I'm crossposting to news:rec.arts.animation because this is a
two-front discussion.
On Mon, 14 Jul 2008, 8-Bit Star
gmail.com> wondered:>As a kid, I saw not only some Japanese shows but also
>many bizarre Belgish, Swiss, Canadian, Russian, and
>French cartoons, [...]
>For a long time I wondered, why was there a cult
>industry around Japanese cartoons, but not [the others]?
Nit: the terms "cult" and "industry" are mutually exclusive: cult
usually means "very small, dedicated fanbase." Perhaps "niche
industry" (minority, but still profitable) is a better term.
(Is anime still a niche in America, or is it the 800-pound gorilla? We
can probably thank Cartoon Network for supporting the creation of
non-anime, non-Disney animated TV; in part given its demise on the
weekday-afternoon and Saturday-morning broadcast network schedules.)
Galen wrote:
>Anime is huge; there's a lot of variety, so people looking
>for anything in particular tend to find it.
I.e., potential to accumulate a critical mass of viewers/buyers. "Why
are some people fans of Japanese cartoons?" is rather like asking "Why
are some people fans of British authors?"
Invid Fan wrote:
>The fact that it was in NTSC also helped,
As opposed to cult fanbases of British live-action genre TV (Doctor
Who, Blake's 7, Red Dwarf, Sapphire and Steel, Blackadder, etc.),
which had to be converted from PAL, but was in English. (Some of
these, but not all, were available on PBS.)
These three points illustrate something of the evolution of the
market. There was a snowball effect for anime which didn't apply to
Eurotoons.
* 1960s: Astroboy, Gigantor, Speed Racer -- flash in the pan.
* 1980s: Battle of the Planets, Harlock, TranZor Z, Robotech, Star
Blazers, Voltron -- kids may not realize (or care) that they're
Japanese, but do notice certain aesthetic and dramatic differences
from the other cartoons. Meanwhile, Nickelodeon is showing Eurotoons
(Danger Mouse, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Sun Beneath the Sea) but
they don't catch on.
* Untranslated anime starts to appear in the video rooms of SF cons,
courtesy of specialist fans "with contacts."
* Early 1990s: A network of fansubbers and college anime clubs expand
the audience and the awareness of non-SF anime genres.
* Late 1990s: Anime goes commercial on TV and in video stores.
Mark Jones wrote:
>[...] in most of the other countries mentioned is that the animators
>in those other countries are burdened by the tradition that animation
>is ART ( DAMMIT ), [...]
This becomes apparent if you look at the examples given in fat
"history of animation" books (although there may be a selection bias
by the authors). Animated films based on folk tales... supported by
Soviet governments... depressing plots... "avante garde" works with
bizarre visuals.
(Remember the "Simpsons" ep in which Krusty was forced to replace
"Itchy & Scratchy" with something Slavic?)
>Anime, thankfully, is [...] unapologetically commercial
And the key difference is: commercial must be appealing. If the
writers can contrive a dramatic story *in addition to* the appealing
toy commercial, then everybody's happier, and less guilty.
