Morals / Values within Animation

A few weeks ago a guest speaker, Andy Peers came in to talk about value driven businesses and how we should really have our own values that we work by and for. I found it hard to try and come up with my own values right there and then and it wasn't until I looked into it further that a lot of animation companies are putting environmental issues within their work. Wall-E for example shows what the world could become in the future if we just let the rubbish build up and how much of an affect giant corporations have on our world, and ourselves. Happy Feet, looks at how we are using up the natural resources which are then in turn have an affect on animals and their habitats. Dr Suess' The Lorax (due for release next month in America) also includes environmental issues of deforestation in the film. Mike Bastoli of Big Screen Animation posted this BLOG where he found bottles of detergent that were 'The Lorax approved'. There's becoming more of an actual link between movies and the real world and how certain subjects within movies can actually change the way things are done in the real world.

Studio Ghibli have always tried to integrate this into their movies such as Princess Mononoke, Pom Poko and My Neighbour Totoro. Pom Poko in particular showed how urban areas were developing so rapidly they were destroying animal habitats. Because so many of Miyazaki's films are so successful and how people react to them, in Japan they have formed a fund which is trying to raise money to protect the natural surroundings. There is even a forest called 'The Totoro Forest' which is now protected because of the film Totoro had such a huge impact on people (spoken about HERE by John Lasseter). It's not just movies however that are bringing environmental issues to our attention. Every month Studio Ghibli bring out their own newsletter and this months issue, the front cover illustrates a group of people in the middle of an anti-nuclear protest. It brings the issue out to a wider audience and with such a well known name backing the idea, it is sure to be more noticed and taken account for.

As you can see it seems to be really important to have value driven work. If you have no values then what does your work mean? Everything needs a meaning behind it. At this stage for me I don't think it's massively necessary, but in the next year or two I should definitely be able to pin point on what I want to focus on with my work. Especially when it comes to my final project in the third year, I think I should really have a message to put across with my work.