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

1. Caricatures• Grotesques

• Antiportraits

2. Editorial Cartoons

2. Editorial Cartoons

2. Editorial Cartoons

• William Hogarth

2. Editorial Cartoons

• Benjamin Franklin

2. Editorial Cartoons

• Thomas Nast

2. Editorial Cartoons

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

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

History of Comic Strips

History of Comic Strips

Classic Comics

• Serials

Classic Comics

• Peanuts

Classic Comics

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

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