Animation: Prozac or Kyosaku

In Jean Detheux’s article “Animation: Prozac or Kyosaku”, he covers many different topics in regards to animation. One of the big claims I saw throughout the piece was that many works from the larger studios in the field of animation have failed to grow and change, because they often stick with the same formulas and techniques that they used for previous works. I do see what he is talking about as when you look closely at the works from any major animation studio, you can see the resemblance in the style that is used for their pieces of animation. There is bound to be some repetition as when someone is able to make something successful, they will likely use that as a source or model when making future pieces of work.

            What the animation industry has done by doing this has led to both positive and negative results. On one hand, it has led to the success of many works of animation and those works have served as inspiration for other great works to come forth from both inside and outside of the studios. On the other hand, it has led to others playing it safe and not trying to do anything different with their work in the animation field, and has even led to cheap imitations of successful work. While there has been repetition in the field of animation, many different forms of it have spawned over the years and have been the source of both inspiration and the lead way into newer and better things. The animation industry as a whole would not have survived this long by only repeating the same few techniques over and over again.