Hey Artists!
Welcome to another Video Monday!
Today I'm going to critique the latest animated short film from Pixar, called Bao.
I saw it recently in the theater before The Incredibiles 2 and I was really impressed
for a couple of reasons.
The first thing that impressed me was that it really felt right, culturally.
I lived in Macau for ten months during my first teaching assignment, and it totally
brought me back to that experience.
The food, the characters, the way the house looks all felt very authentic to me.
It's really nice to see more diversity coming into the mainstream culture of the arts in America.
As we learned in the clip, Bao is the first Pixar animated short to be directed by a woman,
Domee Shi.
As we also learned, part of her research was to have the animation team film an expert
(her mom) about the process of making dumplings.
I remember that Pixar also did this kind of research about how to play the guitar for
the making of Coco, an animated film about Mexican culture.
If you're setting a story in a specific culture, it's really important to do the
research and get the little details right.
That brings me to the second thing I noticed right away about this short.
For many years there have been complaints by female animators on the internet about
how little variety there is in the look of female lead characters.
If you look at the Disney princesses and other lead female characters from Disney and Pixar,
you'll see that many of them have the same face.
It's a heart shape with big eyes and a tiny nose.
There's more variety with the male characters and the female villains, but very little with
the female leads.
Bao is different.
The main character, the mom, doesn't look like a Disney princess.
She looks more like a real person and for that reason she felt much more real to me.
I cared more about her story.
So, I hope more animators will follow Domee Shi's lead and dare to be different.
I don't have any suggestions to improve this animated short because I thought it was amazing.
However, I will give you a warning.
If you love Chinese food, it will make you SO hungry!
I didn't get a snack before the movie and my stomach was growling through the whole animation.
Bao is a sweet story and a chance to appreciate Chinese culture.
My advice is to see it if you get the chance.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be hungry.
Ok, time for my questions.
Question one is, why do you think so many animated female characters have the same face shape?
Share your opinions in the comments.
Question two is the vocab, we have authentic, mainstream, short, variety, and lead.
If you know the meaning of these words, please write a short definition or a synonym in the comments.
And question three, at the end of the clip, Domee Shi gives some suggestions about how big studios
can promote more diversity in film.
What else do you think could promote more diversity in the art and design world?
Tell me in the comments.
That's it for today!
I'll share my answers on Facebook during Friday Live at 12pm Central Time.
I'll see you then and thanks for watching!
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét