Poor Pierrot

animation as an art form is something, even when i was little, caught my imagination and fascination. while im not as passionate about drawing and animation today, i have used it in some way in film making and i like to search in the deepest depths to see what gems i can find. ne zha conquers the dragon king was excellent, padak was unique and lively and lucky luke the ballad of the daltons while mediocre, was a lovely all be it racist tribute to european comics and adaptations.

the film itself is short but beautifull as its struck a balance between the old childhood books my grandmother (r.i.p) would read to me as a little wee lad and multiple painstrokes you'd see on a painting.
all this to lead to the amazing digital circus. im not dunking on the independent scene of modern animation....actually yes i am.
artists pour there hearts out but my problem lies in the fact nobody actually wants to tell a compelling, mature or just interesting story.
most of these projects are cathering to the lowest common denominator that watched avatar the last airbender and considers it the peak of western animated culture.

and there lies the problem, modern animation is dominated by people who haven't grown and by extension, their work while beautifully animated by hundreds of artists, are stuck within a childlike mind that can't comprehend any kind of nuance. there is always hope, a seth rogen produced film, tangles directed by leah nelson just premiered at cannes and it looks to be an actual mature film.
maturity of whats being made is not my only dissapointment tho, its also the way we act as people with animated films and tv shows and how the culture surrounding them is all but reduced to all kinds of wars. wether it be shipping wars or just general dumb shit. its also the fact most world animated cinema is ignored by most "fans" of the medium and the still dominance of childrens entertainment being made. animation is forced inside a box but i largely think sometimes that we also have ourselves to blame in some way.

im not generalizing animation fans, i know some wonderful people that care about all kinds of animated films and shows but most are stuck in detrimental comfort zones with pixar, disney and dreamworks etc.
and like, the recent animation craze with spider verse is cool and all but studio's and again, we as the audience have grown to learn if you put a bunch of 2d stuff in a 3d enviroment its good animation.
not everything needs a reason but when all you're doing is lowering the frame rate and add 2d nonsense, we're going back to the point where all animated films look the same because recent films like goat, while yes look good, they don't really do anything new artstyle wise.

we don't have a ralph baksi these days anymore so the landscape of actual compelling animated commentary is dry. when are we actual getting something that carries emotional weight but also the neccesary nuance and mentality to create something that is also artistic in its writing? because thats the biggest issue at play.

(watch my feature film, kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )