QUAN401-Context of practice : Animation analysis

Animation analysis : A  Short vision by  Peter and Joan Foldes (1956)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkhNED3-mnI 

A animation produce during the cold war, A Short vision depicts a apocalyptic future of nuclear warfare and the horrors of its destructiveness not only on humans but the world. Being aired on national television ,this piece of animation left a huge impact  on audience , especially the Western audience, who at the time was already terrified by the “Red scare” that the media had been playing up til’ then. This certainly would have only increased that feeling and caused massive social paranoia among the masses.

Theoretically, within the different genres of animation , the Short vision would fit into to many genres. In terms of the formal genre, the animation explores a sort of more abstract and gritty style, focusing on the use of chalk/pastels as a medium to further enhance the general theme of video. After that , this depicts the threat of nuclear warfare, so there a political statement which would put this in the political genre as well. Moreover, its also very primal at its core, depicting and exploring how people react ( and perish ) when the missiles hit in a gruesomely descriptive way. But above all , this animation fits best with the paradigmatic genre, as it continuously plays with the viewer’s expectation , starting out just like another children’s cartoon , having the missile changing shape and ended up looking like more an UFO ( which again, really change the expectations of the story) and when the moment comes revealing its true purpose. When the first deaths come (the intellectuals and wise men), we expect something different for the people who were sleeping, which is illogical so as it turns out , it would be the same for them . Then it was the animal , then the landscape until their was only a spark left. And at the end bit , just when you see the moth flying in expecting some kind of revelation , for something to at lease survive, the moth dies and the fire goes out , truly depicting that nothing will escape the destruction. Indeed this short animation is extremely adult-oriented very political and reflect the political and social situation and views at the time very well. Maybe this was only a simple view of how the world would end from it’s creator, but then could this have been used as a weapon to cause paranoia as to rally the masses to stand against the impending threat of destruction from the other side.