Roots to Rebels: The Making of an Anime Nation
When most people think of the word "animation," the word "cartoon" almost reflexively comes to mind. Images of Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Simba, and other famous Saturday morning characters dance before our mind’s eye. Yet Japanese animation (and increasingly, American animation) strives to do more than simply entertain bored tots. It is an extremely diverse form of mass media that allows us to play out our wildest dreams, hopes, and fears in the imaginary world provided by the film. Japanese animation easily reproduces real concerns in an animated setting, activates the imagination, and caters to an extremely wide range of audience members. Contemporary Japanese animation has a rich historical and cultural background. Influenced by the most important aspects of Japanese art, folklore, theater, literature and philosophy, it is a truly unique media among the theatrical arts. It challenges our perception of the "cartoon" and gives us an opportunity to learn about another culture, and at the same time, our own.
What we think of today as contemporary Japanese animation really started out as collections of comics called manga.
Japanese animation easily reproduces real concerns in an animated setting, activates the imagination, and caters to an extremely wide range of audience members.
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Copyright © 1998 by Sheri Le