Blog Post 6: Animation Marketing; is it always a good thing??

In class last week, we looked at a cartoon character known as Buster Brown. What was interesting about this was that it was the first instance in which an animation was used in the marketing of a product. This was a revolutionary way to be able to get consumers to buy a product. This has since been used to promote what seems as an infinite amount of products. Everything from cereal all the way to types of clothing are being advertised nowadays by animated characters, there are even some characters that are thought up just to market that one product. This is all fine and dandy, but there is one thing that happened with marketing and animated characters that was a setback.

This instance that I am referring to is the character that was created to advertise Camel cigarettes known as Joe Camel. Throughout the 1990s when I was a kid I could remember seeing this character always looking as cool as possible with a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. Now I am not against smoking I know plenty of people that do, but these comics did look like they had a likeness that could appeal to children. These ads were in any magazine that an adult would usually read and some of them do in fact look amusing, but when you are dealing with kids who try and hang on to everything that they read or see on television it becomes a problem. The problem that usually generates out of these ads is that the kid wants to look as “cool” as the character on the ad. Due to this they are convinced that in order to be “cool” they need to smoke. The point that I am trying to make out of all this is that things like this should not fall into the hands of kids it is just another thing for them to try and hold on to. This is why advertisers need to be a little more careful as to what they use in order to advertise to people. So, this poses the question is animation marketing always a good thing?

Blog Post 5: Ghost In The Shell Review:

Well in last class we watched a movie that I found to be very interesting and at the end I had many questions that maybe the ones that view this could answer. The movie is titled “The Ghost In The Shell.”  I don’t do this often but for this blog I am going to review this film and have questions to pose for the readers at the end.

For a brief summery of the movie, it takes place in a futuristic city that has some hints of Asian flare in it. The characters in the movie are able to take their ghost and move it through the web. The movie is about a detective that is trying this cyber terrorist known as the Puppet Master. She is combing the city over looking for this terrorist, and the terrorist ends up finding that the terrorist is in the station for a short time before being abducted. She continues her pursuit of this person until ultimately she becomes part of them.

I found this movie to be very interesting because of how futuristic the movie was due to the fact that I did not see too far off based on the amount of developments that are being made every day. Also throughout the movie I got this sense that the main character was trying to get a better sense of her existence. There was the major question that she seemed to wrestle with which was what was her purpose.

Also the design of the anime was really interesting. There was so much more detail to the characters than there is to any other form of animation that we have seen in class. This in my opinion gives the characters more of a real humanistic trait and makes them seem more real than that of the other animations that we have watched.

As for the questions that I have, I want to know what happens after the credits come on. Does she continue to be a cop or does she take what in I got out of it as herself reborn into a new person and goes to find a new way of life. These are just a few of the questions that were left with me when the movie ended.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie. I could relate to the main character easily, (which is something I often like to do.) As for the rest of it, to me there was just enough balance to the action and downtime ratio. The one question that I have is what does everyone think that she did after the credits rolled?

Blog Post 4: Love Stories Don't Need to be Written in a lot of Books:

                 When most people think about a love story they think of the classic story of how the guy comes along and sweeps the girl off her feet and they live happily ever after. This can take many chapters as well as books to relay the story to the reader. But, this is not always the case. In the movie “Up,” it takes the art of telling a love story to the next level. Without trying to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it I will discuss how in a mere 10 to 15 minutes we see the story of a guy and girl and how their story has every key think that a love story needs, and did not take a series of books to tell.

            Like all love stories it has to start somewhere. In the movie “Up,” it starts with this little adventurous boy that hears somebody in an old broken-down house. He decides to sneak into the house to see what all the commotion is about when a tomboyish girl who has the same adventurous imagination as he does meets him. They play for what seems like an eternity when things are sped up and they are getting married. Following this the film shows significant times in their life like one being the fact that the very house they played in, the ended up buying it and fixing it up. Following this, the audience sees many other significant times in the characters’ lives some hard times and many good. In my opinion I believe the reason for the inclusion of the hard times is that it shows that even though they live “happily ever after” there is still things happening after the final curtain goes down at the end of a book. Following the bad and good times, they still are able to grow old together and have a happy life together. That is until the end of the love story. This I will not divulge due to the fact that it gives too much away. But as for the love story itself, it is something that has to bee seen to really understand. But, it does in fact have a better love story in those few short scenes than any book I have ever read. My fiancé and I both agree to this, and maybe if you too see it, then you may agree.        

Blog Post 3: Expression Through Animation:

            For those who watch the show “Family Guy” think of the show as very offensive, funny, or something entirely different. But what is interesting about the show is the fact that the show’s creator Seth MacFarlane has in a way been able to express himself based on some of the events that have happened in his life.

            One event in particular has interested me quite a bit. The event was that Seth was actually supposed to be on one of the flights that were hijacked during the events of 9/11. What happened was Seth had been partying the night before and was told by his agent that his flight was flight 11 and scheduled to leave at 8:15am when it actually left at 7:45am. Seth had just missed the flight and was forced to wait until the next available. About an hour later the event that shocked America occurred. The very same flight, Flight 11 was flown into the North tower of the World Trade Center.

            Now after going on with this whole back-story about this event you are probably wondering what it has to do with animation. Well in a way it has all to do with animation. There have been several episodes of “Family Guy” that have joking references towards terrorists as well as the events of 9/11. This is just an idea, but maybe as a way of coping with what he had gone through he created those stories as a way to keep himself grounded in a way. Now those episodes may be offensive, but maybe his only way that he could deal with was to do what he does best and make light out of things like this.  

Blog Post 2: Determination

“Well, back to the old drawing board.” This is a very famous saying from a martian that we all know. That martian is Marvin Martian. He is most known for his endless pursuit of Bugs Bunny as well as other characters in the “Loony Toons” franchise. The martian often utters this phrase from time to time whenever he finds himself on the opposite side of his grand scheme plan to catch the other character whoever it may be. What is interesting to me about this character is the amount of determination that Marvin has throughout his endless pursuit of the character that he is chasing.

            In my opinion I believe that the children that watched this could bring something very useful away from this character, which is to be more determined in whatever it may be that they are doing. I think that Marvin reminds me of Thomas Edison in a way due to the fact that he always was trying to figure out how create the light bulb. Edison stated that “I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that wont work. This is a similar personality to that of Marvin because he is constantly and wittingly looking for a way to catch the one who evades him. With that being said I think that since Marvin never really gives up and is always willing to go back to square one and figure out a new plan, many people can take away the sense that if one plan dose not work than go back and make a new one. There is nothing wrong with being wrong. You can always “Go back to the old drawing board.” 

Blog Post 1: Letting Go

We all have had a time in our life when we are faced with a difficult decision, but do not know how to handle it. For those who have seen the movie "Finding Nemo," know this picture all to well. In this scene Marlin who has been looking all over the ocean for his son Nemo has found himself to be swallowed up by a huge whale. His friend Dory who has been with him from the beginning of the movie is also with him in this predicament. But, Dory has not been such a "worry wart" like Marlin has. Because of this she has no problem letting go when the whale tells her even though she does not know what is going to happen. So, when she decides to trust the whale and let go Marlin is very hesitant.

       Since Marlin is so over protective throughout the whole movie, he does not let go and tries to prevent Dory from in his own mind being eaten. After the two converse for a few brief seconds Dory convinces Marlin that he has to let go even though there is uncertainty about the outcome. Finally, he decides to let go and ends of safe and sound back in the ocean. There is an overarching message here that has a little more behind it than just that of letting go of the whale. But It does have to do with letting go. As mentioned earlier, Marlin has a incredibly difficult time letting go of the fact that his son Nemo is growing up and tries to protect him from the world even though he has no idea as to what the world holds in store for us. So, when he is faced with the ultimatum of himself having to let go he does and nothing bad in the slightest happens to him. This is such a good message that is being conveyed in this movie due to the fact that we have all had to let go of something before. This scene shows us that we have to be able let go of something whether it be our kids growing up or being able to trust someone in order to become stronger and just know that it is ok to just let go of whatever problems that may plague you.