Yesterday was the deadline for 2023's Society of Animation Studies Conference Call for Papers; New Jersey for 2023. It's been a year since I submitted the last time, and - wow! - a lot happened in a year. The speech I ended up giving at Teesside U. was in the wrong context for the conference; a valuable lesson I am applying this year as I've dived full body back into academia to learn to write gooder. But, I am still proud of what I got done. Here's what I wrote, a first time participant in an animation academic conference; truly a place and group of people that seemed unreal to gather together. My time across the pond ranks up there with the time I visited Japan; there's a before the trip me and after the trip me, and the two are very different. The amount I learned and the people I met have had a positive and immense impact and I cannot wait until June.
Good afternoon. My name is Orrin Scott and for the last two years I have been compiling a list of over 1,500 books on animation and organizing them into easy to digest categories. This Animation History Bibliography is listed on CartoonResearch.com for all to read and available on Amazon for your bookshelf. The books listed within my bibliography cover animation’s development from a myriad of perspectives and disciplines. Books that track animation as it has pushed technological advancements and been impacted by historical events, both global and local. Books that reflect how our collective culture and society has come to view animation as a tool of commerce, storytelling, and art. Books that explain how animation has changed the world.
Today I am here to share with you three lessons that I have learned while putting together this bibliography including the biggest perspective change I’ve come to understand.
The first lesson I’ve learned is that making anything of personal importance is not only a test of your own merits to dedicate the time and mental fortitude to wrestle an idea into existence, but of managing outside unexpectancies. I had never taken on a challenge this big before. While two years pales in comparison to some of the amount of time and work it has taken to create some of the books I've learned about, books that I know were written by some of you here today. It has given me a deeper appreciation for the accomplishment of animation itself. The passion and commitment to follow through on any animated project is to be celebrated. With our current digital lives, the potential for animated works to be passed down multiple generations is more likely than unlikely. Though, distribution and preservation is still an ever changing challenge; even with today’s online platforms and home media availability, building an interested audience has always been a challenge.
The second lesson I’ve learned is that there is a lot to learn - one can spend a lifetime learning, creating, and sharing. The first book written on animation, Edwin G. Lutz’ 1920 Animated Cartoons – How They Are Made, Their Origin and Development would mark the beginning of more than a century’s worth of literature written on the subject. Of the 1500 books listed in my bibliography, 96% were written after 1986. There is a lot of room to expand and grow our collective focus. Many noteworthy individuals worthy of recognition who have yet had their time to shine. Studios and productions that have their own unique stories of creation that may even rival their works. Organizations whose structures and operations deserve to be observed and transcribed.
And lastly, and the biggest lesson I’ve learned, is that animation is more than just visual communication, or intercultural exchange, or a commodity for small and big business. Yes, it can and is all of those things, but animation brings more to our lives. It can bridge the gap of individual understanding of our fellow man and of ourselves. Animation has its own rules, motifs, and visual language, transcending cultural boundaries. But just like when the internet democratized communication across the world for those with access, it didn't replace the individual experience, or the many cultures across this beautiful world, But instead opened the door to new social and global experiences, good and bad.
My name is Orrin Scott, I wrote the Animation History Bibliography. I hope it will be of use to you. I hope it shows you books you have yet to come across and aids you in future creative endeavors. I hope you will reach out and add suggestions or corrections as you see fit. I believe moving into the future, not only will animation become even more ubiquitous with everyday living, it will become an even more observable measuring stick of technological and social progress - an ever evolving extension of our collective language and coequal understanding, and perhaps, most importantly, a medium which when studied, made, and watched, wielded with an open mind and empathetic hands, can aid in changing our world to be its best.
It is a dream, a privilege, and a goal accomplished to stand here before you today. As such I ask the following question, shall we get to work?
No comments:
Post a Comment