COMICS, CARTOONS & ANIMATION DEVELOPMENT OF AN ART FORM
Simply Complex Cartoons reveal Complex exercise in Confronts significant issues
Popular Culture Definition: Concerned with “Things” = sign systems, symbols, artifacts
Cartoons as Pop Culture “Cartoons introduced generations of readers to symbolic ways of addressing the continuing problems of society and the philosophical questions of mankind…[They please] our visual sensibilities by bringing to life the kinds of dramatic conflicts that enable us to work out vicariously our internal frustrations.” –M. Thomas Ingle, Comics as Culture
Cartoons… Are pop culture Reveal Use Indicate
Single-Framed Cartoons One frame 3 types:
1. Caricatures
Grotesques Antiportraits
2. Editorial Cartoons
William Hogarth
2. Editorial Cartoons Benjamin Franklin
2. Editorial Cartoons Thomas Nast
2. Editorial Cartoons
Nast, continued
2. Editorial Cartoons Nast, continued
2. Editorial Cartoons WW I
2. Editorial Cartoons “Just give me the aspirin. I already got a purple heart.”
2. Editorial Cartoons Editorial cartoons:
3. Humorous Cartoons
Components of Visual Humor:
3. Humorous Cartoons The New Yorker – –Charles Addams
3. Humorous Cartoons
Difference Between Multi-Frame and Single- Shot Cartoons
Elements of Comics Symbolic Codes: –Characters –Facial Expressions –Assimilation –Balloons
Elements of Comics Symbolic Codes (continued): –Movement Lines –Panels –Action –Setting
History of Comic Strips 1850s Developed in newspapers Humorous social commentary
History of Comic Strips
Classic Comics Serials
Classic Comics Peanuts
Classic Comics
Comic Books Popular visual entertainment
Comic Books Mad Magazine
Comic Books Distinct link between Comic Books and movies –Superman –Daredevil –Batman –Punisher –Hulk –Fantastic Four
New Comic Books
Animated Films Combine camera, film, and projector Frame-by-frame animation Expensive and time-consuming
Animated Films Winsor McCay
Animated Films Cel Animation
Animated Films The Adventures of Prince Achmed – 1926
Animated Films Steamboat Willie – 1928
Animated Films 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Animated Films Aim:
Animated Films Contemporary animation
Animated Films South Park
Technical Aspects Object Animation Combined live action w/ animation
Controversy Doonesbury
Controversy The Boondocks
Cartoons as Culture Comics help identify you Cartoons are part of any country’s culture
Cartoons as Culture Visual symbols reflect culture Meaning comes from culture’s verbal and visual codes
Cartoons as Culture Cartoons:
Next Time… Chapter 12 –Photography