Animation for adults has been growing slowly in recent decades, yes, but overwhelmingly.
At first, adults were reluctant to see “drawings.”
That seemed like a kid's thing and prejudice was faced, for example, by Matt Groening with "The Simpsons" in 1987. The series generated fans first among the youngest and then this population grew and little by little it became a sector to which market called
kidults:
people between 25 and 45 years old who continue to enjoy their childish side.
Just the opposite happens to me.
I can't ignore my childish side when choosing a show to watch, and I do so with the same commitment to watching “Alphonse,” the French series about a gigolo, or “Petit,” the animated children's series inspired by the character by the Argentine writer and illustrator Isol, and directed by Bernardita Ojeda.
I claim that since I write books for children, I must watch audiovisual productions for children.
Is a lie.
I lie blatantly so as not to have to give a very long explanation that would end up saying something like: “We would all be better people if we read children's books and watched children's movies and series.”
I believe it dogmatically.
Because the essence of who we are, according to Arthur Schopenhauer,
is outside of time
.
Our body grows and ages, but the essence is not stained, and animation can connect us with
what we have sometimes forgotten about ourselves.
Luckily, the platforms' catalogs accustomed viewers to an adult animation offering.
The real problem with animation itself is the difficulty of carrying it out.
An excellent and highly awarded animator from Santa Fe, Claudia Ruiz, producer of “El Molinete”, referred to the time and amount of work that a short film takes, for example.
Her works are made with the
stop motion technique,
with plasticine, which means that she has made about twenty little mouths that she must put on and take off the character's face every time she says a simple phrase like
“Hello, how are you? ”
(You can see some of her work at
elmolineteanimacion.com
).
By her estimate,
a minute of film costs approximately $1,000.
Hence it has little state support - and for the future we envision, it will be reduced to none - because making animation
takes much more time and money than a film with actors
.
Imagine how much work it must have taken to produce “Rise of the Nuggets,” the film directed by Sam Fell that Netflix has just released, from the creators of “Chicks on the Run.”
Anyway, I just want to suggest a goal to add for 2024: watch one animation production per month.
Even if it's a short film.
Exercise with that
kidult
side that we all have inside, to find the part of us that is usually half lost.