Lecture Seven: Subculture - The Meaning of Style

"Youth cultural styles begin by issuing symbolic challenges but they must end by establishing new conventions; by creating new commodities, new industries or rejuvenating old ones" 

- Hebdige, D (1979) 

Mods and Punks

This quote has perfectly summed up what was discussed in today's lecture. We took a look at subcultures in Britain and what it meant to be part of a subculture. I've discovered that different subcultures were basically defined by their style (not fashion) and the clothes they wore, the music they listened to and what they did. To me that seems to be the only differences between the different subcultures, for instance 'Mods' were typically defined by The Who, Scooters to show that they were independent, and getting high of off amphetamines and and dancing all night in clubs (to name generic examples) where as Punks for example listened to punk music (Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, etc.), wore a wide range of clothing items including offensive t-shirts, leather jackets decorated with large spikes or metal studs, Dr. Martens boots and converse and would often dye their hair bright colours and have it spiked up or in a Mohawk. A common punk's viewpoint was to not conform and not to sell out.

Fred Perry Presents 'Subculture' - The Unique Story of British Music & Street Style

We watched the above video which explained how different subcultures came about and what they consisted of, as well as how each of them evolved and what it meant to be a part of each subculture. For instance the 'Skinhead' subculture originated in the 1960s and was influenced by West Indian 'Rude Boys' and British mods in terms of how they dressed, music and lifestyle. This died out around the early 70s, but was later re-adopted to be racially-motivated and violent. By the late 1970s the Skinhead subculture was largely viewed as the one to promote racism and neo-Nazism and white supremacy.

Other subcultures that were mentioned in the film were; Teddy boys, Mods, Punks, Rude Boy, Skinhead, Ravers (AKA Soulies), Rockers.

Lecture Notes

Influences on Animation:
John Holmstrom is an American cartoonist and writer, who is best known for being the founding editor of Punk Magazine and illustrating the covers of the Ramones albums 'Rocket to Russia' and 'Road to Ruin', The Ramones being an American punk rock band that were often cited as being the first band to define the 'punk rock' sound.

Ramones Album Covers by john Holmstrom

Though they weren't animated, you can clearly see how the punk culture has influenced the character design in these covers, or at least how the style of punk has been captured, with ripped jeans and studded jackets, with bold bright titles. 

CoP Essay: Tutorial with Richard

On Friday, I had a quick tutorial with Richard regarding my progress with CoP. So far I've done well at keeping up to date with blogging about my lectures and gaining a decent understanding about their topics, but because I have focused on getting my Telling Tales project finished and trying to make a start on my responsive briefs I haven't put too much thought into my essay. I knew that I was going to base my essay on gender representation in video games, but hadn't done a great deal of research and hadn't even come up with a solid question.

Tutorial Feedback

Talking with Richard made me feel a lot better about starting my essay. I was able to get a better frame of mind on what I was going to talk about/research/analyse by discussing my progress so far and what I was planning on doing further research on. Now that I have a better understanding I'm going to power through the Christmas holidays on my essay so I can get my first draft in for the deadline in January.

Lecture Six: Censorship and The 'Truth'

Today's lecture reminded me a lot of a lecture I attended last year titled "photography as a document", but today had slightly different undertones. Today we explored the notions of censorship and 'truth' and how indexical qualities of photography can obscure this 'truth'. 

Lecture Notes

A good example of when a photograph's authenticity has been questioned is Robert Capa's Death of a Loyalist Soldier. It was questioned whether this was the actual point of the soldier's death or whether it was staged. Here I can refer to the lecture I sat in my first year, where there were many cases of photographers staging scenes to emphasise a deeper meaning or message, either because the actual scene wasn't a strong representation of the message they were wanting to portray or due to limitations imposed upon photojournalists' freedom of movement and not being able to go to active fronts.

Robert Capa - Death of a Loyalist Soldier (1936)

The photo had said to have been staged due to the location in which the photograph was taken. Many critics claim that they were miles away from battle lines due to the examination of the background scenery, there were also contradictions in the accepted account of the photograph; It was noted that in an interview Capa mentioned that the soldier was killed by a burst of machine-gun fire rather than a sniper riffle which is what the photograph actually suggests. It was then argued that the soldier was killed whilst staging for a photograph, and the later uncover of "The Mexican Suitcase" (boxes of negatives containing hundreds of negatives taken by Capa, Gerda Taro and David Seymour) could confirm that this was in fact the point of his death, but other stills still suggest he was killed during a staging.

Even though this is supposedly the point in which he died, it's still not a truthful depiction of the war that was occurring at the time, and we have to be careful when it comes to what we perceive as truth as it can often be obscured by a number of different factors. The following are examples that I have gathered from the lecture:

- Staging photographs and not knowing for sure what was happening at the time in which the photo was taken (example as shown above)
- The addition or the accompany of text. The title of the work or what people have to say about the piece can obscure our views of it.
- The media that has been used.

Ken Jarecke - Death of an Iraqi Soldier

This last example brings me to a good point regarding Censorship, and that the media that has been used to create a piece can change whether we feel is it acceptable or not. For example, Ken Jarecke photographed a burned-beyond-recognition Iraqi soldier in a destroyed truck. The photograph was up for being published in a newspaper which caused debate as to whether it was acceptable to use. The photograph was in colour which made it even more graphic and disturbing as the horror wasn't 'obscured by using black and white'. The photograph was deemed too sensitive and graphic for even the editors to see, and so went unseen in the US but was actually published in the UK by the London Observe which caused controversy due to the nature of the photograph. But that was what the photograph intended to do, it was to raise awareness of the horror that was occurring around us, and to get us asking "is this something we want to be involved in?". By looking at images like this we can have a more informed decision of whether we want to go to war, as a lot of information such as this is often hidden from the public, so in this case the truth is being obscured by censoring what we see and this withheld of information.

Censorship in Terms of Animation: 
Towards the end of the lecture we started to consider whether art should sit outside censorship laws and whether it is acceptable to use this media as a way to approach more controversial topics. To be in the possession or making/distribution of decent pictures of children is an offence and can get you up to ten years in jail, which is why there was a debate with Tierney Gearon's work. She often photographed her nude children and considered it the "diary of my soul". Her work was exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery in 2001 which caused a great deal of media coverage considering her children we underage and the police had to get involved on a number of occasions. It raises the question whether it should be deemed acceptable because it is art. This leads me to Michele Cournoyer's The Hat.

Le Chapeau de Michele Cournoyer

The Hat is about a young woman that works as an exotic dancer who recalls incidents from her past where she was abused by a male. The animation is very disturbing as Cournoyer is wanting you to share the pain of the woman in the story. To my understanding the animation is totally fictional but it is still tough to watch and explores themes that make most very uncomfortable, which again refers back to the question does it make it acceptable because of the way it has been addressed? 

Lecture Four: Panopticism - Institutions and Institutional Power

I found today's lecture to be very interesting, as panopticism is a concept that I haven't really heard of/thought about before and it was fascinating to realise just how much it occurs in today's society.

Lecture Notes

The lecture started by outlining The Great Confinement that occurred in the late 1600s. Individuals were judged on how useful they were and how much of a role they had in society and if they were deemed useless they were locked away in 'Houses of Correction' were they were made to work, and would be beaten if they didn't. These houses were usually filled with homeless people, criminals and the unemployed. This lead to the birth of the Asylum, where individuals were made useful for society.

This is where Foucault comes into play. Michel Foucault (1926-1984) wanted to legitimise the practices of hospitals and Doctors. He saw asylums and prisons to affect human beings in a way that altered their consciousness and internalised our responsibility and that rationalising institutions teach us to control our behaviours (to self regulate).

Panopticon Design

Jeremy Bentham proposed the design of a building called the Panopticon in 1791. Though none were built during his own time, the Panopticon was designed so that the individuals/inmates would be situated in their own cubicles or sections that lined the outside wall. They would not be able to see anybody else in other sections, but instead could look forward at 'the face of the institution', whether this be a prison guard, a doctor, a teacher. It took the common idea of a dungeon where prisoners would be locked away in the darkness and out of sight, and did the exact opposite; the inmates would be on show and would be monitored by the observation tower that was in the middle of the Panopticon.
The idea was that you would change your behaviour as you would always be watched, meaning you would be spotted if you acted out of line and potentially punished for it. The inmate would be induced to a state of conscious and permanent visibility that would assure the automatic functioning of power.

Foucault believed this to be a metaphor for society, and how we are always being watched by those in power or with authority. He stated that "the Panopticon is a model of how modern society organises its knowledge, its power, its surveillance of bodies, its training of bodies". To begin with I didn't fully understand where he was coming from, and it was only until we looked at how Panopticism occurs in today's times that I could see his point. Panopticon is everywhere in today's society. Open plan offices is a good example of this as creating this open space without cubicles can increase productivity as you are too scared to waste time and slack off as you will be caught. But then it also occurs in places were you aren't even expected to work, but to behave, for example in bars. In traditional pubs it was common to have booths that were tucked away so you could have privacy, but it is becoming more popular for the bar to be more open plan with the bar being the centre of the space, encouraging you to behave differently even if you aren't even being watched by the bar staff. Almost all public spaces are monitored by CCTV now too, and yes this may be for security reasons, but when the cameras are visible it is more likely than not that we will behave differently when in the presence of them because we know we are being watched, whether we are or not.
This greatly backs up Foucault's point, especially as in the Panopticon's observation tower there wasn't always a guard on duty. The inmates would not have been aware of this fact as the blinds would be drawn on the windows, but just the presence of the tower alone and the idea that there might be someone of power in there was enough to change their behaviour and 'correct them'.

Now initially I don't see how this relates directly to animation, but it definitely influences my practice and my studies. There is even an trace of panopticism in the lectures I attend. The lecturer is not forcing me to attend or to listen - I generally go because I'm interested in what there is to be said - but instead it is ourselves that are conformed, even the space and the layout of the lecture hall encourages us to watch.

Lecture Three: Identity

In today's lecture we considered the historical conceptions of identity and how identity is viewed today, especially in the digital domain. We started by looking at the different phases of identity, these being Pre-modern, Modern and Post-modern. Pre-modern conceptions suggest that personal identity is stable and is defined by long standing roles, for example marriage, the church, work ete, whereas modern and post-modern views suggest that you are able to choose your identity and that it is constructed out of the discourses that are available to you.

Lecture Notes

We also looked briefly into Physiognomy and how this relates to identity. Physiognomy is the assessment of someone's personality or character based on their appearence, most commonly the face. This practice was accepted by ancient Greek philosophers but was revived and popularised by Johann Kaspar Lavater from 1775. He introduced the idea that this related to specific character traits rather than general types. Similarly Cesare Lombroso proposed the theory of positivist/anthropological criminology which states that criminal tendancies can be inherited, and that "born criminals" can be identified by physical defects and characteristics.

This can relate strongly to stereotyping. A great example of this is Tracey Emin's "Everyone I Have Ever Slept With (1963-1995)". The piece was a tent that was lined with appliqued names of everyone she had ever slept with, and it is often misinterpreted as being a euphemism where the tent is indicating all of her sexual partners. At a first glance many would shame her for sleeping around as they would judge the piece on it's face value before taking a look inside and finding out what the work is actually about. Only a select few of the names mentioned in the tent she has sexual relations with, the rest are a collection of family and friends, merely people she has SHARED a bed with and slept alongside.

Tracey Emin - Everyone I Have Ever Slept With

I think these points are commonly addressed when it comes to character design in Animation. Designers *sometimes* tend to play on stereotypes when designing characters. For example, intelligent characters tend to have similar characteristics, for instance they will be depicted with large heads and faces that are very "straight" whereas "dumb" characters tend to be the opposite. They will be depicted with faces that tend to slant back, and have more asymmetric features. A good example of this is Pinky and the Brain. The two characters are laboratory mice who live in a cage in a research facility. Brain is constantly trying to take over the world, thought his plans fall through due to Pinky's idiocy (usually)

Pinky (Left) and the Brain (Right)

This example is clearly playing n stereotypes. The clever character has a large head and is generally quite stern looking, where as the "idiot" looks goofy and feeble-minded.

Lecture Two: The Flipped Classroom

The Flipped Classroom is a model of teaching that focuses on allowing the student to take charge of their own learning. The student is the centre of the model rather than the teacher, and this allows the students to explore and form their own answers to their own questions. This flipped model allows for students to explore topics in greater depth, as the flow of conversation and debate is not being controlled by the Teacher which can create more meaningful learning opportunities. The Teacher will be there to deliver content that the students can use how so they please (perhaps in the form of activities or video lessons).

Lecture Notes

But is this enough? Jacques Ranciere (b. 1940), a French philosopher born into the french revolution in May 1968, argued the role of the teacher and challenged their role in the classroom, stating that they need the students more than what they needed the teacher. In his book "The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation" he tells the story of how Joseph Jacotot was sent to the netherlands to teach french to the students, not knowing a word of Flemish. They were unable to communicate to one another as the students didn't speak any french, so he had given the students two copies of Fenelon's "Télémaque", one in Flemish and one that had been recently translated into French. The students were able to learn fluent french by working together and finding the relationship between the two languages/texts, with no input from the teacher other than the fact he had given them the text.
From this, Ranciere challenged the readers to consider the role of the teacher, and that we should consider the premise that we are all of equal intelligence and that this should be a starting point rather than a destination. The educator isn't neccesary if the group of students have a central focus.

The Flipped Classroom model definitely relates to my current practice. As a group we are given a brief to work with and our tutors are there for help if needed, but on the whole our projects and study are very self-driven. In Animation we are expected to solve our own problems and create work that fits the brief/our clients proposal. Jacques Ranciere's points are very interesting, and to some degree I agree with what he says. I think we have the intellectual capability to become educated without the role of an educator, but personally I think this role is necessary for my line of practice. I have a lot of creative freedom even with the role of a tutor, but they are there to guide me on what it is I need to do in order to succeed, just as it would be like if I was working on a commision piece.

Seminar One: Animation and Authorship

The premise of today's seminar was Authorship. We developed a basic understanding of the term Auteur and how Auteurs are not simply just film makers for example, but they have their own signature style (whether this be their technique or the content) they focus upon can allow them to be considered an artist. From here we moved on to looking at Roland Barthes' Death of an Author, and it was generally a very interesting seminar despite making my brain hurt ever so slightly.

My general understanging of this text is that Barthes argues that the "reader" is free to make their own interpretations of the "author's" text and should examine this on it's own merits; remove the author from the work and draw their own conclusions from the text as a stand alone piece.
The Death of the Author starts by drawing from Balzac's words of him describing a person and Barthes questions who is speaking those words, whether it was the author or someone in the story and just who it was who gave those words meaning. He then moves on to explaining how the author is given too much credit for the language, but it is infact the language that has drawn the author. The author is simply recycling pre-existing language/ideas rather than inventing. This point is taken further, and Barthes outlines that these ideas and texts that the "author" is putting forward shouldn't have a fixed meaning, and that they can be open to interpretation depending on who the text is received by. We should understand that we don't have to take other people's interpretations of the world as true, but look towards our own.

"Text" and "Author" doesn't have to be taken literally, infact I feel that Barthes is talking about creative practices in general, meaning I can relate what he is saying to Animation. When Barthes says "For him, for us too, it is the language which speaks, not the author" (Barthes, 1968), we can apply this to animation and say that it is not the animator that is 'speaking' but it is the technology. It is the technology and the process of animation that has inspired the animator's creativity and it is not their soul invention, but instead is a combination of different tools and techniques that are pre-existing.

"There is no other time than that of the enunciation and every text is eternally written here and now" (Barthes, 1968). I feel this quote refers to how the text is going to precieved differently between different individuals and cultures, and what the society is like at the time (here and now). This relates strongly to animation in that different characters, personalities and themes are going to be perceived differently across many cultures, especially if we look back at animation in the early ages. An example of what I mean by this is Snow White. At the time of it's production this may have been an accurate representation of how women were, as in they were more domesticated and it was generally their job to cook and clean. However now-a-days this is not the case, and some can view this as sexist. The nature of the animation is being perceived differently as society and culture is changing.
 
"The author is a modern figure, a product of our society" (Barthes, 1968). I believe that this could mean a number of things. The first being that the author is going to have a different interpretation of the world, just like everyone else in his/her society, or that he/she has been produced by a capatalist soceity meaning that the "text" produced may be more about the money and less about the creation. Especially with brand production or sequels. For instance, when a sequel to an animated film comes into production or into thearters we may already have judged it or have expectations of that film based on the previous one, instead of judging the film as a stand alone piece. Similarly, we may already form an opinion of an animation based on it's reviews from critics or online forums for example. However, we need to go back to the point that we are all intitled to our own opinions when it comes to creative practice, as we are all going to interpret something differently due to our own culture and beliefs. A passage from "Reconfiguring the Author" backs up this point very well; "To characterize text as artificially and imperfectly autonomous is not to eliminate the role of the author but to deny the reader's or critic's submission to any instance of authority. This perspective leaves room neither for authorial mastery of a communicative object nor for the authority of a textual coherence so complete that the reader's (infinite) task would be merely to receive its rich and multilayered meaning." (Landow, 1992). Even though the author may have authority, in this case this could refer to the film critic, does not mean that we have to take this fact. We are still able to form our own opinions and invent the truth of the world.


Barthes, R. (1977[1968]) 'Image, Music, Text', London, Fontana Press.
Landow, G.P. (1992) 'Reconfiguring the Author' in Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Lecture One: Research and Epistemology

The goal of today's lecture was to gain a common understanding of what is meant by the term 'research', and how we could then refer to this term in our future CoP lectures, seminars and studio sessions.

Lecture Notes

It's often thought that research is the process of finding out new facts and knowledge, which it is, but it isn't just limited to this. In a creative practice sense it can also refer to learning new processes, experimentation to find out what things work and what doesn't and problem solving. So research doesn't always have to be right and it is okay to embrace failure, as this will strengthen our knowledge for what will work in the future. It will promote success.

There are many different ways in which you can research, whether this be reading books at the library or conducting experiments/surveys, but all methods are going to produce different types of data. The main for types of data being; Primary, Secondary, Quantitative and Qualitative.

Primary and Secondary data refers to the source in which the data was received. If it is Primary this means that the data was developed or collected/generated and does not yet exist, where as if it is secondary the data has already been collected. For example you could take statitisics from an online source, or read up on past experiments.
Quantitative and Qualitative refers to the type of data that is being collected/used. Quantitative refers to data that can be measured, whether this be numbers, facts, figures or statistics, where as Qualitative is more subjective and can involve a person's beliefs or opinions. Qualitative isn't always measured.

This data will mean nothing to us if we don't process it. By processing data we can take information from the results to add to our existing knowledge of the person receiving it. This can involve simply taking in information we have researched in a way that we can understand, or it can be taking it that step further by investigating for solutions to questions that may have been generated. It could also involve applying this knowledge to our practice to see HOW this will work, or even WHERE this information can apply. This is what we mean by the term Epistemology. Epistemology distinguishes between HOW we can KNOW something, and whether it is knowing that, how or where.

Research is always going to be subjective to the individual, as when we research we set out to find out things we don't know making us the centre of our own research. The most important thing to remember is to START ANYWHERE and to make it relevant to our own practice in a way that we are going to understand it, and gain experience/knowledge.

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing" 

- Wernher von Braun.

Another Year, Another Year of Lectures...

"I can smell gas"... "Well that's bad"
...That was a good start to my CoP year.

There wasn't much to last week's lecture. We pretty much just went through the requirements for passing our modules and the changes that had been made to estudio. We were also shown a list of our upcoming lectures, and despite not having the greatest understanding of them in the past, I'm oddly really looking forward to them. I'm going to make sure to put it more of an effort to blog about my lectures straight away to prevent forgetting about the content and struggling to write them up at a later date. I'm also going to do more research this year if I don't understand anything I'm delivered with instead of just rambling about how I don't understand which will benefit me greatly, especially if I can make the content relative to my field of practice.

Let's do this!

Seminar 6: Animation in the Commercial Realm

In this seminar we discussed how animation is becoming more common as a tool to advertise and educate, rather than to simply entertain an audience. As advertising is such a big thing now-a-days it only made sense that people were going to start to apply animation to this area, as animation is a growing trade. Not only this, but it is a more interesting way to get your point across, and can be aimed at a number of different audience.

For me, a good example of where animation has been used in an advertisement is the Lloyd's TSB advert. Although this is aimed at an older audience because it is advertising the bank, it can still reach out to children and younger people because of the style of the animation. For me, it's very successful because of this as the characters and the setting of the story gains your attention, and therefore their message gets across to the viewer. Not just this, but the song is incredibly catchy. Whenever I hear it I am always reminded of Lloyd's TSB.

Creative Response to my Essay: Completed Character Turnaround

My final turnaround didn't actually take that much time to complete. I think my character model definitely helped me and sped up the drawing process, as I only had to line up my drawings with the template underneath and try to keep the proportions and dimensions of her clothes and hair consistent, Which I think I did a pretty good job at doing, especially as I was drawing from my imagination rather than an actual object. She seems to fluctuate slightly in size and shape, but it isn't really too noticeable, and similarly to my last turnaround I completed as part of my visual language project, I quite like that she isn't perfect. She seems more stylised this way. 

Character Turnaround in Fine Liner

As much as I liked my turnaround, I thought it would be much more successful if I added colour. Because I had the time to spare I went for it and added colour to my original frames using Photoshop. I'm glad I pushed myself to do this, as it is an improvement that I had never got around to doing with my other turn around projects. Not only this but I think the addition of colour just tops of the animation. The girl seems to be a lot less jumpy now that I have added colour, and it has just given it that finish that it needed. I shall have to try and push myself to add colour to future projects of this nature, as there definitely is a great improvement from my initial fine liner animation, and it looks more professional (in my opinion).

Added Colour to my Character Turnaround

Overall, I think I have been able to apply some of the knowledge I learnt whilst researching my essay very well, resulting in range of female characters that I feel are more representative of the average female form. I shall have to continue to look at the work I have produced for this project and apply it to future works, as creating more relatable characters, in my opinion, is very important.

Further Reading: The Illusion of "Identity" by Sean Griffin (1994)

I decided to read further into Gender Identities, not only because I am interested in what people have to say on this topic, but because it would benefit my creative response. 

Unlike live-action, Animation is not grounded in the actual physicality of a live being. Instead animated figures are capable of transforming at the "whim of the animator" and are able to do anything and everything they want to. In the 1930s however, Disney began to develop their own way of animating, which involved creating very realistic human forms and movements, which gave the "illusion of life" to their viewers. The method of Rotoscoping helped Disney to achieve this realism in some of their animations.

Disney also began to develop the twelve principles of animation, one of which being "appeal". Because the use of Rotoscoping would retract from the character's appeal, they would touch up on the drawings to emphasise on the movements being captured. This worked for a lot of their female characters in their early days, and were able to create characters that were very appealing, even if they weren't necessarily representative, as I have discovered whilst writing my essay. They were however, less successful with the males. This could be due to the fact that a lot of the main male characters were pushed aside to make way for the female protagonist. For example, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Prince Charming is very "wooden" as a lot of the focus was on Snow White, and apparently the studio didn't have time to rework his character before the film's release.  Prince Charming also doesn't have a lot of screen time so you don't have a lot of time to appreciate the character and to see his appeal, or lack of as it would suggest.

Having said this, Disney were very successful at creating appeal for their male characters in their 1992 film, Aladdin. It has been argued that the film has not been accurately representative of the race portrayed in this animation, but has been said to be an "enlightened feature" that has used animation to "further  the decentering of white heterosexual patriarchy". On the other hand it has been argued that in the attempt of overthrowing the system to deconstruct identity there has been a number of faults concerning "social constructionism". For example, the Genie - voiced by Robin Williams - shape shifts into many different characters including some caricatures of famous celebrities, different species, as well as dressing in drag. His transformations and his personality are obviously flaunted and this gives the character masses of appeal, but if the viewers aren't aware of the performativity that is being portrayed, then they may read this performance as "true". This point is emphasised when we return to the point that Disney create very realistic human forms and movements, and lack exaggeration as they focus purely on "the illusion of life". Due to this, some viewers may not see the joking nature of some scenes. 

To summarise, it is hard to "find a safe place from which to speak or create any sort of representation that is not attacked for being 'politically incorrect' in some manner" which Aladdin is a great example of. However, the exaggeration of human forms can help to create appeal and get across to the viewer the performativity of the animation. This is something I can and will bear in mind when it comes to designing my future characters, especially if I am dealing with a touchy subject such as Gender Identity. 

Creative Response to my Essay: Designing a Character for my Turnaround

Now that my model turnaround was complete, I went ahead and designed a character that I was going to animate using this template.

Young Female Character Design

I made the character a little bit chubby, as most young children tend to be, although I think I did draw her legs a little bit too wide and her shoulders too broad. I will be able to edit this when I draw out my turnaround however, so I'm not too worried about this design. 

I think this is a nice design for a young girl, and is a lot less perfect than the girls that are portrayed in the animations I looked at in my essay. She has messy hair and her clothes are very "everyday". I gave her messy hair and designed her with sew on patches on her overalls to make her seem more adventurous and a bubbly, which I think I have been successful at doing so. I'm quite pleased with the design, even though her body does seem a little bit disproportional, so all that is left to do now is draw out my frames with this design. 

Creative Response to my Essay: Creating a Turnaround

Because my character designs went well, I wanted to push myself and see if I'd be able to produce a turn around of a character. Rather than using my existing characters I wanted to design a young girl, as this was something I was yet to do. I thought it would be best to draw a template model turnaround, and use this as the base for my design, so I googled an existing human turnaround to use as a reference. As I wasn't able to find any children performing in a turnaround, I simply drew the body scaled down in each of my frames, which I think turned out to look fine. 

Example Turnaround I Used as a Reference

My Template Turnaround

Considering this is my first turnaround of a human, I think I've done well. Especially considering I had to improvise with my reference. Whilst I was drawing the frames, I also had my moodboard of representative female characters, so I could incorporate their body shape so I had a combination of the model in the example and a young, chubby animated character (Lilo, for example). 

Due to the success of this first attempt I can now go ahead and design a young female character and use these frames to create a turnaround for it. 

Creative Response to my Essay: Character Design

Here are the female characters I have been able to produce so far. Whilst I was designing my characters I made sure to refer back to my mood boards, as they picked out what features an "average girl" possessed. I have tried to incorporate a selection of these features in my designs.

The first female character is based very loosely on my own dress sense, consisting of an everyday outfit  of jeans and a jumper. I also made the girl tall and lanky as it is not often that tall girls are represented in animations. 

The next design is of a "female gamer", and not one who is large-breasted and plays video games to "impress guys". Instead she is a girl who genuinely enjoys playing the games. I also gave her a Legend of Zelda t-shirt to further enforce her love for video games. I wanted to design a female character that likes playing games, as it is still seen to be a "male's" hobby and it still shocks some members of society that females play video games, when in fact a good 49% of gamers are female. 

For the next two designs I chose to focus on a larger body shape, and have created both a white character and a darker skinned one. I chose to draw the characters in a dress and a skimpy jump suit as those who are more judgemental of body shape tend to frown on larger women showing skin. I also did this to try and enhance their curves.  

Lecture 11: Postmodernism

I barely understood what modernism meant, so when it came to listening to a lecture on postmodernism I was well and truly lost. I have done further reading and research into this topic, and I'm still confused as to what postmodernism is. I get the impression that postmodernism occurred after the modernist movement, and consisted of escaping the "double-mindedness of Modernism by being thorough in its criticism by extending it to religion as well as theology" according to J. M. Thompson.

Postmodernism began as a reaction to Modernists attempts to reduce things to their simplest and purest forms. Postmodernists would go that bit further and questioned everything, which would usually involve deconstructing work. A good example of this is Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans. He took an everyday object and changed it's context by painting it and having it hung in an art gallery. He then went on to make many copies of his work, making the art just as mass produced as the supposed "artless" can.

Andy Warhol - Campbell's Soup Cans

Postmodernism is also the idea that absolutes don't exist, and that we aren't bound to what it "right" or "moral" because your truths and beliefs are true to you, and you alone, so rather than saying "this is the correct way to do things" like modernists were, postmodernists instead said "on whose authority?"

Lecture 9: The History of Animation

I've already talked about this lecture in great detail as part of my research for a studio brief, so instead of repeating myself and explaining again how Animation has developed over the years, I am simply going to select a couple of Animations that I find to be extremely important in the Animation world.

Windsor McCay 1914 - Gertie the Dinosaur

Gertie the Dinosaur isn't the first ever cartoon despite what some believe, but it definitely was the first to bring a character to life that had such an appealing personality. It was also the first animation to use mechanical processes, such as key framing and registration marks on tracing paper and this animation actually influenced Animators such as the Fleischer Brothers and Walt Disney to animate.

Windsor McCay 1918 - The Sinking of the Lusitania

McCay later went on to produce The Sinking of the Lusitania. The Animation was a staggering 27000 frames long, and was the longest animated film at the time of it's release. The film was also the first serious/dramatic work of animation that depicted the Lusitania sinking during WW1. McCay wonderfully demonstrated animation's potential, and that it could be used to inform and document rather than simply to entertain.

Disney 1929 - The Skeleton Dance

The Skeleton Dance by Disney was a short produced as part of the Silly Symphonies series and it is credited for being the first animation to use non-post-sync sound and is arguably the first ever music video as the animation was developed to fit around a piece of music composed by Carl Stallings.

Creative Response to my Essay: Sketchbook Work

Before I got started with drawing, I thought it would be a good idea to mention some of the work I have been doing in my sketchbook. The sketchbook is mostly filled with drawings and doodles I have done on the train to pass the time, but a lot of them are relevant to the work I am doing now.

The first set is a selection of observational drawings I have done of people on the train. This could be an approach I continue to work with as I design my female characters, as you can't get much more "normal" than the general public. I could either do further observational sketches, or I could even just base characters around certain features that these people possess.

 Observational Drawings of Train Passengers

The next set of drawings are of characters that have been based on/inspired by myself and people that I know. Again, this could be another approach that I adapt with this response as I would be creating characters based on average people, ones that are more likely to be representative of females. Or again, I could simply draw from specific features they possess.

Characters Based on Myself

Sketches of my Sister, Maressa.

Character Based on my Friend, Ellen.

The last set of drawings that I have chosen to talk about focus on capturing different body shapes and sizes. This is something that I will definitely continue to do when I design my female characters as this is going to be an important part of my response. 

Doodles Considering Body Shape and Size

Creative Response to my Essay: Moodboards

Following my research into League of Legends, I conducted further research into female characters that more accurately represent the average female, and not a perfect girl with a stick-thin figure. I thought it would be best for me to create a moodboard of the range of characters that I researched/found, as I would be able to easily pick out the features of that character that make them more realistic or representative of females. I started with the characters from LoL that deviated from the usual "all boob" female, along with Merida from Brave whom I had looked at in great detail in my essay.

Female Character Moodboard

Lilo and Stitch in my opinion is another great example of  accurate female representation. Nani, Lilo's older sister, has a much more realistic body shape, as she has a bit of a belly and muscular thighs. Not only this, but she is a strong-willed character who tries her very best to raise Lilo on her own, which to me is widely overlooked and I think Nani deserves more praise and recognition than what she gets, especially considering that Lilo is far from being a perfect child. She throws tantrums and makes it hard for Nani to care for her. She also deviates from the average "girly-girl" as she doesn't like playing with dolls, and has a much more creative imagination which the other girls in her class tend to bully her for as they find her "weird". So not only is she a girl that doesn't fit in with the crowd, she also has a much more healthy body image, much like many characters in this animation.

I wanted to stray away from Disney again a bit more, as I wanted to look at a wide range of characters, so began to look at Studio Ghibli. I had only ever watched Spirited Away, and it's only recently that I have watched his other animations. First of all, they are all visually stunning. Secondly, I love that the plots and the characters are so imaginative and different to most films I have seen. It was a nice change to the usual plots that I'm used to watching. I was particularly blown away by Howl's Moving Castle and I'll most likely rant on about how amazing it is at a later date, but at the moment I'm going to talk about Sophie. Sophie truly is an average girl and is depicted as being quite ordinary. She doesn't even see herself as being beautiful or attractive. She is instead quite plain but is very kind, polite and friendly. It also a good example of an animation where the old woman isn't drawn as an "old hag" and depicted as being ugly. Instead she simply gains a few pounds and a couple of wrinkles on her face.

Mei and Satsuki from My Neighbor Totoro are also great female characters. I particularly like that Satsuki isn't a typical girly-girl, instead she has short hair like a "tomboy" and has a lanky figure. Yes she is thin, but it isn't the typical hourglass figure that is usually favoured in animations. Then we have Mei. Similarly to Lilo, Mei is chubby and very adventurous. 

I then looked into Jamie Hewlett's character designs, in particular Tank Girl. I've always been a fan of Hewlett's art style/his works, so I'm quite surprised that I haven't come across this character before. This girl deviates massively from the common stereotypical look and personality that is often given to females, as she has next to no hair, face piercings, weapons, and generally looks aggressive. This character gave me the idea of looking into different stereotypes concerning personalities, such as goth and "nerd" etc, as not only will this give me a variety of different character designs, this will definitely be representative of a lot of different females. This could be a good route to go down, so I shall bare that idea in mind. 

Body Shape Moodboard

Having collected a good amount of research and accumulated a good idea of what representative female characters look like and what their features are, I figured it would be a good idea to begin drawing my own characters, drawing from my research and further examples if needs be. I gathered together a range of different body shapes and created a moodboard to aid my drawings.

Creative Response to my Essay: League of Legends

Whilst I was writing my essay, I found that Disney had created a variety of different characters which on the whole had considered to be sexist, as the females stereotypically relied on the male to save them. There are also mixed views on how representative the characters are of females, as most characters are given natural beauty and narrow waists. Generally the only exception to this are the evil antagonists, who were stereotypically portrayed as being ugly.

I wanted to take this opportunity to pick out further examples of characters that deviate from the "disney norm", and take from these examples to design a couple of my own characters that are more representative of females as a whole. This will include looking at different body forms, as well as race and physical appearance. If I go into more depth about the character's background and personality, I will consider their hobbies, interests, careers, etc, so that there is a wide range of characteristics and values that will hopefully be more representative of women now-a-days.

I'm going to stray away from Disney slightly, and look at more female characters alongside the ones I have already explored in my essay so I have a wider range of characters to draw from. I'm going to look briefly at League of Legends. I love the game and I think the character design is beautiful, but it has been criticised for being sexist. A lot of the female characters have been highly sexualised, most of which have been created with a skinny waist and being practically 90% breast, Sona being a great example of this.

Ahri (Top Left), Miss Fortune (Top Right) and Sona (Bottom)

Having said this, I personally think that there are a good variety of characters. Granted, a good percentage of the female champions in League are very breasty, but Riot Games have also explored a range of different sizes and body shapes and colours, resulting in a wide range of characters and personalities. To back this point up, Riot have recently released a new champion called Jinx who is very slim and flat chested. A lot of skin is on show, but she hasn't been sexualised, instead she is a fun, crazy and outgoing character. 

Jinx the Loose Cannon - Released Oct. 2013

Annie, Karma and Kayle are further examples that show diversity across the female characters in League, all of which I think are great designs. I can't quite put my finger on what I particularly like about the characters, but as a whole I like that no two champions are the same, and each have their own background story and "lore". I also like the attention the detail that there is in the splash art, and how the environment is also taken into consideration. 

Annie (Top Left), Karma (Top Right) and Kayle (Bottom)

How Successfully has Animation Been Used to Represent Gender and/or Otherness?

This essay is going to address how gender has been represented in western animations. The World Health Organization defines ‘gender’ as being the “socially constructed roles, behaviours and attributes that society considers to be appropriate for both men and women”, where as ‘sex’ refers to the “biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women” (who.int, 2015). This means that aspects of ‘sex’ will not differ much between different societies (for example, women have developed breasts that are usually capable of lactating while men have not), yet there is room for differentiation between different societies in terms of ‘gender’. This essay will bear this definition in mind when exploring how gender has been represented in animations. It is going to primarily focus on females and their roles, and how they may have potentially been sexualised, starting with Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Snow White

Disney practically set the standards for animation and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was their first feature length film. It was recognised that Disney’s audience was primarily female so this had a massive influence on the characters he designed at the time. “I feel this sequence would be for the women. After all 80 per cent of our audience are women. If we get something they loved it would help because there is a lot of slapstick stuff that women don’t like so well. If our characters are cute they’ll like them. We don’t cater to the child but to the child in the adult – what we all imagined as kids is what we’d like to see pictured” (Davis, 2007, Page 110). Snow White was designed with his audience in mind, and he took from what the average American woman was like at the time. During the 1930/40s, women were typically housewives and it was considered that their role was to stay at home and take care of the house and children, which can explain Snow White's character. She is depicted as an innocent, sweet-natured and gentle princess, and when she finds the dwarfs in the forest, she acts motherly towards them and is happy to keep their house clean.

At the time of the film's release, there were very mixed views of Snow White. John C. Flinn wrote, "Snow White is the embodiment of girlish sweetness and kindness"(Variety.com, 1937) and praised the film for being one of the finest examples of Technicolor, but other critics didn't share the same opinion as Flinn, and saw her as a dull and boring character. Roger Ebert stated that if the film had been primarily about Snow White "it might have been forgotten soon after its premiere" (Rogerebert.com, 2001). Where as the film is still considered to be a classic today as it is the first full-length animated feature in colour, there are still mixed views about the protagonist. Many have considered the film to be sexist, as Snow White does not show much ambition or motivation, with her only goal seeming to be to find a handsome prince which gives the impression that "beauty takes precedence over personal ambition and all of life's problems can be solved by finding the right man" (Flickeringmyth.com, 2014). This viewpoint is strengthened by the fact that wild animals become tame in the presence of her beauty, and that the prince falls for her based on her looks, showing that she is admired primarily for her appearance rather than anything else. It is also considered sexist as it implies that it's in a woman's nature to clean, as Snow White cleans the cottage with the animals when she first finds it in it's horrific state.  She is allowed to stay with the dwarfs because of this, as well as the fact that she cooks. At the time of the release this may have been an accurate representation of women, as their roles were much more submissive, but the animation is not very representative of women today.

Cinderella

A similar thing goes for Cinderella (released in 1950).  When Cinderella's father dies at the beginning of the film, she is forced to slave away for her stepmother and her two daughters. She is very passive about being treating poorly by her family, and she does not attempt to try and make her life better. Instead she waits for someone to save her. Her fairy godmother visits her as she is about to give up hope, and she is granted to go to the ball, where she falls in love with the Prince, who had rejected every girl he saw before Cinderella. Again, this shows that appearance is favoured over personality and the fact that she is a hard worker; he had not even met her before that night. The two end up celebrating their wedding at the end of the story, and she returns to her usual princess-self, which again suggests that women's problems can be solved by finding the right man.

It has been said, "all Disney's female characters are weak, passive figures who sit around waiting to be 'saved by the guy'" (Davis, 2007, Page 9). Snow White and Cinderella as mentioned above, are great examples that can back up this statement, but there are a good number of female protagonists that go against the "Disney norm". Merida from Brave (produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2012) is far from a weak character, but instead she is strong and determined.  The film differs from most Disney films, as it isn’t a story about a girl who seeks marriage or romance, instead Merida refuses to become betrothed. She sabotages the Highland Games that were set up by her parents for Merida’s hand in marriage, and during the games she even proves herself to be more skilled than the male contestants in an archery tournament, a supposed “male sport”.  This ultimately leads to an argument with her mother - Queen Elinor - and ends up accidently turns her into a bear with a spell she received from a witch when she had stormed out and she is forced to undo the spell herself before it becomes permanent. So rather than the film having an underlying romance plot, it actually focuses on the relationship between mother and daughter, which many have seen to be a breath of fresh air compared to the usual story about a damsel in distress and her male love interest. Also, Merida never once relies on someone else (with the exception of her mother in bear form, fighting in the odd scene) to help her with her problems; instead she is independent and uses her own initiative to tackle the situation by herself. Furthermore she shows that she has the skills to survive on her own in the wild, as she is able to hunt, cook and prepare food for herself and her mother, which was typically the male’s role around the 1930s and the era in which the film was set.

Merida - Brave 

The film was received in a much more positive light than both Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella, and many critics praise Merida for being “a fairy-tale feminist” and not needing to be rescued by a male or prince, yet she is a “tougher, more self-reliant heroine for an era in which princes aren’t so charming” [6]. Merida has also been admired for her body image, in particular by Ophelia’s Place, a charity that helps young girls with eating disorders. They praise the character for having “a more realistic female body shape, as opposed to a Barbie-like figure, so coveted by today’s media” (Opheliasplace.net, 2012) unlike Snow White and Cinderella, who both have a skinny waist and a general slim physique. Frozen - despite it being a massive commercial success - has also been criticised for this very reason. Elsa and Anna have been criticised for being too skinny and not accurately representing a realistic body shape. Mayiam Bialik stated that the characters had "tiny waists, ample busts, and huge heads" and that her sons thought they "looked like BRATZ dolls" (Kveller.com, 2014).  Where as this is not a healthy body image for the girls to have, Disney did a good job of getting across the message that "not everyone is perfect", by showing Anna with a "bed-head" when she woke up in the morning. Many viewers thought it made a nice change to see this side of the character where they aren't "made-up" with make-up and their hair is a mess.

Frozen is also a good example of where the female protagonist in the film is not a weak character who's sole purpose in life is to find the right guy. Although the film does have an underlying plot of Anna finding love, the story is based on the relationship between the two sisters, and trying to save the country from being banished into an eternal winter. Although Anna does have help from Kristoff along the way, she manages to save her sister (and ultimately herself) by sacrificing herself. Not only does this strengthen the bond between the two characters, it shows that she was brave enough to save her sister and didn't need a man to step in and do it for her.

Captain Amelia from Disney's Treasure Planet is another great example of this. Although she is not the main character in the film, she does demonstrate that "she will take no interference from anyone" (Davis, 2007, Page 211). When James Hawkins (Jim) and Dr. Doppler first step on board the ship, they mistake Mr. Arrow to be the captain. He sets them straight by pointing out that he isn't the captain, but Amelia is in fact the one in charge. Not only does she have the role of what usually is a male's job, but she plays it well and demonstrates her courage, intelligence and capability by assuring the safety of herself and both Dr. Doppler and Jim when they realise that the crew that was hired are in fact pirates after the treasure in Treasure Planet. Although, she does surprisingly fall in love with Dr. Doppler so there is a underlying romance plot in the story. With that being said, this is not focused upon greatly in the film and Amelia does not let the romance change who she is. In the final scene you can see the two together with their children, but she is still dressed in her uniform, implying that she is still in charge and still capable of taking care of herself.

Captain Amelia with Dr. Doppler and Ben - Treasure Planet

Not only has the personality of female characters been criticised in animations, but their appearance as well, in particular the difference between the "good" characters and villains. It is expected that these characters are going to have an evil nature, but Disney usually portray the villains as being unattractive or old, particularly in the "classic years" from 1937-67. In Cinderella, the step-sisters are depicted as being horrendously ugly and they come across as being the bad characters in the film because they abuse and bully Cinderella. Another good example of where the evil character has been depicted as being ugly is Yzma from Emperor's New Groove. In fact she was so ugly that she was often described as being "scary beyond all reason".

Yzma - Emperor's New Groove

Another example of where this is the case is in The Little Mermaid. Ursula is a large "sea-witch" who isn't exactly attractive, and she tries to harm Ariel to try and regain power. When her plans fail she turns herself into a beautiful young woman and goes by the name of Vanessa, in an attempt to marry Eric and steal Ariel's soul. When she is this beautiful girl, she goes unsuspected until it is almost too late simply because of her looks and kinder personality. A similar situation occurs in Snow White. The Queen asked her magic mirror who was the fairest of all and when the mirror replied with "Snow White" one day rather than herself she set out to kill her in an act of rage and jealousy. But she doe s not try to do this herself.  Firstly she hired a Huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and kill her, but when he fails to do so she sets out to do it herself, but rather than going in her own form, she transforms into an "old hag" and tries to kill her with a poisonous apple. So not only does it encourage the audience to associate evil with being old and unattractive (this point is strengthened by the fact that no one suspected Ursula to be evil when she was slim and pretty), but it gives the impression that beauty is the most important trait to have, as the Queen is willing to go to extreme lengths to be the "fairest in the land".

 It has been argued that Disney have created a good range of female characters. Granted in the earlier years their characters such as Snow White and Cinderella could be considered as being sexist for being your typical "damsel in distress", but the time at which they were released has to be taken into consideration, as this may have been an accurate representation at the time. The message behind these early animations may not have been a positive one, but as gender roles have changed, so have the way that women have been represented in animations, especially from The Little Mermaid and onwards. Although Ariel did seek true love, she was a much more courageous and outgoing character than the earlier Disney Princesses, and she showed ambition of wanting to explore the human world. From The Little Mermaid came Pocahontas and Mulan, Mulan arguably being one of Disney's most independent characters. She took her father's place in the army, and fought for her county on his behalf. She did however have to dress up as a man in order to be able to fight, but obviously this is because women were not allowed to serve in the army during that time, but she did demonstrate her determination and didn't wait around to be saved. Instead she became the rescuer of china.

It has also been found that as feminism has rose, romance has become less of a main storyline and more of a side plot. The main message of "all women's problems can be solved by finding the right man" is pushed aside as the stories begin to focus on more important messages, such as seeking knowledge and being independent (demonstrated in The Little Mermaid), and the relationships between family members, as shown in both Brave and Frozen.

Arguably, the only area that Disney needs to consider is the appearance of their characters. Most of the protagonists are slim and beautiful. Merida was a great character because she was a more healthy weight who had a more realistic body shape, but we are still yet to see a female character that is over-weight. There have been many characters that have been on the large side, but they haven't been the main character of the film. It would be nice to see a "plain" character, whose beauty comes from a wonderful personality. This would ultimately portray that there is more to life than being beautiful, which animations in the past have seemed to suggest. Similarly, it would be nice if Disney strayed away from the idea that villains are unattractive people. They have done a good job recently with Frozen, showing that in the end Hans was the bad guy who was only using Anna to get into power, but there haven't really been any female villains that have not been old or ugly.

Hans - Frozen

To conclude, we really do need to consider the time at which the films have been released before we accuse them of being sexist, as they easily could have been accurate at the time of their release, but there also needs to be a wider range of characters so that the female population can be accurately represented. Clearly the way that females have been represented in Disney's animations has changed alongside society's changing norms and gender roles, but their films need to continue to strive to represent these changes and not just focus the story on the typical fairy tale like they have been known to in the past.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Bibliography

Davis, A. (2007) Good Girls and Wicked Witches, Eastleigh, John Libbey and Co.

Cheu, J. (2012) Diversity in Disney Films; Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability, Jefferson, McFarland & Co.

Bell, E; Sells, L; Haas, L (1995) From Mouse to Mermaid, Bloomington, Indiana University Press

Variety.com 1937, available at http://variety.com/1937/film/reviews/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-1200411503/ (accessed January 15^th 2015)

Rogerebert.com 2001, available at http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-1937 (accessed January 15^th 2015)

Flickeringmyth.com 2014, available at http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2014/02/the-evolving-princess-progressive.html (accessed January 20th 2015)

Variety.com 2012, available at http://variety.com/2012/film/reviews/brave-1117947728/ (accessed January 21st 2015)

Opheliasplace.net 2012, available at http://www.opheliasplace.net/open-letter-to-pixar-and-the-writers-of-brave/ (accessed January 25^th 2015)

Kveller.com 2014, available at http://www.kveller.com/mayim-bialik-why-my-sons-and-i-hate-the-movie-frozen/#more-5865 (accessed January 25th 2015)
Who.int 2015, available at http://www.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/ (accessed March 3^rd 2015)