President's Corner by ASIFA Central President Jim Middleton
Aaargh, it's comment time!
It has been a phenomenal time for animation in the Midwest. The past two years have brought us regional festivals and retreats, most recently in Kalamazoo in May. Kalamazoo Valley Community College let ASIFA member David Baker loose once more to bring hundreds of animation enthusiasts together for a vast array of conferences and educational interactions, as well as serving as central feeding ground for the animation challenge, with the timely topic of human rights.
One nice thing about animators is that we can communicate with each other without resorting to MOABs or threatening postures (our poses are designed to create proper silhouettes, and our language is articulate, and universal).
Nonetheless, even animation can fall prey to the dreaded PC environment (and that doesn't mean Windows). Recently, the release of Finding Nemo came coupled with the 1989 Pixar short, Knickknack. While such pairings are a delight for both their entertainment and educational value, demonstrating how far digital animation technology has come in just the past decade, there was something quite disconcerting about this reissue of Knickknack--Pixar redid the original film, giving the two motivating female characters complete mastectomies. Perhaps the mamarian references were considered inappropriate for the intended market of Nemo, but what can one say now of the libidinous motivation of a captive snowman when directed to two females who now appear quite pre-pubescent? Perhaps it is well that the agreement between Disney and Pixar ends in 2005, so such considerations will not be a motivating force in rewriting animation history.
And so it goes,Yr. hmbl tpst,
Jim Middleton