Animation Studies

The Peer-reviewed Open Access Online Journal for Animation History and Theory – ISSN 1930-1928

Author: Cristina Formenti

Steven Malliet, John Buckley, Guido Devadder et al. – Expanded Memories: Artistic Experiments into Hybrid Analogue-Digital Animation

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

Introduction In this essay, we present the results of an artistic research project, exploring the boundaries of animation through the exhibition of, and reflection upon, a series of collaborative artworks. We will discuss a range of animation installations that share a focus on the connection between animation, human cognition, and memory. While this connection has […]

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Sergei Glotov – Yefim Gamburg’s Passion of Spies: Parody in Soviet Animation

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

Introduction Soviet animation director Yefim Gamburg worked across various genres and styles, producing more than thirty films for both children and adults. While his filmography includes satirical shorts, fairytale adaptations, and musicals, he is most well-known for creating animated parodies (Bendazzi 292). Gamburg is the only Soviet animation director who produced three parody films in […]

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Daniel Johnson – “The Emotions that Get Stuck in Your Throat”: Expressivity in Speech, Script, and Sound in Japanese Animation

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

The final episode of the first season of the TV anime My Dress-Up Darling (Sono bisuku dōru ha koi wo suru) (Tokyo MX, 2022) concludes with a phone call between its two protagonists, Gojo Wakana and Kitagawa Marin. The duo are high school classmates and have grown close over their collaborations on Kitagawa’s cosplay hobby, […]

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Myria Christophini – Animating in British Communities During the Lockdown

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

Introduction This article is an examination of the use of animation in a participatory context in the United Kingdom during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. It employs a case studies approach to record a collection of this largely unexplored area of the participatory animation arts, which here is understood as the joint effort that […]

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Hannes Rall and Emma Harper – Re-inventing Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre for Immersive Animation: A Practice-oriented Case Study

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

Introduction Animation is a filmic medium that is particularly well suited for creating visual equivalents of poetic language. According to Wells, “animation accentuates the intended ‘feeling’ of the text through its very abstractness in the use of colour, form and movement…animation simultaneously literalizes and abstracts” (1999, 208). This sentiment is echoed in a remark by […]

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Elena Altheman – Adventure Time’s World-Building: Analyzing Its Opening Title Sequence and the Mobile Map

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

What Time Is It? Adventure Time!   “Adventure Time, C’mon grab your friends, We’re going to very distant lands With Jake the Dog And Finn the Human The fun will never end, It’s Adventure Time!” (Adventure Time’s theme song)   “A group of diverse characters roaming peculiar lands in search of never-ending adventure and fun” […]

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Rea Amit – The Legend of Prince Rama and the Emergence of an Indian Animé: A Japanese Mediation of the Sanskrit Epic

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

Introduction In February 2019, a few months before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized a two-day event, the Indian Gaming Show, which took place at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The event showcased the latest developments in the Indian video gaming industry and hosted international representatives of gaming and animation industries […]

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Giuseppe Gatti – Notes on Transnational Animation and the Pokémon Culture in South Park’s “Chinpokomon”

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

Introduction Born in Japan as a Game Boy game, since 1997 the Pokémon franchise has mushroomed worldwide across animated series and movies, trading cards, character toys, and videogames, including a plenitude of tie-in “media-commodities.” In the US market, where it rode an outstanding commercial wave, Pokémon became the “must-have toy” of 1999 as reviewed by […]

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Sandeep Ashwath – Mythical Past, Animated Present

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

Introduction A quick glance at the animation content produced within the mainstream Indian animation industry[i] in the past two decades shows significant use of Hindu mythological characters and themes[ii]. That is if we consider as a starting point the first major commercial animated feature Pandavas: The Five Warriors (2000), which was completely conceived and produced […]

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Emmett Redding – From Zeman to Gilliam: The Evolution of Mystimation

Posted on by Cristina Formenti

Introduction Christopher Holliday and Alexander Sargeant state that, over time, animators have consistently “drawn from pre-existing works of fantasy fiction to expand the unique technical capabilities of the animated medium” (1). In this way, these animators created a new genre, the animated fantasy, combining elements of both animation, where the “images are primarily created by […]

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