Love Kim-Week 5

According to Lent (2000), what place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is this across Asia (i.e comparing China and Japan)?

Lent (2000) addresses that animation has influenced on several aspects in many Asian countries such as culture, economy, politics, and other mass media.

First of all, Chinese animators at first were willfully not trying to adapt foreign animations’ elements unless it is suitable for their own culture. Wan, a Chinese animator, who produced his country’s first animation, addressed that the story of animation should fully be based on Chinese indigenous traditions and stories. He also emphasized that the sensibility of n Chinese and educational purposes are essential elements of the animation. Another animator, Jin Xi, agreed with the view point of Wan in terms of the aims of animation such as education and originality of Chinese culture. Unlike Chinese animators, Tezuka, a Japanese, embraced foreign-originated cartoons, for example, the works of Walt Disney International (WDI) such as Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Bambi.

Animation itself was also influenced by Asian culture, for example, indigenous artistry and skills in China, shadow theatre in China, Indonesia and Japan, and their literature, religion or folklore. 

As far as an animation industry’s economy is concerned, from 1960s, many Asia countries, for example, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and so on, have involved in an animation industry in America, Canada and West Europe. It leads to economic boosts in the Asia countries. It is the fact that Asia countries produce almost 90% of all television animation in the USA.

The most dominant area of foreign animation in Asia is children’s television. For example, about two third of recent Beijing’s TV animation is imported. In the late 1990, the influence of Western animation market was expanded to Southeast Asia, Australasia and India. As a result, animation training programs were introduced in tertiary institution in Singapore to attract foreign computer animation companies. Hong Kong Disneyland theme park also shows the popularity of animation in Asia.

In addition to the economic aspect of animation industry, it is also related to political purposes to some Asian countries such as China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Lastly, animation and other types of media influenced on one another in Asia. For example, manga and anime in Japan, live action movies and TV drama serials in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, anime theme songs in Hong Kong, and cartoon characters were used in the screen in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and India. 

Reference

Lent, J. (2000). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. Retrieved 21 June, 2006, from AnimeResearch.com