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