Michael A Sarria

My paper will be about Popeye the Sailor Man, specifically the episode titled “A Date to Skate” directed by Dave Fleischer. Although I didn’t grow up watching Popeye, my mother did, and I remember me and her watching it together sometimes when I was a kid. This episode in particular I remember so vividly, so for sentimental reasons, it makes me want to talk about in my paper.

The elements I will talk about in my paper will include:

• The history of the character Popeye and its influence
• Animation techniques that were used which solidify the fundamentals of animation still being used today.
• A comparison of American culture/setting from 1930 to modern
• Early use of audio and audible dialogue, and how that influenced the animation.

I could imagine myself as one of the audience members for Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows since I am a fan of horror and supernatural things, and at the time this show must’ve felt immersive and terrifying. During a time before true film and projection was invented, I think I would’ve been amazed and curious about how the show was being produced, since I always like to discover the behind the scenes for my favorite pieces of entertainment. With todays technology, we have the power to be even more immersed with virtual reality experiences and 4D shows. The reaction people have for those shows were probably the same reactions people had for the Fantasmagorie shows back in 1797.

One of my favorite shows is an anime series called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, which came out in September of 2022. The show was actually an adaptation of a videogame with the same name, however I haven’t played the game at the time so I was going into the show with no expectations. On the other hand I saw it was animated by one of my favorite animation studios, Studio Trigger, which are known for exaggerated over-the-top motion and flashy animation which I am a huge fan of, so I was still excited to watch the show, and they did not fail to deliver on the style. Besides the animation I really enjoyed the story, and as someone who wasn’t familiar with the source material I liked that that didn’t really hinder my enjoyment and understanding of the story. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners has it’s own self contained story with its own fun and interesting cast of characters. I liked the show so much it made me decide to check out the game so that I can get a better feel for the world this character live in and have a better understanding of the referencing made within the show.

My name is Michael Sarria. I chose this course because I’ve always had a deep appreciation for art and animation and would like to learn more about the history so as to understand how the world of animation today came to be. I’m majoring in Animation and Motion Graphics with the goal of getting into the animation industry and becoming a Character Animator. My goals in life are to work in a studio where I can create movies, tv shows, and/or video games, and gain the necessary experience to eventually create my own show that people can enjoy. Some other fun facts about me are: I was born in LA and moved to NY when I was 6, I’m an artist who’s been drawing since elementary school, I enjoy cooking and like to learn new recipes, and my favorite Disney/Pixar film is Ratatouille.