Critical studies : Essay Blog: Surrealism in animation

For this essay I will looking at animation as a medium for surrealism. I will be taking a look at animators such as the Brothers Quay and whom they influenced by. Also, how does these types of animation affect our preconceptions of animation and its uses.

But first, before comparing the two we should take a look at surrealism as a genre. The art scene dispersed after cataclysmic effects from the 1^st World war. Artists fled back to their own countries or to Switzerland. In 1916 the Dada movement formed. The Cabaret Voltair began hosting meetings for avante garde artists who performed bizarre acts, sporting strange outfits, read poetry, played music etc. All with the intent to confuse, surprise or even insult the viewer.

It was a political movement. All Dadaists were agreed on the corruption of the ideals that brought about the war.. It was this they wanted to abolish. It was an anhilistic, anarchic, disruptive movement. Freed from previous constraints.

It was from this movement that rattled the art worlds cage that surrealism emerged. However it focuses on internal psychic sources and analytical thought. It moved away from the chaos of Dada into an art based on psycho. Often surrealist art is like a representation of a dream where the impossible is made real by illusions and distortions of images.

So how would this art form be used by animators or even influence it in any way? It seems nothing but a strange art form to confuse you and distract you. Well to start, animation can be quite abstract in itself. Characters are distorted or exaggerated in western cartoons. So it would seem that this makes animation the perfect tool for representing surreal dreamlike worlds or characters. But a shows success is not just on artistic talent but how it received. Can surrealism be used effectively to create an animation that can interest viewers or provoke unconventional thoughts by exploring feelings of paranoia and irrationality? Can something that challenges viewers in this way ever be as popular as the fluffy Disney cartoons?

Cartoons, in western culture, are often resigned to a Childs viewing choice. But what differentiates children’s entertainment from adults. It seem that across America and Japan, cartoons were not just there to entertain you. Disney’s theme park and TV shows were targeted at young audiences. They have shorter attention spans so the bright colours and constantly moving images make it the perfect distraction for these imaginative youngsters. Also, in Japan, cartoons were and still are used to sell toys.

Gundam wing was used to sell toy robots.

But when you move away from the flashy, sugary, super charged ‘salesmen’ that bombard children’s cartoons, you discover how this medium can be enjoyed by all viewers. Cartoons such as ‘Fritz the cat’ and ‘Betty Boop’ would at first appear to be fun to watch with the kids. However the provocative characters might make you switch over quickly to come back to later when the kids are in bed. There are many cartoons that can interest older viewers so, clearly, animation can be effective for a whole range of audiences.

My first example of surrealism being used in animation is The Brothers Quay. The shows they produce are a far different tone from the colourful kids shows. The brothers use puppets in a stop motion style animation. The materials they use are often inventive and peculiar, favouring things like bones, newspapers, meat and dust. In particular, however, there is often no dialogue. The characters remain silent, moving to the accents of the music. The music itself is quite minimalist, adding to the tense feeling of soundlessness. Whether this is how they intended to communicate to the viewer I do not know. For some, little sound could represent calmness. In an interview the Quay brothers remark that they often shy away from the use of dialogue, in favour of a more visual form of story telling. In this they expect that it can be understood by a much broader audience as you break down the confinements of language. However, is this what they achieved?

The visual language of works such as ‘street of crocodiles’ and ‘the cabinet of Jan Svankmajer’ translates quite nicely into that of an avante garde ballet. To most, ballet may be considered as a cultured activity. As the animations move deeper into the story, a vague plot appears. However, its surrealist nature does its best to confuse you, but also open your mind perhaps. The characters that find themselves trapped in the box, looking through small windows to the outside world in a nice representation of this.. The jerkiness of the characters adds a little, I think, to the tension. The Brothers did create a film with a script, ‘The piano tuner of earthquakes’. However there is not a huge amount of speech and the characters move in quite a dreamlike dance, sometimes being moved as though they were puppets. This seems a good reflection of how the Quay brothers are comfortable communicating. When asked whether he thought the film was successful, the producer said “No. However with an open mind he hoped people would respond well to it.”

‘The cabinet of Jan Svankmajer’ is a direct reference to one of the brothers influences Jan Svankmajer. In Dadaistic fashion he surprise’s audiences with his bizarre choice of materials. For example. The animation ’meat love’ 1989, the plot consists of 2 chops of meat that display feelings of vanity and attraction. At first I was slightly horrified to see chops of meat walking about. However, its actually a very amusing and clever film. It also interesting to see how animation can be used in the most peculiar ways, by adding life and human like qualities to inanimate objects we can feel like we can relate to them as real characters.

An interesting animation that is portrays a very surrealist method of story telling, is the film ‘ready or not, here I come’, a film from

So does this mean surrealist animation is resigned then to artists and students. Perhaps not. A young animator within Disney’s studios, named Tim Burton, had grown up watching horror movies and surreal films with Ray Harryhausen and Vincent Price. At Disney he felt restrained to express himself creatively. However, after his talent was being noticed he became a conceptual artist for films such as ‘the black cauldron’. A particular film that comes to mind is ‘The nightmare before Christmas’ 1993. A stop motion film that displayed horrific, surreal characters from the Halloween world. They could be closely compared to surreal images of creatures and people. Also the twisted walls, trees and hills that scatter the scenery add to the feeling that this is not quite the same as reality. However the story takes us to the nice safe snowy world of Christmas town. Perhaps this is a safety net for the audience that is expecting to watch the film without being thrown into a world of chaos.

Of course he has created many films, some animated, often stop motion, some films and some combined e.g. ‘Beetlejuice’. But one that recently emerged was ‘Coraline’ released in 2009. The story and setting is quite dully lit and boring, as we share in Coralines own boredom of a new home. Then, after receiving a doll, strange things start to happen and a new reality is opened up to her. However, unlike ‘nightmare before Christmas’ there is no safety net as the two worlds seem to merge together until her warped world crumbles around her. The film was quite successful, showing in cinemas. However, Perhaps the feeling of being lost and confused makes it not so easy to watch as nightmare before Christmas. However I believe ‘Coraline’ was successful in portraying a surreal world that could tell its story and appeal to a large audience.

Conclusion. Though surrealism is an interesting form that can be imaginatively used in animation, its intention of confusing the viewer, it makes it not so easy to watch. But it has many uses in reflecting, perhaps difficult messages to communicate. It can be used not just to confuse but also enlighten in only a way that this visual form can. Surrealism in animation can lead you through a journey of representation that ultimately reveals the story. Although, it remains limited because of its complex expression.Uzbekistan, made 1992. It sports the logo of Moscow’s Pilot animation studio. A lot of great examples of surreal animation from Russia, was distributed by these in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s. This particular film utilizes he freedom that animation can give by using morphing images, scenes that show buildings that represent surreal images like Escher’s relativity, showing impossible stairs. Also, the drawn, artistic aesthetic of the film means that the animator can portray things in a distorted reality, such as the scene with the human bodies, being used as train tracks. It demonstrates effectively the use of surrealism in animation. That surrealism is not just a random, like its predecessor the Dada movement. Instead its use of unconventional symbols reveals hidden messages. I am unclear of the actual intent of this film, but it some thoughts are that it represents the fall of the soviet union. There is a purpose to the animation and the plot unfolds as the characters and scenery morph. Though, in its surrealist nature it is discreet in its language. Revealing itself only in symbols and illusions.