Burka Avenger – The Animation Anomaly

Week Links 29-2013

Another late roundup this week thanks to extenuating circumstances. All I’ll say is that the lack of public transportation options in the US is about to cost me a lot of money and car dealers truly do embody the stereotype of vultures. Anyways, enough of my troubles, here’s what you ought to read this week.

The end of the Hollywood blockbuster

This story has been kicking around for a while now ever since Spielberg and Lucas opined at a talk. This Pando Daily piece doesn’t attempt to explore the financial changes or pressures facing studios. Rather it looks at the generational shifts in terms of viewing habits. Here’s the key paragraph:

But here’s what should keep Hollywood executives up at night. My daughters don’t care much about the so-called quality of the experience. They don’t like to schlepp to movie theaters because the big-screen experience is less appealing than small-screen viewings on our television or iPad. The only time they want to go is when a movie they can’t get on TV or the iPad comes out, like “Despicable Me 2.” As for me, I’m happy to save the money it costs for us to see a movie in a theater – for a family of four it can be $40 or more plus transportation. That pays for four months of Netflix.

For the animation industry, whose core audience today is kids and by extension, their parents, that last sentence ought to serve as a wakeup call. This summer we’ve been lucky, but that may not be true in 2014.

Burka Avenger: Pakistan’s cartoon superhero battling for girls’ education

Coming via a regrettably rather snide piece in the Guardian is the news that the very first animated TV show to be produced in Pakistan will feature a superhero, and a female one to boot!

There’s a dearth of female protagonists in the west, but even more so in heavily masculine countries around the world. Burka Avenger is an attempt to counter the views of groups such as the taliban when it comes to the education of girls and young women.

The News has a much more well-defined and positive overview of the show.

Rising Animators Spring into Action

This New York Times piece (sorry, the on link I could find leads to a paywall but Cartoon Brew’s might be good) appears to be more fluff than anything else. For one, there’s only one female animator listed and you know there’s more than that in the industry that could be worthy of a place. That isn’t to belittle the guys on there though; everyone is top-notch talent. It would just be nice to see something a bit more representative, that’s all.

Ice Queen By Brianne Drouhard

Ice Queen Potatofarmgirl

I wish I could draw like this. I really do, but I can’t. Thankfully people like Brianne exist out there who can, and do, create awesome things like this. Ice Queen is a favourite of mine, and this captures her perfectly.

Tweets of the Week

No one has talked about how amazing the DreamWorks panel was when a fangirl asked if they’d ever collaborate with Disney, “NO.”

— Jessie Velociraptor (@jessiesarah) July 24, 2013