6/ Proposal

In my essay I hope to discuss ‘Cultural Representation in Animation: The effect on a Child’s Psyche and the Knock on Effect on Society’. I want to understand how animation has been used in racist propaganda in the past, how it continues to show a racial bias, and how this could be affecting us sub consciously.

This is why I intend on exploring how it affects our psyche as we grow up, this will mean trying to understand the psychology of culture and race, and how the quality and quantity of representation can affect us. I’ve found it useful to look at the parallels between animation and children’s books as learning tools for children, as “Facilitating early learning from visual stimuli is a major goal of both psychology and education researchers, and children’s films serve as an important medium for conveying both artistic and educational information” (Brunick and Cutting, 2014, p. 9) . By starting at the beginning I hope to demonstrate why it is so important that we improve cultural representation, especially when it’s a source of information for impressionable children. I hope to answer ‘what have we been teaching children over the years?’ as I progress, by comparing past and present examples of representation, and hopefully discussing the progress in between.

This leads on to discussing the effects of both positive and negative representations in animation. I aim to talk about how it can affect self esteem. Having looked at research into how children perceive their own race in accordance to certain representation, I will explore how self esteem issues can then manifest in adults later along the line. I will consider how representation affects the dynamics in society and how it can “provide rationales for why certain groups should be viewed in these ways” (Mastro, p.5), what these ways are and subsequently how people support political policy. As I look at the idea that Racism is learnt and not inherent to a person, I will focus on the pivotal point of the ‘Us versus Them’ mentality and why we must destroy it.

Once I look into how and why negative depictions continue to thrive, I hope to demonstrate how we can deconstruct this toxic space to improve the animation industry and have a more positive effect on society. I will be looking to the top of the industry and discussing the benefits of having people of colour in studios, and diversifying this white dominated industry. This is something that has been tested in the films Purl and Crow, and has called for collectives such as GoldHouse and BlackWomenAnimate. An important case study has been the discussion surrounding Moana, money and ‘diversity points’; the cultural insensitivities, the effect tourism and marketing can have on Hawaii’s landscapes and the issues that arise when you throw culture into the capitalist machine.  

 I want to prove the importance of redefining culture and race in animation. I hope to re learn about different cultures and their stories. My practical will be focussed on reimagining a folk tale into a body of Visual Development work, which I’m considering proposing as a children’s book; this harks back to the idea of using art as a learning tool for children to learn about different cultures.  

Bibliography

·        Brunick, K.L. and Cutting, J.E., 2014. Coloring the Animated World: Exploring Human Color Perception and Preference through the Animated Film.

·        Mastro, Dana (2017) ‘Race and Ethnicity in US Media Content and Effects’, Oxford Research Encyclopedias, p.5, Available at: https://oxfordre.com/communication/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-122 (Accessed: 8/10/19)

·        Schelong, Megan (2019) ‘Pixar’s Sparkshorts Set out to ignite more diversity in animation’, National Public Radio, Available at: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/17/709644139/pixars-sparkshorts-set-out-to-ignite-more-diversity-in-animation?t=1566943360078 (Accessed: 8/10/19)

·        Robinson, Joanna (2016), ‘How Pacific Islanders helped Disney’s Moana find its way’, Vanity Fair, Available at: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/moana-oceanic-trust-disney-controversy-pacific-islanders-polynesia, (Accessed: 28/8/19)

·        Tegeilolo Talanoa Tora Rika, Arieta (2016), ‘How did Disney get Moana so right and Maui so wrong?’, BBC News, Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37430268 (Accessed on: 18/9/19)

·        Grandinetti, Tina (2017) ‘Moana might be great for representation but it’s not all heartwarming for Hawaii’, The Guardian, Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/13/moana-might-be-great-for-representation-but-its-not-all-heartwarming-for-hawaii  (Accessed: 18/9/19)

·        Associated Press (2016) ‘Why Moana is drawing criticism in the South Pacific’, New York Post, Available at: https://nypost.com/2016/11/30/why-moana-is-drawing-criticism-in-the-south-pacific/ (Accessed: 18/9/19)

·        Yoshinaga, Ida (2019) ‘Disney’s Moana, the Colonial Screenplay, and Ingigenous Labor Extraction in Hollywood Fantasy Films’, Narrative Culture, Vold 6, No. 2, (Fall), Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13110/narrcult.6.2.0188 , (Accessed: 18/9/19)