How can we bring back Adult Animation to the cinemas?
-
- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 338
- Joined: October 31st, 2008
How can we bring back Adult Animation to the cinemas?
A few of my friends were discussing about Adult animation, like the works of Bakshi to outside animation like Anime. And my friends were pretty angry, and the fact that they are sick and tired of looking at children's cartoons being shown all over the cinemas. So... I personally think Adult animation deserves a comeback...So how can we bring back Adult animation into the cinemas?
- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 1928
- Joined: December 16th, 2004
- Location: Burbank, Calif.
Coraline, Up, and 9 weren't 'adult' enough for you..? (these certainly weren't aimed at little kids)
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto did have (one-night-only) theatrical screenings in several U.S. cities .. which, by all accounts I've read, were pretty lightly-attended.
BTW, being 'angry' isn't going to change anything .. :idea:
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto did have (one-night-only) theatrical screenings in several U.S. cities .. which, by all accounts I've read, were pretty lightly-attended.
BTW, being 'angry' isn't going to change anything .. :idea:
-
- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 5199
- Joined: September 27th, 2007
As most of what came out of Dreamworks and Sony certainly wasn't brimming with as much maturity as they thought it had.droosan wrote:Coraline, Up, and 9 weren't 'adult' enough for you..? (these certainly weren't aimed at little kids)
(Despite Shrek-era critics, wielding the same for-kids stereotype, convincing a populace that fart jokes, pop references and sitcom-star voices were "Humor that adults can enjoy along with their kids<TM>".)
- AV Team
- Posts: 6636
- Joined: February 8th, 2005
- Location: The US of A
Er...probably not going to happen in America anytime soon. At least not on the level that you seem to be talking about. It just doesn't seem to be something that sells here.
(btw, "Coraline" may not have been made for little kids, but it certainly seems to be enjoyed by them. I saw it four times in theaters, and there were probably children under eight there everytime I went. I was always somewhat surprised by how well they seemed to handle it.)
(btw, "Coraline" may not have been made for little kids, but it certainly seems to be enjoyed by them. I saw it four times in theaters, and there were probably children under eight there everytime I went. I was always somewhat surprised by how well they seemed to handle it.)
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."
- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 1347
- Joined: January 23rd, 2006
- Location: The Middle of Nowhere
The folks behind Heavy Metal (the magazine) are working on another animated film, a sequel to the original War of the Worlds that looks very interesting. Unfortunately, it's going straight to dvd, so it probably won't be widely seen. Too bad.
The Official Lugofilm Ltd Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/bartsimpson83
-
- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 5199
- Joined: September 27th, 2007
Re: How can we bring back Adult Animation to the cinemas?
Okay, so let me try and guess what the heck the poster was talking about:
Either:
A) he got early-80's sentimental (either children-of-80's, or weren't-there stoner-80's) for Bakshi films and/or "Heavy Metal",
Was watching "Heavy Metal" on a download over the weekend just for nostalgia, when I suddenly realized I WAS watching it for iconic genre nostalgia--
The appeal of the movie is as a product of its time: Metal, Rock & Rule, American Pop, Wizards, the Bakshi LOTR and Fire & Ice, Thief & the Cobbler, all could not have been made before 1974, but more importantly could NOT have been made after 1983.
The game changed, and no one wanted weird or cynical animated movies that flew by the seat of their pants anymore.
(And we may corporately get another DTV Heavy Metal, but the Gerald Potterton/Ivan Reitman spirit won't be in it. )
In the 70's, almost all feature animation consisted of Disney--which had become a dated, comatose lame-duck after seven years of stagnation--and showoff indie "art" animators saying "Oo, we're NOT Disney!", as if proving that they weren't was now the new be-all of the industry.
As the 80's took hold, movies became organized and now opening at the same time, there were fewer "journeyman" movies trying to break in, and even Disney was climbing slowly into the 20th century. Kids now bought their own tickets, studios had money and could smell demographics, and produced their own animated movies.
Animation became gentrified and there was no room for the "fringe" to get their toe in the door anymore--Like Steve Lisberger who went from radio ads and "Animalympics" to directing Tron for Disney, you had to either be absorbed into the Big Leagues, or perish...And if you want the Nelvana that gave us Rock & Rule, they're currently doing the Arthur show for PBS.
To make a long history short: If you want the past, Rip, it's history. If you want to take what we've got now, there's a lot to choose from. (As most of the thread has already taken care of discussing.)
If your imaginary concept of "Adult animation" = "It's more intelligent than cute, and Thumper isn't in it!", well, we've got that, it's called Pixar. If it's supposed to mean "Oo, like it's all dark and visual and complex, and tells detailed stories!", as noted we've got that too...It's called anime. (And most of it produced by a culture that was innately used to it, and not showing off gratuitously.) If you just want the boobs, well, anime's got that too, we just don't like to talk about it that often, and if you just want the drugs, we now have a cable channel devoted entirely to that.
And the two of them together, from both ends, singlehandedly crushed all competition in their path. The End.
There are no more Richard Williams, and no more Ralph Bakshis. (In fact, had to check IMDb to make sure he was still alive...Apparently, he was last seen working for CN, which is tantamount to being dead.)
What we've got now, when we can get it, we get in nice big-budget corporate form produced by more experienced heads, and is called Animation That Can Appeal to Kids AND Grownups, which is generally what results when you tell a nice, structured story.
If you want the kind that Just Appeals to Grownups, hey...grow up.
Either:
A) he got early-80's sentimental (either children-of-80's, or weren't-there stoner-80's) for Bakshi films and/or "Heavy Metal",
B) Either way, got stuck on "All Disney films look alike!" Katzenberg cliche's that pretty much went out with the 90's,Darkblade wrote:A few of my friends were discussing about Adult animation, like the works of Bakshi to outside animation like Anime.
C) And then started mooning about when MTV is going to bring "Daria" back again, someday.And my friends were pretty angry, and the fact that they are sick and tired of looking at children's cartoons being shown all over the cinemas.
Y'know, I think I've figured out the answer:So... I personally think Adult animation deserves a comeback...So how can we bring back Adult animation into the cinemas?
Was watching "Heavy Metal" on a download over the weekend just for nostalgia, when I suddenly realized I WAS watching it for iconic genre nostalgia--
The appeal of the movie is as a product of its time: Metal, Rock & Rule, American Pop, Wizards, the Bakshi LOTR and Fire & Ice, Thief & the Cobbler, all could not have been made before 1974, but more importantly could NOT have been made after 1983.
The game changed, and no one wanted weird or cynical animated movies that flew by the seat of their pants anymore.
(And we may corporately get another DTV Heavy Metal, but the Gerald Potterton/Ivan Reitman spirit won't be in it. )
In the 70's, almost all feature animation consisted of Disney--which had become a dated, comatose lame-duck after seven years of stagnation--and showoff indie "art" animators saying "Oo, we're NOT Disney!", as if proving that they weren't was now the new be-all of the industry.
As the 80's took hold, movies became organized and now opening at the same time, there were fewer "journeyman" movies trying to break in, and even Disney was climbing slowly into the 20th century. Kids now bought their own tickets, studios had money and could smell demographics, and produced their own animated movies.
Animation became gentrified and there was no room for the "fringe" to get their toe in the door anymore--Like Steve Lisberger who went from radio ads and "Animalympics" to directing Tron for Disney, you had to either be absorbed into the Big Leagues, or perish...And if you want the Nelvana that gave us Rock & Rule, they're currently doing the Arthur show for PBS.
To make a long history short: If you want the past, Rip, it's history. If you want to take what we've got now, there's a lot to choose from. (As most of the thread has already taken care of discussing.)
If your imaginary concept of "Adult animation" = "It's more intelligent than cute, and Thumper isn't in it!", well, we've got that, it's called Pixar. If it's supposed to mean "Oo, like it's all dark and visual and complex, and tells detailed stories!", as noted we've got that too...It's called anime. (And most of it produced by a culture that was innately used to it, and not showing off gratuitously.) If you just want the boobs, well, anime's got that too, we just don't like to talk about it that often, and if you just want the drugs, we now have a cable channel devoted entirely to that.
And the two of them together, from both ends, singlehandedly crushed all competition in their path. The End.
There are no more Richard Williams, and no more Ralph Bakshis. (In fact, had to check IMDb to make sure he was still alive...Apparently, he was last seen working for CN, which is tantamount to being dead.)
What we've got now, when we can get it, we get in nice big-budget corporate form produced by more experienced heads, and is called Animation That Can Appeal to Kids AND Grownups, which is generally what results when you tell a nice, structured story.
If you want the kind that Just Appeals to Grownups, hey...grow up.