Wall-E..the new Pixar masterpiece

Pixar..this animation company has been amazing us with astonishingly written, directed and executed cartoons..After their masterpiece Ratatouille, I just came back from their newest epic: Wall-E..and I have to say this movie rocks!!
Without any spoilers, the reasons why trhis movie DOES deserve an Oscar (whether a best pic nomination) or a best animated flick prize is:
1. the animation: stunning visuals...
2. the script was wonderful
3. the true reason: is the courage it took the filmakers to execute such an idea..the film has almost NO dialogue and ome producers may have thought that the ide is not that kid-appealing..
4. the romance: the film has the most human, and noble love story of the year despite the fact that it's a love story between robots..Robots are not human, they don't feel..yet after the film, you may get to question this..

Computer Animation: Future of Cartoons

One of the issues that concern me these days is the future of cartoons. Are we going to see computer animated cartoons only? Will there ever be hand drawn animated movies like before? Are these days gone forever?

The reason why I chose this issue to talk with you about is because of some observations, or comments that I have concerning computer animation. Well I don't claim to have seen all computer animated movies of course, but let's say I saw 40 or 50% of them and based on that I came with the following conclusions.

Most of the advantages of computer animation are related to the visual side-the graphics and stuff. Most of the negatives, however, are related to the content of such cartoons:

1. Computer animated movies are more visually attractive and can even expand the cartoons audience to include adults or grown ups as well
2. One of the pros of computer animated is that it puts the viewer into the movie as if he is in the middle of the events (thanks to 3D graphics)
3. Also, cartoon characters that are computer-designed seem more appealing, because you can see every detail of their features

A negative side however is that:
1. Many of the computer animated films concentrate on the graphics and impressing the audience with the latest techniques that are visually stunning and in return, the story plot is being abandoned sometimes or not as skillfully made as the visuals and graphics. A visually stunning movie with a weak story plot does not make a good cartoon movie in my opinion.
2. Also, many computer animated movies lack the emotional or human side not like traditional animated movies that are more concerned with the script and storyline. Rarely, would you find heart breaking stories such as Bambi or Pinocchio in a computer animated movie, maybe because such movies reflect our age today where cinema audiences want more visuals and graphics and are less interested in a highly emotional plot. Of course, there are exceptions such as Chicken Run or Finding Nemo, two computer animated movies that are very well written.

Or is it the fact that such computer movies are so visually attractive that they dominate over a really good story but we only get to notice the graphics because they are so catchy?

The coming years will answer that question..

Positive Cartoons Are Still Out There!

Analyzing cartoons and their content does NOT mean criticizing them all the time. I, as a cartoon fan, sometimes notice that many writers who analyze cartoons fall into the mistake of criticizing cartoons mostly or showing their bad side more than any positive sides that they could have.

When I looked at my blog, I realized that maybe me too, I did not stress on the positive examples of cartoon shows. Cartoons are not all bad or full of violence, or sexual hints. There are many good cartoons out there and that's what I will be talking to you about.
Let me tell you about four of the loveliest concepts that I found conveyed in cartoons:

1. The Tolerance Concept: it's very hard to accept those who are totally different than you. Yes, it's true, only few people can actually tolerate others who have a different look, religion, or ideology. It takes time to accept or admit that there may be others out there who may be different than you are but just because they're different, doesn't mean that they are any inferior or less than you are.

That's exactly what Happy Feet and Winnie the Pooh's Heffalump movie tries to say. In Happy Feet, Mumble is different from all other penguins because he CAN'T sing like them. Because he's different, he's being expelled from the place where penguins live. But later on, this penguin that has been underestimated and ridiculed just because he's different saves the whole penguin nation!

Winnie the Pooh's movie discusses a new creature that came into the Hundred Acre Wood, the forest where the Winnie Bear lives. This creature is a strange looking elephant like creature. Because he is physically strange looking, he has no friends and the elephant spends a hell of a time to prove that he's not a bad person. He's just different.

The fact that cartoons convey such a noble and wonderful concept means that there are still many cartoons who are very useful, and important for kids to watch. The beauty of cartoons is that they can teach many beautiful concepts in an indirect way that does not seem old fashioned or boring to the child.

2. The Beauty-lies-within concept: In one of my posts, I discussed the "Ideals of beauty" issue-cartoons enforcing certain standards of beauty. While there are many cartoons that kind of mock ugly characters, there are other cartoons that stress that it's not important how one looks from the outside as long as he is beautiful from the inside. For Example, the Shrek movie: Shrek is a very ugly looking ogre yet he is loved by the princess because he is kind. This is very important for kids to learn, because still many people judge others by the looks.

3. Brotherhood is also a very important and noble concept portrayed in Disney's Brother Bear cartoon movie. Few cartoons actually focus on the brother relationship. To see how lucky one is to have a brother or sister is definitely a thing that children need to learn-they have to see how God really gave them a very special gift-to have a brother or sister. In Brother Bear, a brother sacrifices his life for his brother to save him from a beast bear. The movie shows how brothers are supposed to support and love each other.




4. Related to Brother Bear is the lovely concept of sacrifice. In Beauty and the Beast, Belle, the heroine of the story, does a great sacrifice. Having been imprisoned by an ugly Beast, Belle's father is locked in a prison in the Beast's tower. Belle goes there and asks the beast to take her instead. When the beast's face comes into the light, Belle can see how ugly he is. The Beast tells her she can choose: either to leave her father there or to take her instead but then she'll have to stay in the Beast's castle forever. To save her father, Belle makes the hardest choice and frees her father and takes his place.




There are many great and worth-watching cartoons out there. What's needed is to highlight them, discuss them, and hopefully kids will watch them and remember the lovely and noble concepts conveyed in the, for the rest of their lives.

Fiction in Cartoons: What are the Limits?

Somewhere at the back of your mind, you know when you watch a carton that it's not real: I mean that when you as a viewer see a cartoon, you do not expect its incidents to be real. But that's because you are an adult and you realize that what's on TV in a cartoon show is not supposed to reflect reality.

But what about children, who are a prime audience for most, if not all of the cartoon, shows? Let's first agree that children are no more those naive viewers who would believe anything a cartoon says or shows, but I am particularly interested in younger viewers who are still 2 or 3 years old. They are more susceptible to mixing between cartoons and reality.

Which drives us to the main question that I want to raise which is: what are the limits, if any, that should be put on the fiction in a cartoon show? Some people may laugh at these questions, because many people love cartoons mainly because they are a fiction, so they would probably say; what's the point in making cartoons real as long as we have tone of real life programs? Aren’t cartoons supposed to be a fantasy…a dream..a form of imagination?

Of course, the answer is yes to all these questions. Yes, cartoons are all that but how could you explain two of the most popular accidents that took place in Egypt, where two boys threw themselves from the balcony to imitate Batman and Mighty Mouse? Yes, these are two real incidents that took place in the 1990s in Egypt, believe it or not. When I get to think: why did the boys jump off the balcony? Did they really think they could fly like Batman? If yes, then why did they think so? Is it the cartoon that made them think they can imitate their characters?

What I want to say here is that any cartoons show should not make the child get confused between the reality and fiction in it. I mean, the cartoon should be clear from the beginning that it's either a reality or a fiction. Because the grey area, when you see a cartoon and can't really know whether it's fiction or not, here comes the real danger. Of course, cartoons are not expected to put a title like: 'Hey kids, all this show is just fiction', but I'll explain my point more.

The best example to demonstrate in this discussion is the comparison between Batman and Superman. Indeed, these 2 shows are a great example of what I mean. Superman is an imaginary character of a man from a planet called Krypton who has special, supernatural power such as eye vision (he can see through ultraviolet rays) and flying of course.

Superman's villains (or enemies) are both humans from Earth (such as Lex Luthor) and also villains and monsters from space. While the show's context is clearly fictional, because all the time you see monsters and flying creatures, this is different in Batman. Batman is just a normal guy, Bruce Wayne, who has no special powers. He's just well built, physically, and has weapons atht can make him, well, climb from one building to another.

In my opinion, the Batman show is far more dangerous than the Superman show, because when the Batman show started, it set a real context for itself from the beginning. All the villains in the show are humans, there are no special powers for Batman, so children kind of expect that the following incidents are happening (or can be happening) in real life because the show made no signs or hints that there is anything unreal going on.

Here is the danger, because knowing that Batman is an ordinary human can make the child not only like him but also try to imitate him, more than Superman. At the back of the child's mind he knows that Superman is not real, and so the chances that he will try to fly like him are there, but less than the chances of trying to imitate Batman because children can more relate to it as a human character just like them.

It's this mix or conflict, let's call it, between reality and fiction that raises the question of when to put limits on the degree to which a cartoon is fictious pr not. From my point of view, I think the cartoon should never play on the grey side. It should be honest and clear with the audience from the beginning: that's either a fiction or a real-life cartoon. Of course, as I said, this won't happen by saying it directly. Instead, I suggest the following things as determinants that should be taken into considerations, when making a cartoon show:

• Characters' appearances and origin: if you want to make it a fiction cartoon show make them aliens, or make them look different than humans so children can notice the difference and not expect to be able to do everything they do.
• Story incidents of course
• Wording is also important: indicate these are "special powers' if the show is not clearly fictional, as Batman
• Some channels as Space Toon notify kids before cartoon shows start that what they will see is mainly fictional. But I believe a better method is to make it clear INSIDE the show not BEFORE it.

Cartoon Creativity

We always hear the word creative. By it, we mean anything that's new and unprecedented. When it comes to cartoons, I believe it is somehow different.
When can you call a cartoon 'creative'? Well, I think that it's not that the cartoon is new or up to date that makes it creative. A cartoon show may be using the latest graphics or technology, yet the story line or plot is just an imitation of some other cartoon.

So, it's mainly the story plot that makes a cartoon stand out and be creative, not the graphics, year of production, or fashionable look of its characters. For example, I believe that a movie like "Snow White" which has been made in the 1930s with very primitive technology is far more creative than a movie like Antz. Why? Because while Snow White was the first animated feature and about a story that has been written and modified to suit all audiences, Antz felt like a variation on Disney's A Bug's Life. Although Antz is more visually stunning and attractive than Snow White, thanks to 3D animation, yet when you feel that the cartoon show is about something new, then the graphics and techniques come later.



Another example of a creative cartoon show is Detective Conan. It is a Japanese cartoon about a young detective who solves mysteries in each episode of the show. While many Japanese cartoons at that time were about space and robots, this show came with a totally new concept. The action in Detective Conan is a "mental" action and not bombs and spaceships. To create a cartoon show with so many human angles, like the Romeo Blue Skies anime is another reason why I call this show a creative one. It chose a totally new area, the tragedy of chimney cleaners who are forced to work in such a profession, and dedicated a cartoon show to explain their suffering. The show had no fast paced action or visually attractive graphics, but this 100% human story was a hit because children needed a story that addresses their emotions first and their eyes second.



So, creativity of a cartoon show, I believe, is about what you say in it and not how you say it. Say something new, in a very simple manner and you'll be creative. Similarly, if you have the same old story and use the latest graphics and technologies, your cartoon show won’t be creative.

Cartoon Script Writing: Is it hard?

Yes. Definitely. I believe that writing for kids generally and writing for a cartoon show specifically is a very hard task to do. First, it's a challenge because you have to respect kids' intelligence. If you write your cartoon in a way that seems so lame, then kids will feel underestimated. likewise, if you write your cartoon in a very complex manner, kids may feel alienated and say "that the cartoon is not meant for them".

Another challenge is how you as a writer build rapport (or a kind of familiar relationship) with your children audiences and not just grab their interest. A cartoon show is an extending show and not just one or two episodes. THe efforts that you as a writer have to put in the script is larger because you want kids to keep following the cartoon. In order to create such relationshio, you must very craefully and skillfully draw your charcters in a way that keeps their charcaters rich and subject to further elaboration.


Take the Simpsons for instance, Homer Simpson, the father, is a very simple yet rich charcater. He always feels he's a loser, he likes to eat a lot. But the authors write the chracter in a way that makes you expect a lot of funny stuff from him. Naturally, you'd keep following the show to see what the character is doing every episode. Other shows that fail to maintain such rapport, are either cancelled by the production company or aired in non-prime time.




As a cartoon scriptwriter, there are also important language guidelines, in my opinion. This is one of the faults that the Bakkar cartoon creators fall in. In many scenes, you'd find Bakkar talking with a very complex or highly eduacted language.
It is important that every character has a different set of langugae terms, because this adds to the extent you persuade the child with the character. You would expect Bart Simspons to say words like : "cool, jerk, that sucks..etc", while his mother, Marge Simpsons, would say educated words like "modernization, globalization, incorporation, ...etc'. Homer Simpsons, the father, will always be food-centered with pharses like " stomach rumbles, delcious, apetite, hungry, when's lunch..etc"

Bottom line: a good cartoon scriptwriter, I believe, is one who knows what to say, to whom and how to say it.

Cartoons and the Ideals of Beauty

I know the title may seem somehow strange but that's because many of us do not relate cartoons to how children want to dress and look like. I believe that cartoons do affect the child's way of clothing. Cartoons, I believe do not just dissimninate or show examples of "beautiful" cartoon charcters but rather enforces new standards of beauty: new guidelines for saying that someone is beautiful.

Children are willing to imitate cartoons which can extend to their choice of clothes. I know a mother who has an 8 year old daughter who is always wiling to wear "high heels and miniskirts" imitating Barbie in her way of clothing. The problem is that it is sometimes difficult to tell the child that what his favorite character wears is inappropriate because he is his example in everything. American cartoonists usually draw their female cartoon heroes with very perfect and unrealistic body shapes. So, no matter how hard the girl tries, she will never be that perfect!




Previously, I have tackled this issue in one of my researches and I remember writing about how emotionally girls are affected by the female cartoon models that they see in ads. Maybe because physical appearance may be more important to girls than to boys, so that's why a girl may care more to look like her cartoon hero. Of course, if the girl can not wear the tight or revealing clothes of her favorite character, or if her body isn’t that perfect and fit, all this may increase their negative self image.

But the problem is not just in how cartoonists draw the characters and how they dress. There's a deeper side of the issue, because some cartoons also enforce wrong notions: that beauty is more important than other traits. Maybe this takes place unconsciously, but if you re-watch the Cinderella movie for example, you'll find that the Prince married Cinderella JUST BECAUSE SHE LOKED SO BEAUTIFUL and he loved her during their 10 minute dance. Is this enough to choose a wife? Such cartoons concentrate on the notion that girls have to be beautiful and attractive in order to reach their goals. Probably if Cinderella was as ugly as her stepsisters, her future would not have been that bright! So, here cartoons are emphasizing the importance of physical beauty and ignoring other values that children should be taught as the importance of work in order to achieve one's goals and that beauty is insufficient to make a girl successful in her life.