Kelvin Cortez

Studio Ghibli’s work often has themes about conflicts between man and the natural world. Pick one of the films they produced and explain how this theme is integrated into the story. Which characters represent the natural world? How is the conflict shown? Is it resolved?

A film that I think best represents this question is the movie Life of Pi. The reason why I think this film answers these questions is because throughout the film you can see the conflict between the main protagonist and the animal and throughout the film you see the struggles that both parties involved. In  this case a boy and a wild animal and as time goes on you see the relationship between the boy and the tiger progressively get better opposed to how it was at the beginning. In this case the conflict is the need to survive and to find a way home. As well the way the conflict is resolved is by the end of the film the boy and the tiger form a bond and reflect all the obstacles they had to overcome.  In order to survive that being said  I feel this film is a good representation of how there is conflict between man in this case a boy and natural world in this case a lion and how it’s resolved.

A film that I believe exemplifies the blurred line between animation and live action is. The 1996 movie  Space Jam the reason why I believe this movie exemplifies both points is because throughout the film you can see the combination of both animated characters and animated ones. For example in the category I believe this falls under in live action reason being as I mentioned earlier how throughout the film you can see how the film is brought together with a combination of live action characters in this case Michael Jordan and others and  the animated cartoon version  bug bunny and others .  As well as see how live action and animated cartoons are brought together into an animated cartoon environment and vice versa throughout the film. 

Product placement is a very effective way to market a product and especially in this day in age on an animated TV show given the huge audience base it would have. One of the more recent examples I can think of comes from one of my favorite shows from childhood, Curious George. Being a monkey, Curious George would eat a lot of fruits and especially bananas in the PBS TV series and I very vividly remember DOLE being on the wooden crates where Curious George would get his bananas from. As I grew a little older I also started noticing that some bananas I got at the supermarket in real life had Curious George stickers on them. The DOLE company was very smart to do this since I remember wanting to always get bananas at the supermarket because it reminded me of Curious George – I had an emotional reaction to the product. Companies want to create a following and loyalty and attaching themselves to an animated TV show which targets kids, teens and young adults primarily helps them build loyal customers from an early age.

Based on the film “ Rooty Tooty Toot “ how I feel color pattern drawing and movement was used throughout the entirety of the film . As far as color was a mix and what I mean by that is for example in some of the scenes it was surreal with the music and the actual movement so the colors were relaxed and surreal. For most of the dramatic scenes the colors were more extravagant and exaggerated. As for how pattern was used throughout the film for example when all the witnesses told their view on what happened something that was consistent was Frankie’s lawyer always patted her on her right arm as a form of reassurance. As for drawing each of the drawings depicts an accurate account of each scene. Finally how movement was used throughout was by as I mentioned before for surreal scenes the movement was relaxed and tranquil. As for most of the dramatic scenes the movement was more dramatized and extracted for example when Frankie found out that Johnny was in the back with another girl you can see her movement from normal to jumping and pissed off. Therefore you can see how each of these elements were used in their own scenes in their own time throughout the duration of the film.

I feel  that the difference in animation  between the West and the East was different .In  the  sense that in the west animation was more modern when it came to animation and what I mean by that is the level of themes and idea that were used were more advanced.  Given the  economic situation was much better and artists were able to produce higher quality films given the opportunity that they could be more  open minded when it came time to create films. Opposed to the East that was not in the same position economically speaking and therefore had to be more closed minded in a way and what I mean by that is they created more  average films that had to relate to specific themes and ideas.

After analyzing the video “ Private Snafu” how I believe they used humor to get their point across was by using  the Fighting Tools. What I mean by this is when the soldier was in his tent he was singing a song about his weapons being the best and unbeatable but when it came time to prove it didn’t turn out so well . What I mean by this is when he came in contact with an enemy soldier he grabbed his rifle and for a minute had the soldier scared until he realized his weapon was useless because they didn’t take care of their weapons. What made this even more humorous was how every time the American soldier weapon did not work the enemy soldier sang a song on how his weapons were useless because of lack of care. You can also see the humor in the different scenarios whether it be the voice which was sarcastic and funny. As for the drawing you can see the clear black and white scene and the extractive explosions. As for the movement you can see a clear sense of frantic movement of the soldiers and overall you can see how everything came together in place to bring the film together. 

After watching the video of when Snow White meets the seven dwarfs what I noticed about them that makes them all similar are their animated features.  One being their big red noses but what sets them apart from each other is their personalities  and their body language two specific dwarfs that chose were Bashful & Grumpy. The characteristics as well as the body language that separates bashful from the rest is when his name is called  he responds in an almost dramatic oh  form as well he twists his beard around and his face turn bright red as one could say are qualities of being bashful or shy in a way. What sets Grumpy apart from the rest is when  the seven dwarfs peek their head over everyone else’s facial features are surprised but Grumpy facial expression is mad and not in a mood and even when he responds saying. “ How do you do what “ in a upset way with a sense of no patience and you can even see he crosses his arms as a form to assert his dominance of being upset and showing his mood through vocal and physical form.