User blog:ARTaylor/What Can Save Animation?

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog called Whatever Happened to Marvel Animation?. Since then I've thought a lot about what could be done to fix it. What would need to happen in order to return to the seriousness of the 1990s and 2000s? What could happen?

What I've come to realize is that this is no easy fix. There is no one answer.

Both Stephen Wacker, vice president of animation at Marvel, and Ryan Penagos, Marvel's executive editorial director, have said on Twitter and Tumblr that they love where Marvel Animation is at. They and the others at Marvel seem to believe that this is the best possible thing Marvel Animation could be at, and basically dismiss all criticisms against it. Honestly, it's kind of sad to see people at Marvel dismiss these common criticisms of their shows. It's one thing to acknowledge criticism and use it to improve. But it's another to point it out and treat it like a joke, as the people at Marvel seem to too often do.

So what can be done? Basically, someone in animation needs the balls to do a serious animation project. It probably wouldn't be Marvel/Disney or DC/Warner Brothers. Both of them are concerned with maximizing profit. They're probably not going to take chances. And they both seemed convinced that animation is just for kids and no one else. Though do I really need to point out that founder Walter Elias Disney founded Disney Animation on the belief that it could be enjoyed by both adults and children and that Warners' recent film The Lego Movie is beloved in the same way. It needs to be someone else. Someone needs to make an animated series to make great stories.

It's not The Simpsons or Family Guy. Sure those are animated shows for adults rather than kids, but they're sitcoms made to have goofy jokes. There needs to be an animated show that could show off animation's full potential.

The great thing of animation is that there is no limit to it. Live action is limited by what appears realistic. The more fantastic it gets the more unbelievable. Classic characters like Sandman, Mister Freeze, Vulture, and Poison Ivy seem too odd for live films. They can be done, but studios are reluctant because of their fantastic nature. Animation has the advantage there. Nothing is out of bounds. Animation is limited only by the artist's imagination. Disney movies have taken us from the forests of Europe to the plains of Africa to the jungles of India without ever leaving the country. Anime features like Akira and Metropolis have shown action sequences and set pieces that would simply be too fantastic and odd for live. Live features could attempt, but the more fantastic it gets the more unrealistic it becomes. Sure people like the fantastic like Star Wars, but since most superhero movies are supposed to take place in the real world studios are hesitant to be too weird.

What animation needs its own Breaking Bad. That series really showed mass audiences what cable television could do. There was good cable shows before, but it was Breaking Bad that really made it widespread. Mad Men really came into its own after Breaking Bad took off, and it paved the way for the ratings juggernaut that is The Walking Dead. Someone, anyone really, needs to come out with an animated series to tell serious shows in a way that live could not.

Live is trying to be bigger and better, but it's still limited by the constraints of live action. Stuff like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Flash, and Arrow are trying to show off what television can do, but there's still the problems of television. Television will always have that lower budget. Look at the parachute sequences of Iron Man 3 and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The movie looks awesome and is one of the highlights of the film, while the show looked cheesy with obvious green-screen effects. Movies have greater budget to allow for more visuals, while television allows for the greater storytelling. But it's animation that can combine the best of both worlds. Animation is not limited by budget. It does not cost any difference to draw New York City or Chicago, alien planets or ancient times. Live has to spend greater money to film in another location, or hide the fact that they're imitating the location.

Honestly, one of the best animated shows ever is Star Trek: The Animated Series. The live Star Trek series did a lot, went to a lot of places, and had lots of people. But was always restricted by budget. They used the same alien planet sets and went to the same desert locations. But the animated series featured more alien designs, better alien planets, and greater technology. The animated series did the things that Gene Roddenberry could only dream of with the live series.

The power of animation is that it is boundless. However, for whatever reason, both Marvel and DC seem to believe that it is just a children's medium. Something to be a mere introduction for more serious works. But there is no reason whatsoever for animation to not be taken seriously. Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks have been doing great serious works for a long time.

The comic book movies are PG-13. The live shows are PG-13. The comics are PG-13 to R. So why can't animation be more than just G? Bruce Timm proved that animation could be amazing with Batman, Superman, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. That's what we need. Something to prove that animation can be a powerful medium in of itself. It's not like there has not been adult animation. Fritz the Cat, Heavy Metal, The Lord of the Rings, The Animatrix, Waltz with Bashir, and Persepolis are all beloved animated features that are certainly not children-oriented, doing things that the live movies could/would not.

There needs to be a show that proves animation is the ideal medium for great dynamic storytelling that live cannot be.