Animated Films

Once upon a time, tales of myth and magic embodied the ability to imagine, create and fantasise. Currently, children learn to imagine, create and fantasise through the media, with animated films being a very popular form of entertainment and education for varied audiences, young and old alike. As a result, the animation industry is one of the fastest growing industries of today, with escalating figures in profitable terms as well as number of audiences.

The animation film industry successfully entertains and educates through various techniques in order to appeal to a wide range of audiences, where its moral teachings have the potential to positively affect society today. However, to some extent, exploitation of animated films could potentially have a negative impact on younger generations.

An exploration of the unique techniques used to educate and entertain different audiences and how effective they are will be demonstrated and discussed in this essay, as well as the impact which exploitation has on the intended audiences. A number of successful films create some purpose or meaning within the structure or mimic how you experience something in reality. These films educate and promote valuable ethics towards the intended audience.

Animated films successfully educate their intended audiences through morality and underlying messages throughout the text. This is particularly evident in such films as Toy Story 3, Antz and Meet the Robinsons.

The film Toy Story 3 conveys an important message, "No toy gets left behind". Along with this message, many other values and teachings are embedded within the film. These are framed to appeal to and influence positively on the audience, while reinforcing and reflecting western societal ethics and expectations, such as, "growing up and moving on", sharing happiness with others, teamwork and a sense of togetherness. These are all important concepts for young children to understand. This is evident throughout the opening scene where the audience can see Andy's strong love for his toys, yet over time Andy has grown up and moved on and is less appreciative of his toys and soon on his way to college. The gang of toys feel finished, "Absolutely over the hill", as Mr Potato Head made clear. Also the giving up what is important, but always keeping memories approach throughout the film would be more relative to an older audience, due to past experiences and previous fond childhood memories.

The consumers are made aware of this morality where a sense of realism is effectively aligned with personalising of characters, where their attitudes and actions take on human-like characteristics. This technique is known as anthropomorphism which is easily read and interpreted by all audiences due to the adaptation to human like elements.

Another successful animated film, Meet the Robinsons provides a prime example of morality being expressed through animation. The main character, Lewis, is an intelligent and creative orphan who is marginalised from society. This film teaches children and creates awareness of situations like this which do exist and that not all children come from typical families with a mother, father and siblings. Lewis only dreams of finding a family who will love and support him.

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths". As quoted by Walt Disney at the end on Meet the Robinsons, this reinforces an important societal value to be bold, strong and courageous in everything you do. This impressive story definitely inspires the audience to 'Keep moving forward'.

The fantasy adventure, Antz consists of a number of relatable characters. Z, being the main character is an individualist who does not wish to follow the crowd. He is a slave who is beginning to realise that a life of servitude is not the perfect life and as a result he has a tendency to do things his own way, with his own unique ideas. This inspires the younger generation to be independent, imaginative and not to be afraid of alternative actions and ways of doing things. These are important principles and morals taught throughout the film.

These values and morals serve a purpose in animation films, appealing to different audiences whether that be young children, teenagers or adults. Overall, animation successfully educates the public with teachings of ethics and morals within society. Additionally, these teachings have a positive influence on their audiences. However, it's not simply just the morality which makes animated films so successful, as other aspects are considered.

In past eras, entertainment was taken from cultural rituals and practises, including dance and music when the use of technology was limited. Since 1937, when animation technology began with the release of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, animated films have now formed mainstream entertainment within modern society. This is purely for enjoyment, where a number of techniques are used amongst animated films in order to achieve effectiveness.

Stories with relatable human elements and likeable characters are a prevailing method commonly used. The comedy-family, coming-of-age oriented film, Toy story 3 highlights the well known and loveable Woody known as the warm and fuzzy cowboy with a positive attitude. The character that stayed true and faithful to Andy and his toy friends. Woody and Buzz Light-Year together, complement each other. The use of statements such as, "To infinity and beyond", makes characters like Buzz unforgettable. The delivery of a solid comedy-adventure which creates a nostalgic emotion definitely entices the large intended audience, Kids & Family.

As featured in the comedy-family film, Antz, the main character, Z, is portrayed as a thinker yet devoid of intelligence at times. These mixed personalities with a mixture of humour make animation films appealing and entertaining, particularly towards children. Also the use of militaristic themes, slapstick humour, jokes and puns composes an enjoyable culture for the whole family.

Meet the Robinsons, presents an archetypal story illustrating good and evil, featuring the innocent, genius child, Lewis, and the evil villain, Bowler Hat Guy. This film is an adventure beginning with an unexpected turn and mysterious characters, which later forms a journey with heartfelt results. Soon after this it reveals an incredible assortment of characters and a family beyond his wildest imagination, singing frogs and T-Rex. The variety of inviting characters used creates an enjoyable vibe about the film, hence it is very entertaining.

In general, animation films serve many purposes, which includes entertainment.