The animation is a comprehensive art which integrates many art categories. Since the birth of it, animations in various countries have been developed rapidly with its unique forms of expression. Among them, Japan and the United States are the two most prominent and influential countries in the field of animations. They represent the trend and development direction of world animations. Animated movies of the United States and Japan have their own characteristics and huge regional differences whether from the theme, role, scene modelling, production or publicity methods. The most influential factor is the difference in their national character, which will not only be reflected in animation works, but also affect the creative thinking and aesthetic orientation of a country and nation. Therefore, to analyze the design work and styles of animations between two countries, studying and analyzing how the relationship of national character reflect the characteristics of animation creation is one of the most important ways.
This essay takes national characters of the United States and Japan as an entry point, analyzes the relationship between their unique national character and animated films of different styles in three aspects：characters, scenes and narratives. And finds out the deep effects of national character on animation creation.
Firstly, how to define the national character? Researched by McCrae (2006) and Terracciano (2006), national character is the shared perception of personality characteristics typical of citizens of a particular nation. It is the sum of all kinds of psychological and behavioural characteristics formed by a nation under special social and historical conditions. It is the psychological state of national culture and the common feature of a nation. National character is influenced and restricted by a series of external and internal factors such as politics, economy, history, geography and culture of a country in a certain historical period, so it will also reflect the current situation of history and culture at that time to a great extent, leading to the emergence of different design styles.
According to May（2000, p. 55）, American popular culture is the sole culture that has been created and accepted by a multiethnic population. Within its own boundaries, the U.S. is already a world culture. To the extent that popular culture has been exported from anywhere, it has come to America in the physical embodiment of the immigrant masses… American film created a whole new artistic expression that imitated nothing which had existed in previous artistic achievements. The core concept of American culture is “cultural diversity”, and national elements in its animated films come from all over the world. The United States does not possess a single national tradition. It is also an immigrant country. Each immigrant ethnic group has its own distinct culture. These different cultures are reconciled and mixed in the open, free, democratic, and legal environment of the United States, forming a uniquely American spirit: building a sense of racial superiority and cultural self-confidence. The open society of American and the independent character of the American people make their animations show strong contradictions, thrilling plots, humorous and funny, compact and smooth rhythms.
On the contrary, the Japanese nation is not as complicated as a country composed of multiple ethnic groups. In terms of race and culture, Japan is the one with the strongest national commonality in the world. The formation of its national character is closely related to the history and geography of the country. For example, Benedict (2005）stated that Japan’s small territory, shortage of resources, and frequent disasters make The Japanese are both aggressive and modest, militaristic and aesthetic，arrogant and polite, stubborn and flexible, docile and unwilling to be manipulated in nature; They are loyal and rebellious, brave and cowardly，conservative and dare to accept a new way of life. Unlike Western countries, the Japanese strive to seek the dependence of the individual and the whole. Promoting the Japanese to form a harmonious, introverted and group-oriented national character: the Japanese are highly adaptable, they use advanced external things to integrate and transform them into a culture with typical Japanese characteristics. After having a certain understanding of the different national characters of the United States and Japan, I will compare the differences between American and Japanese animations from three aspects: characters, scenes, and narratives.
In terms of character shaping, American animation films are guided by the spirit of paternity in shaping the image of characters, showing the character’s courage to pursue themselves, frankness and persistence. For example, in Finding Nemo, Marlin as a father，breaks through many obstacles and completes impossible missions in order to save his son Nemo. Finally, while saving his son, he also gains a new understanding of father-son relationship and completes self-salvation. And, they often have a unified way of personification. Whether the characters are non-human animals, plants or inanimate objects in real life, such as racing cars, toys, etc., while considering their natural properties, they will be given life and external words and actions like human beings in the animation. The characteristic of this kind of character set is the charm of animation films which can give full play to its infinite imagination and creativity. In Japan, although there is a contest between “good” and “evil” behaviours, in the character set, there is rarely a sharp conflict between “good” and “bad”. For example, in Spirited Away, the little girl Chihiro gains freedom and returns to the real world not because she eliminates the evil forces, but by digging out her own vitality and learning how to survive in a complex society, which promoted physical and mental development and independent. Secondly, compared with moral good and evil, the Japanese pay more attention to the order in social rules. In Ponyo on the Cliff, Ponyo leaves the sea because of her greed and destroys the rules set by her father of the ocean causes humans are facing the crisis of shipwreck. Different from Japan, most American animations place the good and bad characters in opposite positions which mean good and evil are irreconcilable. Besides, Japanese animation modelling personality difference is very small, which makes the audience remember deeply is mostly the story.
Regarding scenes creation, American animated films pay more attention to the creation of virtual space because of their commercial tradition of focusing on visual entertainment effects. Coupled with the rapid development of high-level computer production technology, creators can not only express the real-world scene in the form of animations with a superior simulation effect but also visualize the imaginary space without obstacles. To create architecture with Chinese style in Kung Fu Panda, the creators especially spend time studying Chinese culture and traditional architecture. The creators of American animated films have invested a lot of time, manpower and material resources in every link of space creation, and their purpose is to create more dazzling visual effects on the screen and create a dream situation with strong attraction. On the other hand, although the production methods of Japanese animation films mostly still adhere to the traditional drawing techniques of two-dimensional animations, the scene in the film is not only the imitation of Western work but also the creation of director’s own imagination. For example, the animated film Kiki’s Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle, the locations of the stories are all European-style western towns. And the oil houses in Spirited Away, the underwater world of Ponyo on the Cliff, the kingdom in The Cat’s Repayment, they all show the directors’ vivid imagination and creativity. Creators pay greater attention to the expression of personal style, emotional tension and profound meaning. They do not focus on the impact of producing visual effects, and the participation and application of technology are also quite limited, so the scenes style in the film appears more abstract. However, the rich and changeable plot content and the unconstrained design that echo this simple and abstract form of expression have largely bridged the gap between Japanese and American animations in the international market.
Lastly, regarding the narrative structures, Japanese animation has delicate narration, slow rhythm and focus on the depiction of the characters’ inner world, while American has rough style, fast rhythm and focus on visual impact.
Characters, scenes and narratives are the core parts of the film creation process and are very important to animated films. The style is the artistic tendency of the film. Through the above analysis, because of the differences in national character, the accumulation of experience, the development of technology and the different creative ideas, Japanese and American animated films have shown huge differences. However, the process of creation and development of Japanese and American animations also have a trend of convergence— The simplification and functionalization of the role setting, the simplification of the structure of time and scene, and the mutual imitation, reference and learning in style. In general, the animations in the United States and Japan lead the world trend and have a profound influence and inspiration all over the world.
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