Disclaimer: political talk inbound, but I promise it links back to animation
As I’m sure you know, the presidential election is coming up in less than a week and it’s a doozy. I’m from Texas, the state with the most restrictive voting process. I still haven’t voted despite applying for an absentee ballot, but after a game of transfer-around-the-rosie with the county clerk’s office, I should still be able to. Anyone who’s talked with me at length knows I’m no fan of the Cheeto in Charge, and while Biden’s got my vote, he’s far from an ideal candidate. If we manage to get Trump out of office, there’s still a lot of work to do. Many of my peers seem to hate the Democratic (liberal) party more than the Republican (conservative) party because they believe the Dems give an air of liberalism without doing enough for marginalized groups and social welfare. I sympathize with this view, but unlike them I disagree with the notion that the “system must be destroyed and rebuilt from the ashes”. I believe the “system” can be fixed, and that artists have a big part to play in that by influencing public thought and action.
The problem for me is I take too long to make anything, and animation takes a long time in and of itself. By the time I have something to say and an interesting, artistic way to say it, Trump has already tweeted 6 offensive things and the news cycle has turned 100 times over. On the one hand, I am hoping to become more confident and quick in making art on recent happenings, but in the long run I hope to create animations with more universal messages that still hold relevance in every day politics and social issues. Maybe that is the key as animators – too look at the bigger picture and address things like racism which is in no hurry to leave human hearts. Maybe I do need to be faster – if YouTubers can do 15s animations about fleeting viral memes then why can’t I do an animation about the fly on Mike Pence’s head? How do I make meaningful animations in a world where media is consumed at lightning pace? Perhaps I’m overthinking and just need to CREATE, just PUT OUT WHAT I FEEL and hope something sticks. That feels like a step in the right direction, but hopefully I develop a more satisfactory answer.
