Ambiguous Loss and Migrant Emotions in Animated Comedy ‘Vivo’
Overlooked at the 2022 Oscars, Kirk DeMicco’s animated comedy Vivo expresses the “Trump-era anxiety” and ambiguous loss surrounding transnational migration.
animation
‘What If…?’ Marvel Studios Tries Something Completely Different?
Marvel Studios’ What If…? on Disney+ is an intriguing animated and narrative exercise in the MCU, but why isn’t it as exciting as we anticipated?
How Moebius’ Psychedelic Fantasy / Surrealist Art Influenced Video Games
French artist Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, inspired his peers and mass media. In video games especially, his psychedelic fantasy/surrealist art may live on forever.
Daffy Duck Is My Anti-Hero – Or – What Makes Daffy Duck? An Analythith
Daffy Duck never fit in with the flock. He embodied Leon Schlesinger’s working-class, anti-authoritarian subversion with every feather of his being.
Alberto Mielgo’s Sci-Fi Short ‘Jibaro’ Is Not a Critique of Colonialism
Alberto Mielgo’s creature in the sci-fi short Jibaro represents treasure, not nature, and this aligns her perfectly with tales of chivalric literature – as does her predatory behavior.
Is Animated Television on Par with the Best Programs?
Animated television shows The Simpsons, South Park, and BoJack Horseman, are often base in their approach to controversial subject matter, but “going low” might be the very thing that elevates them.
Marcell Jankovics’ Animated ‘Son of the White Mare’ Goes Behind the Beyond
Beautifully restored Hungarian animation film, Son of the White Mare, is enchanting.
Sundance 2021: Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Animated ‘Flee’ Leaves You Speechless
Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated Flee fearlessly discusses the value of life, the arbitrary inhumanity of immigration law, and the resilience of family, borders, and identity.
‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Nudges Out Conscience in Our Time of Crises
Avatar shows us that to fight for only the people we know, for simply the things that affect us personally, is neither brave nor heroic, nor particularly useful.
Teaching Miyazaki’s Films in the Time of Pandemic
Miyazaki's powerful worldview speaks to our times in striking ways: the hidden terror of the natural world; the need for truth and compassion; the humanism in the face of adversity.
The “Luxurious Loneliness” of Anime Film ‘Perfect Blue’
In Satoshi Kon's 1997 masterpiece, Perfect Blue, former J-Pop idol Mima Kirigoe's crisis of identity echoes our current 'epidemic' of loneliness -- upsetting the boundary between private and public agency, the desire to hide and the compulsion to be seen.
What ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Taught Me About Unlearning Toxic Masculinity
When I first came out as trans, I desperately wanted acceptance and validation into the "male gender", and espoused negative beliefs toward my femininity. Avatar: The Last Airbender helped me transcend that.
