I recently read the book Physics of the Future by quantum physicist, a founder of string field theory and television show host, Michio Kaku. In the book he reports what he’s learned about the future of technology from the 300 scientists, researchers and inventors he interviewed. One of the things he believes the future holds is that robots and computers will become so sophisticated, complex and powerful that they will completely replace human beings as laborers. The jobs of the future, he predicts, will be creative ones as computers will not be able to think creatively.
I’m not so sure. As a professional animator who has seen many of the jobs in the industry go to computers I’m not so optimistic. One thing I’ve noticed is that when it comes to the arts and entertainment the masses will eat whatever they’re fed.
Back in the Nineties Flash animation was stealing jobs from hand drawn animators and driving down the price of animation thereby effectively putting a lot of talented people out of business. Most animators thought Flash for animations run on the Internet is one thing but the look is much too crude for any real commercial application. Then came entire Network television series animated in Flash. How could that be? It really does look cheesy, why would anyone want to watch this? It’s because it’s what’s new. It’s different and when combined with a crude, “Punk” attitude in the design and writing, the look of Flash seemed appropriate. It’s like a band that’s slightly out of tune and off time is terrible, unless they’re playing Punk Rock and then they’re “real”.
When I was a young animator in the studios and questioned the reasoning behind teaching the Japanese studios how to animate our shows since once they’ve learned they can produce their own shows and become our competition instead of our sweatshop labor, I was told that would never happen. American audiences would never accept Japanese animation. Twenty years later the top cartoon shows in America were all Japanese and our biggest, most successful animation studios were all closed.
Just as we will wear whatever monstrosity the Fashion Industry tells us is hip this season, so will we also listen to the music and watch the shows we’re given to watch. After all, what choice do we have?
I’m not so sure. As a professional animator who has seen many of the jobs in the industry go to computers I’m not so optimistic. One thing I’ve noticed is that when it comes to the arts and entertainment the masses will eat whatever they’re fed.
Back in the Nineties Flash animation was stealing jobs from hand drawn animators and driving down the price of animation thereby effectively putting a lot of talented people out of business. Most animators thought Flash for animations run on the Internet is one thing but the look is much too crude for any real commercial application. Then came entire Network television series animated in Flash. How could that be? It really does look cheesy, why would anyone want to watch this? It’s because it’s what’s new. It’s different and when combined with a crude, “Punk” attitude in the design and writing, the look of Flash seemed appropriate. It’s like a band that’s slightly out of tune and off time is terrible, unless they’re playing Punk Rock and then they’re “real”.
When I was a young animator in the studios and questioned the reasoning behind teaching the Japanese studios how to animate our shows since once they’ve learned they can produce their own shows and become our competition instead of our sweatshop labor, I was told that would never happen. American audiences would never accept Japanese animation. Twenty years later the top cartoon shows in America were all Japanese and our biggest, most successful animation studios were all closed.
Just as we will wear whatever monstrosity the Fashion Industry tells us is hip this season, so will we also listen to the music and watch the shows we’re given to watch. After all, what choice do we have?
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