In today’s world, the medium of animation has been quite misjudged and
underappreciated from the high expectations of companies to an average viewer.
However, It is important to realize the work put into this type of profession is to be
recognized just as much as others, among other crucial details that show how influential
animation really is. There are many reasons why animation warrants recognition
despite its misunderstandings.
Animation is for kids!
Around 4 weeks ago, during the animation portion of the Oscars, the actresses for the
live-action Disney princesses expressed how “So many kids watch these movies over and
over...” This is due to the upsetting truth that many people categorize animated media
as strictly “for kids”. But the thing is, animation is just another type of storytelling, not
confined to a single audience. It's a great form of expression and in some cases, a better
way to get a point across. Animation is more versatile than what one may lead to think.
Not to mention all the serious animated films geared towards adults like the Oscar-
nominated Flee, the stunningly animated TV show Arcane, along with animation that
applies to all audiences such as titular Pixar and Disney works. Not only is it not
exclusive to kids, but the process of animation is articulate and deserves to be a
respected form of art that is taken seriously due to the amount of effort put into
creating a significant result, although some believe that animation is constricted to one-
dimensional ambitions. “People think of animation only doing things where people are
dancing around and doing a lot of histrionics, but animation is not a genre. And people
keep saying, ‘The animation genre.’ It’s not a genre! A Western is a genre! Animation is
an art form, and it can do any genre. You know, it can do a detective film, a cowboy film,
a horror film, an R-rated film or a kids’ fairy tale; but it doesn’t do one thing.“ - Brad
Bird, creator of The Incredibles.
Disregarded Quality
“...We want to get the kind of reality that a camera can't get. We want to accentuate
and suppress aspects of the model's character to make it more vivid” This quote comes
from one of the most important figures in animation history, Richard Williams, in his
book The Animator’s Survival Kit. This effort is mostly disregarded in media, as it seems.
Within the animation industry, there are inexcusable attempts to treat animation
employees worse than other creators. “Networks & streamers buy huge season 1 orders
of shows and divide them up into artificial ‘seasons’ so no one gets a raise,” tweeted
Benjamin Siemon (DuckTales). “I’ve worked on shows w/ 52 episodes split into 4 13-
episode seasons. Most ‘early 2nd season pickups’ announcements were always
planned.”
Many companies like Netflix or the Disney Conglomerate believe that animation isn’t a
really hard job and doesn't merit enough praise as live-action films when that really isn’t
the case. In addition, animated properties are paid less for than live-action ones. “I’m an
Executive Producer on an animated show for Netflix, and I’m paid less than an entry-
level live action staff writeron the first day of their job,”Says Ben Mekler,
Writer/Director of Kipo and the age of Wonderbeasts.
#NewDeal4Animation and more is it clear to see how animation is pretty disregarded. In fact, this issue is so prominent, many screenwriters, voice actors, and directors for animated shows have been trying to raise awareness of this problem with the #NewDeal4Animation movement, among other movements like #PayAnimationWriters that spread the message across different media platforms. What can you do to increase the appreciation of animation to a wider range of people?
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