HW 30: Animation as Political and Social Constructions

“Animation as Political and Social Constructions” was the session on Thursday that I attended. It featured Keene State College professors Jiwon Ahn, Sander Lee, and Mark Timney. The session was about how animation, such as drawings, pictures, or any art work for that matter, influences our lives. All three guest speakers spoke on this subject, but they all used different examples. Ahn, a Japanese woman, spoke about her country’s hobby of anime art. Anime art is a type of art form that usually depicts young innocent women in different situations. All of the characters in anime have large eyes, making them appear worried. Ahn showed examples of anime, and they were a little disturbing. Almost of all of the pictures were of young naked women, with some sort of danger around them. One picture was of a girl’s nipples bleeding, and I was surprised to see it. It’s interesting to relate this to women’s empowerment because in much of anime, the woman is looked down upon. Men are the superior and women are often seen crying or in danger.
Sander Lee had some good things to say as well, focusing on how Disney and Warner Brothers created Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny cartoons to create hate toward the Nazi’s during World War II. He pointed out subtle messages which I would never have thought of. Sander, a philosophy professor here at KSC, made it obvious that he felt strongly about philosophy. When showing his movie clips, he prayed aloud that it would work, saying “Please God, I hope this works.” I thought it was comical.
The most interesting speaker, however, had to have been Mark Timney. He argued that Comedy Central’s South Park show was a very influencing animation for many people. I had only seen bits and parts of the show, and I didn’t think it was funny. However, South Park’s real goal is to show satire in our government and world today. He played a short clip, and afterwards I believed that the show had some good qualities after all.