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<\/p>\n\n\tSeveral animated features of 2025 tackled very thorny issues of inclusion and identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cZootopia 2,\u201d \u201cElio,\u201d \u201cLittle Am\u00e9lie or the Character of Rain\u201d and \u201cArco\u201d all delve into deep musings on self-identity, inclusion and even racism \u2014 so how does an artist express that through animation?<\/p>\n
\n\tJared Bush, writer and director of \u201cZootopia 2\u201d with director Byron Howard, notes that 14 years ago, he and Howard were hired for \u201cZootopia\u201d and that from Day 1, \u201cByron and I spoke about the ability of animation to reach people. And specifically, there\u2019s something about a world of animals that allows us to hold up this mirror to human nature and the patterns that we fall into. And it was something that allowed us to touch on some deep themes and things that are sometimes hard to talk about. But it made it accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIn \u201cZootopia 2,\u201d Gary De\u2019Snake (voiced by Ke Huy Quan) works to restore the snakes\u2019 ancestral homes. These habitats were destroyed, and the snakes were cast out, by wealthy lynxes who greedily expanded into the cold lands that suited their own species. Anti-snake propaganda and habitat destruction ensured the rest of the Zootopia population didn\u2019t question the status quo.<\/p>\n
\n\tBush says that while they had to stick with the central theme of the differences that arose between Nick and Judy, now full-fledged police personnel, their research into animals showed that snakes were the opposite of mammals in almost every way \u2014 plus, most mammals have an inherent fear of and bias against snakes.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat\u2019s fascinating, though, is our production designer, Cory Loftis, found a very specific species of pit viper \u2014 the Thai tree viper \u2014 it\u2019s that brilliant blue color,\u201d Bush says, a hue of blue that doesn\u2019t show up in mammal colors. \u201cSo we wanted this character to immediately be an outlier, even among reptiles, an outlier. That was really important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBush says that on the flip side, \u201cpit vipers do have these incredible superpowers: the ability to sense heat, which gives them sort of a different way to maneuver in the world.\u201d That became important later on, when Gary becomes the hero, \u201cbecause of that difference, because of that otherness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBush adds: \u201cThese were all really carefully constructed and thought-out ideas that all went back into this notion of what we are trying to say with the story.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBut Gary is still a snake, so \u2026<\/p>\n
\n\tBush says that the character designers and Loftis really stepped up when it came to the reptiles and the less fuzzy wuzzy animals in the film, like the fact that snakes don\u2019t have eyelids, so how do you create emotion through the all-important windows to the soul? Bush again credits the animators, citing Adam Green, who \u201cspent a lot of time figuring out how to find emotion with Gary. We spent a lot of time making sure that he would be vulnerable and that he was this incredibly sympathetic and empathetic character.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe research also turned up the fact that the scales of pit vipers are also feathery, \u201cso when he smiles or emotes, you actually can see some of that breakup. It gives him specificity. And I would say not a cuddliness, but probably cuddlier than another snake might be because of that extra texture on his face,\u201d says Bush.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe also credits Quan\u2019s voice acting. \u201cThere was no one else we even considered for the role. He has this immense range of emotion; the second he talks, you lean in, and you want him to succeed, and you want him to be happy. And that\u2019s such a critical part of, I think, why that Gary character works is because he matters to you,\u201d says Bush.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\u201cLittle Am\u00e9lie or the Character of Rain\u201d\u00a0follows a young Belgian girl growing up in post-war Japan.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cLittle Am\u00e9lie\u201d animators and co-directors Ma\u00eflys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han adapted from the memoir of Am\u00e9lie Nothomb chronicling the early childhood of the Belgian diplomat\u2019s daughter in Japan. The film starts with her birth and follows her until about the age of three, exploring\u00a0 themes of identity (Am\u00e9lie thinks she\u2019s Japanese), class and scars left from WWII.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the end of the \u201860s, so it\u2019s a specific point in her life,\u201d says Han. Nishio-san, a young Japanese woman, is brought in to help around the house and cook, and she becomes Am\u00e9lie\u2019s companion. \u201cAnd this little girl actually chooses to be Japanese. She feels that she\u2019s Japanese. And we thought this was a very powerful and symbolic story, and we wanted to appeal to both an adult audience and a children\u2019s audience, so we felt it was a very deep message about death, about grief, about accepting,\u201d says Han.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne important scene that illustrates the versatility of animation is one in which Nishio-san explains to toddler Am\u00e9lie what happened to her family in the war. In the book, it\u2019s quite graphic, says Vallade. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to make something too violent. So that\u2019s why our solution involved her cooking.\u201d Nishio-san uses a pot of boiling water and rice to explain the bombing of her home and the deaths of her family. \u201cSo you could feel a bit more inside of her mind, of her emotional state. It was a big job to find this balance between the adult [themes] and make it for kids as well,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe book is about early childhood, so the character design reflects a more warm, round style. Han notes that the pair had worked with animator R\u00e9mi Chay\u00e9 (director of \u201cCalamity\u201d and \u201cLong Way North\u201d who did backgrounds on \u201cAm\u00e9lie\u201d), whose style using bold outlines matched what they were doing for their film. \u201cTexture with a bit of pastel, you know, to feel like the character is even more blended into the background,\u201d Han says.<\/p>\n
\n\tVallade adds that the connection between French Impressionist painters in the late 19th century and Japanese artists that spawned a movement called Japonais also influenced the look of the film. \u201cIt\u2019s the Impressionist connection, trying to make some simple forms that can give a lot of emotion with the choice of very particular colors and mood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\u201cArco\u201d is set in the future but the environments are familiar to 2025 audiences.<\/p>\n
\n\tUgo Bienvenu\u2019s hand-drawn \u201cArco\u201d tells the story of a boy called Arco who accidentally travels from the future Earth to 2075, which is adapting to a hostile climate. \u201cAnimation, to me, gives a lot more sensitivity and also depth; I have much more emotions in 2D than in 3D. I think it\u2019s also because us humans recognize each other more in our errors, more in what we fail than what we achieve,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs for \u201cArco\u2019s\u201d style, which incorporates bright backgrounds and accessible characters, including humanoid robots, Bienvenu says, \u201cI\u2019m a drawer, and I have worked in comic books and illustrations for 15 years, and I didn\u2019t try to find any new look.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHis near-future world is still familiar to audiences in 2025 as is Arco\u2019s world, where they live in pod-like dwellings with gardens in the sky. He wanted to incorporate elements that were familiar to everyone, despite it being sci-fi. But that\u2019s the point \u2014 our future looks similar to today, just with advancements in technology.<\/p>\n
\n\tBienvenu says, \u201cAnd if I\u2019m honest, tomorrow isn\u2019t going to be better. And so I thought, if we want the best to happen, we have to imagine it first. So \u2018Arco\u2019 was a way for me to say, \u2018Spread better ideas into the future so they can happen.\u2019 The whole aim of \u2018Arco\u2019 is to say to people, imagine good things. And let\u2019s bring better things to reality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several animated features of 2025 tackled very thorny issues of inclusion and identity.\u00a0 \u201cZootopia 2,\u201d \u201cElio,\u201d \u201cLittle Am\u00e9lie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[133500,156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-222509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-animated-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}