime recently, that I would be declaring that particular obsession dead in the water were it not for the fact that it is really the same obsession: The best of Anime isn't as far from the best of Western animation as the silence on the topic in each circle would have you believe.
Sensible People Start Here -> So the function of my babbling? Let's talk Disney! Have you watched any of their classics recently? and do you actually agree that they're classics, or are they just crappy manufactured kids movies with questionable messages? Do you bewail the death of 2D animation, or rejoice in the felling of a directionless monster? Most importantly, will Disney's hold on all animation dictate the death of 2D animation worldwide, or are we on the verge of a 2D renaissance after a glut of rubbish 3D films? Could Disney in fact revive the 2D form after years of Japan's sole support of the form?
(We're talking about Disney if you're not on the same page yet.)
Ok, so opinions on the Mouse House aren't quite that extreme among the Anime UK News forum goers, and that's kind of the issue. It's difficult to sense whether most have an opinion. There have been scarce mentions of the company in the forum's history, and there is a very narrow range of reasons behind those mentions. When it comes to Disney, people are typically talking about:
1. How Disney made the Ghibli dubs and how they relate to Ghibli film distribution. Occasional mentions of something Disney changed for the worse.
2. Kimba/Lion King name drops, brief discussion of both sides of the controversy, resulting apathy over the issue with the sense that Disney is the villain.
3. Watching Disney as a child. (And corresponding lack of 'I watched a Disney movie yesterday' and resulting lack of discussion)
4. Watching and disliking anything recently distributed by Disney.
5. Similar opinions about anything Disney made in Live-Action recently (High School Musical anyone?)
6. Kingdom Hearts and how you totally played it for the Final Fantasy bits.
7. Pixar
Not an impressive body of debate for a company whose animation output runs into unimaginable numbers of cels and computerised art assets, whose more notable works underpin animation history and have influenced countless Japanese animators / mangaka, and whose movies have surely been a leg up for many Anime fans. So why is this? I suppose that top of the list of reasons why there is so little in the way of Disney discussion is that the films represent everything the Anime fan is turning away from in becoming an anime fan. A big part of Anime fandom seems to be justifying your love of animation in the face of public perception that it is 'for kids'. To say you watch and enjoy Disney movies undermines that, even when you'r enjoying them on some campy nostalgic level. The problem for me is that i've slowly worked my way into this very situation, and i've come here to tell you all (in a long, irritating and protracted way) that I love Disney Movies, may the anime overlords be damned!
Yes, that's where i've been for most of the last year, animeuknews.net!. It was inevitable once I got into anime in 2003. I hadn't been into animated movies since childhood (though I watched Pixar's movies the same as most of the rest of the world), but I've always loved musicals... so once I started watching animation, and started getting progressively more interested in the medium as much as the stories that were told, watching Disney movies made more sense than was healthy. Now, I'm hardly buried in Disney DVDs, but the signs are all there that this is slowly becoming a new obsession of mine. The endless and pointless internet research. The RSS feed subscriptions. The constant hovering over retailer's sales pages to get the best deal on something I've never actually watched but suspect I'll love. That night I and two friends salvaged a crap night out by watching The Little Mermaid and singing every single musical number loud enough to keep everyone awake until unnatural hours (we learnt that night the all important fact that 'King Triton is the Alan Sugar of Disney', though we're not entirely sure what my friend meant by that, and probably don't want to know).
Bottom line is, I haven't been this intrigued by something since Anime itself. In fact, I've watched so little Anime recently, that I would be declaring that particular obsession dead in the water were it not for the fact that it is really the same obsession: The best of Anime isn't as far from the best of Western animation as the silence on the topic in each circle would have you believe.
Sensible People Start Here -> So the function of my babbling? Let's talk Disney! Have you watched any of their classics recently? and do you actually agree that they're classics, or are they just crappy manufactured kids movies with questionable messages? Do you bewail the death of 2D animation, or rejoice in the felling of a directionless monster? Most importantly, will Disney's hold on all animation dictate the death of 2D animation worldwide, or are we on the verge of a 2D renaissance after a glut of rubbish 3D films? Could Disney in fact revive the 2D form after years of Japan's sole support of the form?
