Gender Issues in Ghost in the Shell 


There are clear gender issues within the film Ghost in the Shell. The film does present a female lead, Motoko Kusinagi, in the future with the help of a male sidekick, but Kusinagi is very sexualized in the film. Both visually and metaphorically she's painted as a lesser being in the film, being in tight clothing and being a cyborg; an object itself. Even though most of the individuals in the film, Kusinagi is often seen nude. It should be noted that the puppet master is also, but it still seems that Kusinagi's lead role is overly tainted by the context. The female seems to be part of exploitation in the film. 


Aside from Kusinagi's image in the film, there are some events towards the end of the film that raise questions. Why is it that Kusingai, who's also highly sexualized, go from being a strong female role to having her body replaced by that of a child because it was the only one available on the black market. Not only is Kusinagi being turned into a lesser being the film also unintentionally takes a jab at child prostitution, in the context of a 'child body being sold on the market'. The film seems very conflicted when it comes to Kusinagi's character, not knowing whether to portray her as strong and in charge, or as an object floating through the film.


This movie has some traces of anti-feminism throughout, but Kusinagi's image is too questionable and it ends with a male figure saving her. It's odd how the filmmakers chose to reverse the already reversed gnder roles in the film, making the strong female lead turn into the typical damsel-in-distress, who needs  to be saved by her own sidekick. Maybe the film is actually showing that animated films have always had issues of gender roles in them. If that's the case then I credit the filmmakers for being risky enough to make the gender issues apparent by having them reversed only to once again change into the common Western animation scenario. 

Animating the Boob-tube


Chapter 7
Chapter 7 in Art in Motion discusses the two categories of full animation and limited animation. Maureen Furniss talked a lot about the differences, relationships, and history of the two animation. 
Furniss believes full animation  is all about every frame being drawn distinctly different or no reptition/cycling of the images.  Limited animation has many sequences of images, which feature reoccuring images, also known as cycling. Aside from this big difference, full animation also uses more metamorphosis of shapes and sizes, playing with the z-plane and has fluid motion, while limited only stays within the x and y planes and has less frames. 
Another significant difference I found to be interesting was that full animation is visually focused, while limited is more about the audio. 


Two fine examples of how broad spectrum of limited animation can be is the fine animator, Osamu Tezuka and Disney studio. Both created limited animation outlets that turned out successful films. Tezuka had methods of cycling crowds and vehicles, while Disney cycled its environments, characters, and sequences in their children's film. 




Mark Langer's Animatophilia, Cultural Production, and Corporate Interests
Mark Langer's article entitled Animatophilia, Cultural Production, and Corporate Interests is about the famous Nickelodeon show The Ren and Stimpy Show and filmmaker John Kricfalusi. What is most interesting about the filmmaker and the children's studio was that got into a huge fight over the production of the show, and the young filmmaker sort of took the route of a rebellious artist pitting himself against a show known for it's children's entertainment success. Nickelodeon couldn't take the missed deadlines and budgetary increases. 


What was a financial issue became apparent in cultural media as the themes of The Ren and Stimpy Show began to become more mature for its young audience. Soon the show was an adult show that was on a children's channel and it became a hit and gained a legion of fans. It was the precussor show for a series of shows like South Park and Spongebob Squarepants that pushed the boundaries and appealed to a range of audiences. 


Public television and animation continues to open up to new themes, styles, and writing. 




Recently watched Animated Film or Short Film
After reading about such shows that pushed the boundaries I felt the need to watch an infamous show in that category, South Park. What's so ingenious about the show is that it appears to be nothing more than a vulgar, violent, and overly offensive show featuring young boys growing up in a demented small town, yet it uses its setting and characters to present issues that can be seen both through the boy's perspectives, as well as their parents. Thus, the viewer is treated to cleverly written story arcs featuring the characters moving through the issue, sometimes several issues, being tackled in that episode. 


A great episode is Something Walmart This Way Comes. I tried to find a clip, but I couldn't so I'm posting the DVD commentary. The video features the creators talking about how a Walmart opened nearby them and their were protests. So they chose to write an episode with Walmart in it to discuss Consumerism and Monopolies. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGfGXNsWyW0

Short Animation Assignment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzuhhBal1j8&feature=youtu.be

This short animation was done by drawing on a dry erase board, and experimenting with the markings.