When one thinks of the medium of animation, it’s quite likely that you’ll think of American animation or perhaps anime. I certainly think it’s fair to say that the animation industries of America and Japan tend to dominate global animation but I really want to emphasise that there are loads of wonderful animated movies that are produced all around the world. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at animation that isn’t from America or Japan and why these works should be supported.
Outside of America and Japan, I’ve probably seen more French animated films than from any other country. Despite a large film industry and a long history of animation, the French animated film industry is rather underdeveloped. However, this doesn’t take away from the fact that they produce a great number of wonderful animated movies. Some of my favourites have been Ernest and Celestine, Persepolis, Long Way North and The Illusionist and I’m eagerly looking forward to watching some classics such as Fantastic Planet and The King and the Mockingbird.
Britain is rather similar to France in that, despite a long history of animation, their output of films remains woefully low despite many notable titles. I recently got the opportunity to watch one of the earliest British animated theatrical films, the 1954 adaptation of Animal Farm which proved to be quite a technical achievement. Other particularly notable British animated films are Yellow Submarine, Watership Down, When the Wind Blows and, of course, the films produced by Aardman Animations.
Besides those, my experience with animation made outside of America and Japan is somewhat limited. When I think of international animation, I’m reminded of a few countries like Spain (Chico and Rita), Israel (Waltz with Bashir) and Ireland (The Secret of Kells) where I’ve only seen one or two animated films from each. As you can imagine, this is a situation I’m trying to rectify but, given my preference for physical media, it can be quite tricky to find copies of international animation.
A big problem that I think prevents many of these animation industries from developing is the low box office figures many of them suffer from. Taking a few examples from the French and Irish animation industries, The Illusionist grossed $6 million against its budget of $17 million, Ernest and Celestine grossed $8.17 million against a budget of about $12.5 million, The Secret of Kells grossed $3.5 million against its budget of $8 million and The Breadwinner grossed $4.4 million against a budget of $10 million. Of course, there are a few that do manage to make a profit such as Waltz with Bashir which grossed $11.1 million against its budget of $1.3 million and Persepolis which grossed $22.7 million against a budget of $7.3 million but, unfortunately, these are far and few between.
There is an incredible amount of talent around the world when it comes to animation and many of them deserve the chance to create films. That is why I would fully encourage you, if you’re a fan of animation, to seek out the films that they manage to create and support them. Let me know your thoughts on animation outside of America and Japan, what some of your favourites have been, how you look for them, whether you agree that they should be supported and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk and amazon.com for all of your needs!