Why+Disney,+Bakshi,+Pixar,+and+Dreamworks?

An Editorial:

There is one common thread that connects the works created by the Disney Studios, Ralph Bakshi, Pixar, and Dreamworks: they proved animation can be entertaining to an adult audience.  Disney set the precedent when it produced //Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs//, integrating a simple storyline with multi-layered animation. Naysayers at the time claimed cartoons would bore the audience if they were adapted into a full featured film. Today, with animated features becoming such a commodity that there is an Oscar for “Best Animated Feature,” it is clear the debt every animation studio has for Disney for laying the groundwork and precedence needed to make the industry thrive. Disney is a force that is too big to ignore: a company that succeeded artistically at both from the late 1930s to the early 1940s and the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The colorful secondary characters, quirky villains, and upbeat songs became such assets to the Disney Studio that they have been imitated repeatedly since.  Bakshi proved that an adult audience existed for cartoons, since his two features in 1972 and 1973 were financially successful. When he came along, the myth that cartoons could only cater to a children’s audience shattered. Yes, children are the primary audience for this medium, but that doesn’t mean adults can’t enjoy them as well.  Movies from Pixar, especially //Wall-E// and the //Toy Story// series, proved that sentimentalism is possible not only in the cartoon medium but between lifeless objects. Movies from Dream Works, especially the Shrek series, proved that animated films could appeal to children but could also give jokes for the parent’s to enjoy.  Keeping this in mind, it is important that animation keeps on pressing the boundaries and exploring the different possibilities it can utilize to succeed artistically. Animation has the possibility to define gravity, physics, and all natural laws of science. Yet it is controlled by the money spent by consumers. After the first Shrek was a huge hit, Dream Works banked on three more sequels and on merchandise. The studio has subsequently chosen not to take many artistic risks, focusing on cartoons that use traditional themes but fire pop culture references. Targeting the kid’s audience, films of lesser quality like //Happy Feet// and //Hoodwinked// are produced by studios in hopes of making profit.  Animation cannot exist without an audience. They next time you choose to watch a movie, make sure you avoid the title that sounds homogenously produced or manufactured. Bank on movies that take risks and try different things. Animation can only succeed through experiment, and the studios addressed in the project would not have produced successful features without exploring every possible angle to animate the feature. That does not mean all of the studios do not take risks or experiment- one of the reasons Pixar does well financially and critically is because they explore their revenues carefully. By eliminating the audience that Hollywood thinks exists, studios could again begin to experiment on the drawing boards, and again produce another masterpiece. **By Wyatt Sarafin **