It’s Time for Animated Dramas

In case you didn’t know, all the Rotoscopers writers love animation. I love how animation tells stories everyone can see. It doesn’t matter if you’re a kid, an adult, a man or a woman, movies like Toy Story, The Incredibles or How To Train Your Dragon will probably appeal to you. Sadly, some people look down on animation. But let’s focus on the positive: Animation is telling stories no other medium does. There aren’t many live-action movies that tell sophisticated, funny, engaging, emotional stories for all audiences. Animation has many advantages and one of them is that they don’t have genre boundaries. Although many people see animation as a genre, it’s more of a medium. You can have a movie about a dysfunctional family, a movie about superheroes or spies, an action-adventure movie…You can even have all of these things in one movie.

This is wonderful. Animation tells stories that can’t be told in any other way. However, one has to wonder, if the medium is limiting itself. Many people think animated movies are just for kids and even though a lot of adults appreciate said movies, no one has tried to do a mainstream animated drama yet. Same thing on TV. You have The Simpsons, Family Guy, Archer…but no animated drama.

I think it’s time to do it. Animation has the advantage of freedom. Doing a TV drama about, say, superheroes, sci-fi or fantasy is incredibly expensive if done in live-action. But with animation, you could have a show set in a space station or a land full of dragons and it wouldn’t be that hard. Take The Legend of Korra, for example. That show has plenty of “magic”, fantastical creatures, spirits…and the second season dealt with things like a civil war, war profiteering and spirituality. A show like Korra is paving the way for other serious, amazing stories to be told in animation.

I love animation as it is. But things need to evolve. And I think the next logical step is to go into drama territory. Right now it feels unlikely but 15 years ago, no protagonist could kill a person in cold blood. Enter Tony Soprano. 10 years ago, who would’ve thought a show about a dying man who cooks meth could be made? Someone needs to take a chance and develop a complex, animated drama full of interesting characters. I’m saying we need a prime time animated drama TV Series or a mainstream animated drama feature. It will lead to people taking the medium more seriously and it will expand animation and give it new ground to explore.