The original post: /r/movies by /u/Clean-Cupcakes on 2024-12-29 06:23:48.

Recently in the 2020s, there has been a new statement to promote animation on par with live action, famously said by Guillermo del Toro around to the release of his superb Pinocchio adaptation, pushing the medium forward to be on par with live action. I don’t think it needs to be said that animation is seen primarily as only for kids in the west, there’s been discussed to death for decades. Toro’s statement was meant to highlight how animation is a medium, not a genre.

While his intentions were good, because he made a film that did something unique and not just another generic boring kiddie flick with cheap voice acting and tiresome plots, I think the way people started to use it to talk about how animation is cinema is poor. The obvious example is how the statement is only used to promote the mainstream animated films from the likes of Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Sony, and Illumination. Not to say most of these studios can’t do great animated films in the past or even present, but at the same time, I find it tiring and lukewarm how a lot of people only bother with these kids movies and nothing beyond. How many times have you seen someone post the phrase of how animation is not for kids, but only use multimedia franchise movies for children, and not something like a It’s Such a Beautiful Day or Mary and Max. Even this year, you probably seen more people talk about derivate trash like Kung Fu Panda 4, The Garfield Movie, Despicable Me 4, and Moana 2 over modern classics like Memoir of a Snail, Flow, Look Back, and Chicken for Linda that push the medium forward with their unique voices and styles.

Anyone else feel this statement, per how it’s used online, is holding back animation from being taken more seriously in the west? It’s just pathetic and baffling to see “Animation is Cinema” describe the latest painfully average DreamWorks production and not a film by Satoshi Kon. The term of “Animation is Cinema” is just the animation version of “Video Games Are Art” from before.